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Podcasting Frequently Asked Questions
What is a podcast, how do I get one and how much does one cost?
Podcasts are radio shows or other audio programs available for download over the Internet. The maker of a podcast, called a podcaster, often updates their podcast with a series of episodes that you can subscribe to. iTunes 4.9 offers built-in support for podcasting so that you can find, listen, subscribe to and manage podcasts that interest you. You can also transfer podcasts to iPod for listening on the go. To get podcasts, click on Podcasts in the Source list of iTunes 4.9, then on Podcast Directory at the bottom of the page. This will take you to the iTunes Podcast Directory on the iTunes Music Store where you can browse, find, preview, and subscribe to over 3,000 podcasts, all of which are free of charge. Visit the Apple podcasting page for more information.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/29/2005

Grokster Park
Grokster May Haunt Podcasting
Apple's new podcasting service could be in a sticky situation if podcasters post copyrighted material, thanks to Monday's Grokster decision by the Supreme Court, some experts say.
Like the iTMS, the podcast service features a list of the top 100 podcasts and highlights programs in different categories, such as public radio, morning shows and talk radio.
Podcasters may not include unauthorized copyright material in their broadcasts, and Apple will reportedly monitor podcasts for infringing material, according to the Guardian. Apple also provides a complaint form on the iTMS to notify the company of any copyright violations.
But with the unanimous Supreme Court decision in the MGM Studios v. Grokster case, companies can now be sued if they encourage users of their technology to infringe copyrights.
read also: The Real Lesson of Grokster

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/28/2005

iTunes Podcast Ready 4.9
Discover, Subscribe, Manage & Listen to Podcasts in iTunes 4.9
Apple takes Podcasting mainstream by building everything users need to discover, subscribe, manage and listen to podcasts right into iTunes 4.9, the latest version of its award winning digital music software and online music store. iTunes users can now easily subscribe to over 3,000 free podcasts and have each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod.

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No More 30GB
iPod & iPod photo Lines Merge
The iPod and iPod photo lines are merging, creating a single line of white iPods that all feature color displays with the ability to view album artwork, photos and play slideshows in stunning color. The simplified iPod lineup features a 20GB model, holding up to 5,000 songs priced at just $299 and a 60GB model, holding up to 15,000 songs priced at $399.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/27/2005

iPod Comic
Clickwheel
As talk of a video iPod gathers pace, we've decided to up the ante and deliver the world's first desktop application for downloading digital comics — or 'podstrips' — to the iPod photo. We're calling it Clickwheel and we believe it offers a new take on how to get the most out of your iPod.
Central to Clickwheel's design is an RSS feed that allows you to search, grab and display comics or toons that have been created for the iPod photo.
And because comics on the iPod is a completely new field, we've commissioned a number of leading artists to create work for us — these include demian.5, Ted Dewan, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Colin White. They've each been asked to produce a running series for the feed, so their work will be appearing over the coming year, with new episodes following on a regular basis.

posted by Jerry permanent link

It's a No No
Supreme Court rules against file-sharing services
In a unanimous decision today, the Supreme Court ruled that peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing services could be held responsible if their software was intended primarily to swap music and movies illegally.
“We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement,” Justice David Souter wrote in the majority opinion.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/25/2005

New Term: Profitable Podcasting ;)
Audible to begin RSS delivery and podcast service
Audible has also launched an information page outlining its strategy behind profitable podcasting. “Starting June 24th, you can put Audible’s management experience, platforms and tools to work for you and your podcasting strategy. Audible now offers content producers the infrastructure for circulation control, paid subscriptions and advertising management needed to effortlessly produce and manage podcasting - and turn that audio content into predictable, incremental revenue.”

