April 11, 2005
President Bush’s iPod
Yes it is true, the current US president, George W. Bush, has an iPod and supposedly uses it as well.
The president has 250 songs total that he listens to when he is exercising. The library is mostly traditional country but also includes bands such as The Gourds, Van Morrisons’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and “My Sharona” from the Knack.
A majority of the songs were purchased from iTunes Music Store.
For the full story:
Editor and Publisher -What's on President Bush's iPod? "My Sharona" and More
March 28, 2005
Social dangers with iPods
A teacher in Australia is banning students from bringing iPods to class because the teacher believes that with 10,000 songs you will end up with 0 friends.
The idea is that peoples are tuned into themselves and are not out socializing with other kids which could lead to problems later in the childs life.
Although the point has some validity it is rather easy to poke fun at. The original story, published last week, has been taken quite a following and one group of journalists from The Register have even gone as far as creating pseudo disclaimers, similar to those found on cigarettes. Some of these include:
“iPodding seriously damages your chances of getting laid.”
“iPodding is boring for you and for those around you.”
And finally the cure?
“For help giving up iPodding, call your local music teacher.”
For the full story:
The Register - Should iPods carry health warnings?
March 23, 2005
04 Music sales up
After four years of declining sales US CD sales improved and rose by a whooping 5.3% in 2004.
Of course the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is trying to keep the good news to a minimal so they are reporting that total overall shipments, in all music formats, is still way down (21%) from 1999. However, across all formats there was an increase of 4.4% in comparison to 2003. The increase is at least some what based on the fact of just under 140 million licensed music downloads took place in the US.
The uptrend in the US correlates with positive results in the UK as well. The UK grew 4.5% last year. The UK also saw digital music downloads reach nine million units.
For the full story:
Macworld UK - US 2004 music sales rise
March 14, 2005
iPods break ice at the bar
At a bar in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, patrons have a new way to break the ice on Monday nights.
“PodJay Mondays” allow people to program a 15-minute play list from their music catalog then hand it over to the bartender who gives the whole bar a sound of your favorites. This allows the customers a chance to ask others about their musical tastes and hopefully make it easier for some people to meet others.
Apple martinis and apple shots complement all the music listening and mixing and mingling happening at the bar. The bartender also leads the applause after each play list is completed and the iPod owners name has been shouted out.
For the full story:
AZ Central - Personal digital music players breaking the ice at the bar
February 02, 2005
iPods invade MS campus
The Microsoft campus in Redmond Washington is experiencing a surge of employees using iPods.
Microsoft managers are growing very frustrated by this, as about 80 percent of the Microsoft employees who own a digital music player actually own an iPod. In response to this the Windows Digital Media division general manager, David Fester, sent a memo to employees that stated, “windows supports some great alternative digital music players.”
This is a scary situation for Microsoft when its employees are not even interested in the Windows-technology based digital music player but rather its direct competitor.
Some workers have even been reported to switch the headphones they use in order to conceal what kind of digital music player they have.
For the full story:
Macworld UK -Microsoft campus sees iPod paranoia
December 24, 2004
November 17, 2004
Growing number of downloads
A report by New Media Age anticipates that there will be a surge in demand for digital music download services.
The report states that 25 percent of UK home internet users will buy their music online which is up from six percent that are already active in purchasing their music online.
To be expected digital music services are more popular among people with broadband internet access. Eight percent of the ten million people using broadband already download music however that is expected to go to 32 percent next year. Among the 15-42 year olds that is expected to jump to 45 percent.
Although these numbers are based on data from the United Kingdom it can be expected that demand will also surge in the US.
For the full story:
Macworld UK - Music downloads set to explode
November 11, 2004
Increasing level of legal downloads
New figures have shown that paid legal downloads have risen over 150 percent since July of 2004.
The numbers from Ipsos Insight contradict the idea that some analysts subscribe to in that the numbers of digital music downloads are declining. Ipsos believes that 35 percent of downloaders in the US, aged 12 or more, have paid to download a song. This translates into roughly 20 million US residents.