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/24/2005

Trend Watch
E-book industry growing fast; adults reading online, not kids
The e-book market does continue to grow, although it remains a tiny part of the multibillion-dollar publishing industry. According to the Open eBook Forum, a trade organization, net revenues reached $9.6 million in 2004, nearly $4 million higher than in 2002. The number of actual e-books sold annually has more than doubled in that time, to nearly 1.7 million copies, even as the number of e-books published has declined.
No separate statistics are available for children’s e-books, but many believe Potter would be a huge hit in the digital format, where even a few thousand copies is considered a best seller. "I’m sure it would be a very big book very quickly and would probably serve as a terrific marketing vehicle to get people to buy the print book," says Nicholas Bogaty, executive director of the Open eBook Forum.

posted by Jerry permanent link

PodCast Boom
Clear Channel expands radio content through podcasting
Clear Channel Radio said Thursday that it will make radio programming available through podcasts at 11 new radio stations.
As of Thursday, radio stations WAQX-FM and WKTU-FM in New York; KYSR-FM in Los Angeles; KGB-FM, KIOZ-FM, KHTS-FM in San Diego; KKRZ-FM in Portland; WLW-AM in Cincinnati; KRZR-FM in Fresno, Calif.; WDVE-FM in Pittsburgh and WZZO-FM in Allentown, Pa., will also make radio content available. Listeners will be able to download programming to their Apple iPod through station Web sites.
The company will launch 10 more stations later this week.

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iPod's Unique Expansion Product
First Looks Special: Nyko Movie Player
Seventy-five movies in the palm of your hand? With the upcoming Movie Player accessory for Dock Connecting iPods, the answer could be “yes” by November, 2005. Over the iPod’s short lifespan, accessories have already evolved Apple’s digital music player into a mini-PDA, voice recorder, photo box, laser pointer, and walking iGuy. Now video game accessory maker Nyko plans to take a giant evolutionary step forward: its Movie Player morphs any iPod, iPod mini, or iPod photo into a full-fledged video player and recorder. Plus, thanks to a high-resolution color screen, it also displays considerably more detailed digital photographs than even Apple’s own iPod photo.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/22/2005

Trend Watch
OverDrive Announces Video-on-Demand For Libraries
OverDrive, the provider of download audiobooks and eBooks for libraries, recently announced the addition of Video on Demand (VoD) services and materials to its Digital Library Reserve network.
The new Video on Demand service will be demonstrated to the over 20,000 librarians attending the 2005 American Library Association Annual Conference at Booth #1244 McCormick Place, Chicago June 24-28. The service is scheduled to go live for patron use later this year.
With the new VoD service library patrons will be able to access high quality digital video anytime of day from anywhere in the world via an Internet connected PC.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Fed Up
DRM Proponent Fed Up With DRM - Violates DMCAEmail This Entry
While I'm still waiting for MSFT support to help me get back into the content I purchased for MS Reader (so far two emails and a rather fun 45 minute session with MS Tech support by phone, which is totally clueless about Reader. I was sent to Office support, Windows Activation and even though I kept telling them that there's no product activation code for Windows, my words fell on deaf ears). I finally took matters into my own hands. With a little help from a lovely free program called Amber LIT conversion, I was able to take all my MSFT .lit files and convert them to unprotected .PDF files for Tablet viewing and Word files that converted easily to eReader format. Took about a minute for each book. The program works with protected .LIT files but needs to be run on a machine with an activated and valid MS Reader. Since my old computer did have Reader on it, the process was a snap. This doesn't excuse MSFT. While DRM is a necessary evil, the notion of not being able to de-activate an older machine with a limited number of installs is user hostile at worst. Good case study for firms on HOW NOT TO IMPLEMENT DRM solutions.

posted by Jerry permanent link

yeah right
Ebooks How To Bring Them Into The Market
There are 3 main ways to bring an ebook into the market:
1) Creating your own ebook
2) Being an affiliate
3) Purchasing resale rights to other people’s product.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/18/2005

NoPod in NYPL
NYPL snubs iPod users
the New York Public Library has chosen to exclude iPod users from access to its new audio eBook collection. The NYPL has chosen to use Windows Media-based Media Console from OverDrive to handle the audio DRM. I have to say, this baffles me. It's not that the iPod is the only DAP in NYC, but it's the New York DAP. They're everywhere. People listen to them on the sidewalk, in the subway, in stores (which can be annoying if the person in front of you in line is really into a song), and anywhere else you can imagine...
Locking iPodders out of the public audio book circulation is inexplicable. I understand some of the motivation, of course. The NYPL has an existing relationship with OverDrive. Versions of Windows are also the most widely used OSes, particularly on commodity computers, so the eBooks will be available to many, many people who can't afford a DAP at all, let alone an iPod. If I were running a public Library that serves a largely impoverished population, I'd look long and hard at a Windows-based solution, too, especially if my facilities tended to have Windows machines installed as public workstations. But that's no reason to leave the millions (at least it seems that way, tens of thousands is probably more accurate) of New Yorkers with iPods out in the cold.

posted by Jerry permanent link

No ePotter
J.K. Rowling Refuses E-Books for Potter
J.K. Rowling has not permitted any of the six Potter books to be released in electronic form, not even during the peak of the e-book craze a few years ago. Neil Blair, a lawyer with Rowling's literary agency, would only say that "this has not been an area that we have sought to license" and did not comment directly on whether pirated e-books, a common phenomena for Potter titles, were hurting sales.
"We monitor the Internet and take appropriate action," Blair says.
Rowling's choice follows an industry trend. Young people are supposedly more open to new technology, but the e-book market works in an opposite way. Adult best sellers such as Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" and David McCullough's "1776" are available electronically, but not books by Rowling and many other popular children's authors, including Lemony Snicket, Cornelia Funke and R.L. Stine.
"It's not like we haven't tried this market," says Jason Campbell, marketing director for Harper Media, a division of HarperCollins that oversees e-book distribution.
"We've done R.L. Stine and (Meg Cabot's) `The Princess Diaries' and it didn't work. `Princess Diaries' has been our most successful young adult series in e-books, but it pales in comparison to e-book sales for Michael Crichton."

Several reasons are cited, from authors preferring books on paper to concerns over digital piracy to competition from television and other media. But the greatest problem is the lack of a popular reading device, a handicap that has held back the whole e-book business from the start.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Loosing My Religion Dept.
Don't Know Much about the Bible: Everything You Need to Know about the Good Book But Never Learned
by Kenneth C. Davis
With wit, wisdom, and an extraordinary talent for turning dry, difficult reading into colorful and realistic accounts, the creator of the bestselling Don't Know Much About, series now brings the world of the Old and New testaments to life as no one else can in the bestseller Don't Know Much About The Bible. Relying on new research and improved translations, Davis uncovers some amazing questions and contradictions about what the Bible really says. Jericho's walls may have tumbled down because the city lies on a fault line. Moses never parted the Red Sea. There was a Jesus, but he wasn't born on Christmas and he probably wasn't an only child. Davis brings readers up-to-date on findings gleaned from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Gnostic Gospels that prompt serious scholars to ask such serious questions as: Who wrote the Bible? Did Jesus say everything we were taught he did? Did he say more? By examining the Bible historically, Davis entertains and amazes, provides a much better understanding of the subject, and offers much more fun learning about it.

If the Buddha Got Stuck: A Handbook for Change on a Spiritual Path
by Charlotte Davis Kasl
erennial favorites, Charlotte Kasl's If the Buddha Dated and If the Buddha Married have inspired readers with their empowering blend of spiritual and psychological insights. Her latest, If the Buddha Got Stuck, is a wise yet lighthearted book that will speak to anyone who's ever experienced being stuck in life and wanted to break free. With her signature clarity, wisdom, and warm heart, Kasl presents readers with seven steps that tap into life's bigger picture: Notice Where You're Stuck; Show Up; Pay Attention; Live in Reality; Connect with Others; Move From Thought to Action; and Let Go. Full of insight from Buddhist and other teachings that emphasize the joy that comes with letting go of attachments to events and things, If the Buddha Got Stuck is an inspirational and practical roadmap to a more joyful, peaceful, and fulfilling life.