Ipsos-Insight vice president Matt Kleinschmit believes this is due to a number of factors such as litigation by the RIAA and the release of a variety of new digital music services.
For the full story:
Macworld UK - Legal downloads rising fast
November 08, 2004
iPods in Hotels
Luxury hotels are stepping up their game by offering guests an iPod for the duration of their stay.
Some of the hotels using the digital music player as an extra offering include: Las Ventanas al Paraiso resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, the Crescent in Beverly Hills, and Dream in Manhattan.
The iPods come loaded with thousands of songs featuring jazz, lounge and electronica music and some rooms have speakers to plug the iPod into.
For the full story:
Macworld UK - iPods are latest hotel luxury
November 04, 2004
Mobile Clubbing
A new trend/ fad/ hobby/ pastime has emerged from the subway stations in London that has incorporated digital music into a lot of fun. Mobile Clubbing is the act of converging at a pre arranged public place with your own digital music player and at a certain time busting out to dance to the music you have with you.
Throughout the UK, and now the world, events are organized online, informally, then passed on among friends and groups of friends. The people that partake in these events are not trendy metropolitan twenty-somethings, they are a range of people, young and old, families and all of them do it for the fun of it. On a whole, the people are diverse but also not sad, they have friends and are mainly intelligent and articulate people reported the Register.
These events cause quite a scene for anyone not knowing what is going on and everyone that is not involved wants to know why. Lots of spectators are taking pictures with camera phones and even some have joined in the fun.
For more information about Mobile clubbing check out http://www.mobile-clubbing.com.
For the full story:
The Register - iPod-crazed youths invade London station
October 27, 2004
Top 20.... Ring Tones?
Due to increasing interest in cell phone ring tones, Billboard magazine plans to introduce a list of the top twenty ring tones alongside its more conventional top ten lists.
The new feature reflects "growth, innovation and success of the rapidly growing mobile music market," according to Billboard and will be based on polyphonic tones.
Ring tones are a rapidly increasing (and annoying) market, growing some 20% - 30% each quarter and expected to hit USD$250 million this year as North Americans *finally* start getting their hands on phones capable of playing poorly renderred versions of top 10 hit songs.
Never one to ignore new technology, the recording industry will certainly enjoy collecting royalties.
October 20, 2004
Music/Mobile in demand
Handango, a mobile download supplier, found that there is an increasing consumer demand for hybrid mobile/music player products.
Searches for “MP3/Music” and “ringtones” make up 17 percent of total searches, an increase since last month.
For the full story:
Macworld UK - Consumers want music mobile iPods
September 28, 2004
Jupiter predicts CD dominance
According to Jupiter Research the CD will remain the most popular format for music for at least another five years.
Jupiter’s logic is simply that more people have CD players then MP3 players there fore the CD will dominate. Jupiter also predicts that in 2009 $1 billion (€836 million) will be spent on digital music downloads and subscriptions in Europe. This will only account for about 8 percent of Europe’s estimated €10.2 billion music market.
Another analyst, Mark Mulligan, believes that digital music will remain as a relatively niche market and will only be seen as an additional revenue channel for the industry. He also believes that’s that digital music will not replace the CD.
For the full story:
Macworld UK - CD dominance will 'drown out digital music'
September 17, 2004
Downloads help sell CDs
Lately it was believed that digital music downloads are destroying CDs sales but a recent survey has proven this completely wrong and that music downloads are helping sell CDs.
Entertainment Media Research did a survey of 1,400 people and found that 80 percent would buy as many or more CDs in the future. The survey also supports claims that music lovers buy digital downloads when the music they want is not available or if they want to test an album before they buy a hard copy of it.
For the full story:
Macworld UK - Music downloads complement CD sales
September 14, 2004
Music Declining
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) declared yesterday that music sales are still declining.