No god but God
by Reza Aslan
With the emergence of the Islamic state in the twentieth century, this contest over the future of Islam has become a passionate, sometimes violent battle between those who seek to enforce a rigid and archaic legal code and those who struggle to harmonize the teachings of the Prophet with contemporary ideals of democracy and human rights. According to Reza Aslan, we are now living in the era of “the Islamic Reformation.” No god but God is a persuasive and elegantly written account of the roots of this reformation and the future of Islamic faith.

posted by Jerry permanent link

New eBooks
Indigo-E.T. Connection
by Marshall Masters
Science tells us that the seeds of life can endure for millennia before a life-nourishing event awakens them. Could this explain the Indigo Child phenomenon? Now, humanity stands upon the cusp of its next evolution, and unprecedented numbers of Indigo Children have awakened to guide the willing towards a brighter future and contact with extraterrestrial races. While some believe that the Indigo Child phenomena began roughly forty years ago, Marshall Masters believes that Indigo Children have always been here and that they are now awakening to the gentle call of a living universe.

100% Rebate

Fantastic Four
by Peter David
Together, they turn tragedy into triumph and catastrophe into coalition, and must use their unique and formidable powers against Victor Von Doom--who has also not escaped the effects of the cosmic storm unscathed.... Adventurers. Super Heroes. Celebrities. To the world, they are the Fantastic Four. To each other, they are a family.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/17/2005

Site Watcg
Audioscrobbler
Audioscrobbler builds a profile of your musical taste using a plugin for your media player (Winamp, iTunes, XMMS etc..). Plugins send the name of every song you play to the Audioscrobbler server, which updates your musical profile with the new song. Every person with a plugin has their own page on this site which shows their listening statistics. The system automatically matches you to people with a similar music taste, and generates personalised recommendations.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/14/2005

eBook in your iPod
MAKE ebooks for your iPod guide!
There’s a somewhat little know and often-unused function of iPod called "Notes" which can actually be quite handy for storing and reading text, creating a locked "kiosk mode", quizzes, games as well a full-length ebooks. The Notes reader is located in Menu > Extras > Notes. Only the more recent 3G and 4G iPods, including the iPod photo and iPod mini both have the iPod Notes application. Here’s our how-to on making them!...

posted by Jerry permanent link

DRM Watch
Sony BMG Tries to Limit Copying of Latest CD
The company's use of the software, which is designed to limit consumers to making no more than three copies of a CD, reflects an effort to alter a format that is two decades old and contains music that can be readily copied and digitally distributed.
The restrictive software Sony BMG is using on CD's, like it did earlier this year with "Stand Up" by the Dave Matthews Band - is not compatible with Apple's popular iPod. Owners of Apple computers using iPods are able to copy and transfer music on the restricted compact discs freely; the restrictions block PC owners from transferring music to their iPods. But it allows transfers to music players using Microsoft's Windows software.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Independent Digital
Independent music: The mouse is roaring
As the dust clears from the music industry's chaotic past few years, one of the emerging winners may be an increasingly strong, united independent music sector.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/11/2005

MS Music Seriously
Microsoft planning music subscription service
What's new:
Feeling Apple's sting, Microsoft is looking to diminish iTunes' influence with a new subscription music service. Sources say the company is also considering a more direct attack on Apple, seeking rights from copyright holders to give subscribers a Microsoft-formatted version of any song purchased from iTunes so they can be played on devices other than an iPod.
Bottom line:
The new service could complicate the delicate balance Microsoft has struck in the digital music business, by both providing key technology for companies such as Yahoo and Napster, while also competing with them.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/09/2005

A: More Portability
What the Apple Plan To Switch to Intel Chips Means for Consumers
In the long term, the change will strengthen Apple and the Mac, which is good news for anyone devoted to that platform or considering switching to it. That's because Intel's processors and other chips will give Apple more options than IBM's products could for building Macs that run faster and cooler, and have longer battery life. The first Intel-based Mac is due in spring 2006.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/05/2005

Sostupid
Enough already with the DRM
The announcement by Sony BMG of CD burning restrictions is so wrongheaded as to make one question if Mr. Lack truly understands not only the music landscape, but the technological landscape. It's not about piracy, it's about getting music into the hands of more people than ever, and CHARGING them for it. To initiate restrictions, to do anything to STOP the flow of music is antithetical to business principles. The goal is to GROW your market, not RESTRICT IT!
...Enough already with the DRM. CD burning is so LAST CENTURY! Addressing CD burning is like IBM figuring out a way to protect its rotating ball technology in typewriters.
(source: JWalk)

posted by Jerry permanent link

  6/04/2005

Fictionwise.com Sells One Millionth eBook on 5th Anniversary
ictionwise.com, the world"s leading independent eBook retailer, sold its one millionth eBook almost exactly five years after opening its virtual doors. To celebrate its 5th Anniversary, Fictionwise.com has launched the largest store-wide sale in its history as well as a special "Thanks a Million" contest to celebrate their one millionth sale. The contest will award prizes worth $1000.

posted by Jerry permanent link

White Trash
Apple launches iPod recycling program
Customers who return a music player to one of the company's 100 retail stores across the United States will get 10 percent off the purchase of a new one. Apple pledged to dispose of all the iPods brought in for free. To be eligible for the offer, people must bring in a standard iPod, an iPod Mini or the photo version, and use the discount the same day.
The move should appease critics of Apple's environmental record, who protested outside its headquarters during an annual shareholder meeting in April. Inside the meeting, a representative of an environmentally oriented mutual fund questioned Apple CEO Steve Jobs specifically about the Mac maker's recycling program.

posted by Jerry permanent link

DRM Watch
Broadcast Flag at Half Mast?
A key lawmaker has complicated the movie industry's push for a law to restrict consumers' ability to redistribute digital TV content over peer-to-peer networks and the internet at large.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, has indicated that he opposes inserting a broadcast flag measure in his newly introduced digital TV bill, which would set a 2008 hard deadline for broadcasters to give back their analog spectrum.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Attack of the Clones

The iPod Clone Wars: mini, shuffle knock-offs at Computex
If you’ve been reading iPodlounge recently, you’re probably familiar with Luxpro’s line of iPod shuffle knock-offs. What you may not know is that there are numerous companies copying every model of the iPod and even iPod accessories. At this week’s Computex trade show in Taipei, an iPodlounge reader snapped several photos and collected specs on a number of these clones.
The most brazen iPod copy seen at the show was an iPod mini look-alike from a Taiwan consumer electronics OEM supplier. Said to cost only US$50, the “i-Pocket” is roughly the same size as Apple’s iPod mini, but includes no internal storage—instead it has a memory card slot. It supports SD/MMC/MS cards for music storage, and acts as a card reader for SD/MMC/MS/MS Duo/MS Pro formats. The player also offers voice recording, an FM radio and recorder, a color OLED display (128 x 64), USB 2.0, and supports MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV, WMV, ASF file formats. It is available in gold, red, blue and black.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Will someday PDA outsell notebooks?
PC milestone--notebooks outsell desktops
More notebooks than desktops were sold in the United States in May, according to a report released Friday--a milestone in PC sales history.
Analysts with research firm Current Analysis said laptop sales jumped to 53.3 percent of the total PC retail market in May 2005. Last year, notebooks made up 45.9 percent of the total PC retail market.
Occasionally, notebooks have outsold desktops, but those moments happen during a one-week period and are usually the result of extremely heavy promotions, Current Analysis said. May marks the first time notebooks have outsold desktops over the course of a full month, the firm said.

posted by Jerry permanent link