Based off of a comparison of the same units of recorded music in both audio and video formats sales have fallen 7.6 percent with a worth of $34 billion on 2.7 billion units sold.
The global market share now sits at approximately:
BMG 11.9%
EMI 13.4 %
Sony 13.2%
Universal 23.5%
Warner 12.7%
Independent labels 25.3%
The IFPI reports a total of 16.3 decline since 1999 and blames this on CD burning and illegal downloading, competing entertainment formats and economic uncertainty. There are early signs of turnaround, however, in early 2004.
For the full story:
Macworld UK - Music sales continue decline
August 06, 2004
UK students -stealing music is bad
At the beginning of last month the British Government launched a program to teach students, from pre-school on, about music. However it has turned more into teaching ng kids to not steal music.
EMI, one of the signatories of the “Music Manifesto” believes that schools teaching copyright awareness is important for students to understand not only for music as a career but also for society in general.
Some of the musical community didn’t like the program, like Julian Lloyd Webber who is boycotting it because there was no funding for actives and instruments.
For the full story:
The Register - Stealing songs is wrong
July 02, 2004
Compaq was on to something…
Five years ago Compaq CEO Michael Capella had a vision about MP3 players, odd how he turned out right.
This is an interesting article from The Register five years ago.
June 28, 2004
IMixes demand more indies
European iTunes users are using a new feature in iTunes 4.5 to make protests against Apple to include more indie musicians in their iTunes Music Store.
Users are creating iMix play lists that demand that more independent artists are included in the catalogue of songs offered by iTunes. An iMix is a newer feature that lets users create, name and post play lists all anonymously. Other users can then vote on these play lists and voting they are. These iMix demands are reaching the tops of the charts as the most popular.
Rumors are that the there are ‘on again, off again’ talks between the independents labels and Apple. There doesn’t seem to be a solution in the near future however.
For the full story:
The Register - iTunes users hijack iMixes to demand indie
June 04, 2004
McDonalds, Sony partnership under scrutiny
The partnership where McDonalds is offering a free song download with Sony’s Connect music service for each Big Mac meal is under scrutiny by the US and UK.
The US and UK government are concerned about the rising obesity in their countries linked to junk food. In September a report from the Food Standards Agency reported a link between advertising and children’s diets. The UK government has faced calls to ban junk food ads in an effort to slow obesity.
The Big Mac deal launches in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico this month and in France, Germany and the UK in July.
For the full story:
Macworld UK - McDonald's, Sony launch downloads
June 03, 2004
London slaps Sony and BMG for behavior
The London council has taken court action Sony and BMG due to the companies’ excessive postering all through the city.
Camden council estimated that the companies save 8 million pounds a year by illegally putting up posters instead of buying legal advertising spaced. The council spends approximately a quarter million pounds cleaning up the posters that get stuck on everything, including lampposts to shops to local residents. Local residents and business have made over a thousand complaints to the council about the posters.
The council will return to court on the 14th of June to seek permanent orders.
For the full story:
The Register - London council clamps down on Sony and BMG
May 24, 2004
Broadband Digital Jukeboxes make it to fast food
Fatburger restaurants has partnered up with Ecast to start installing Ecast-powered, broadband jukeboxes in their fast food restaurants.
Ecast has already provided more then 2100 taverns and restaurants in all 50 states with jukeboxes. However, Fatburger believes that having popular music available on jukeboxes for their customers is a core element and is the first 'quick service' restaurant making the jukeboxes a standard fixture at its existing and upcoming locations.
The jukeboxes have a catalog of over 150,000 songs and are made by Rock-Ola Manufacturing. Rock-Ola is one of the oldest names in commercial jukeboxes. The jukeboxes accept coins, cash and credit cards.
For the full story:
Business Wire - Fatburger and Ecast to Make Beautiful Digital Music Together via the Net; ``The Last Great Hamburger Stand'' Gets First Broadband-Enabled Jukebox