Top Ten Movies FileShare Downloads.
Movies Top Ten File Share Downloads, Global
Week ending December 29, 2005
| Ranking | Movie | Number of Downloads |
| 01 | >>> King Kong + #8 | 1,000,737 |
| 02 | >>> Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire - #1 | 990,575 |
| 03 | >>> The Chronicles of Narnia ( unchanged ) | 974,343 |
| 04 | >>> Mr. & Mrs. Smith - #2 | 946,252 |
| 05 | >>> War Of The Worlds ( unchanged ) | 926,206 |
| 06 | >>> Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith ( unchanged ) | 924,671 |
| 07 | >>> The 40 Year Old Virgin + #9 | 915,346 |
| 08 | >>> Fantastic Four + #10 | 878,209 |
| 09 | >>> Charlie And The Chocolate Factory ( new ) | 869,744 |
| 10 | >>> Walk The Line - #4 | 866,721 |
Kindly compiled by the guys at p2pnet.net
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Free Music for your Podcasts
Great news from the folks at Magnatune - the open music people. They want you to use their music in your podcasts.
Magnatune is one of the only record labels on the planet whose music you can legally use in your podcast, without paying for a licensing agreement. See this podcasting news article or ASCAP's web license page for more info on what you would need to pay to use other's music.
We specifically grant podcasts a waiver to use our music without paying any fee to a royalty collection agency, such as ASCAP or BMI. Because we work directly with artists, we can legally do this. All our mp3s are Creative Commons licensed, and may be downloaded at no cost for podcast use. Usually, however, we prefer that podcasters get the best audio quality versions of our albums and so we allow podcasters to download the best-quality purchased versions of our albums.If you're a podcaster, please email Teresa and she'll happily sort you out!
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BitTorrent's Popularity for Music Downloading Grows
Despite of all the lawsuits and several desperate attempts to shut down torrent sites, bittorrent's popularity is still growing. Based on Alexa rankings, the bigger torrent sites still seem to grow. And besides this, new sites a launched succesfully.
Some traffic details of the 5 most popular torrent sites over the last 3 months:
Site Traffic IncreaseAnd this trend seems to be the same for the smaller torrent sites. Not to forget about newcomers like Newnova.org and Seedler.org who are about to enter the top 10 of all torrent sites.
Torrentspy.com + 37%
Thepiratebay.org +15%
Mininova.org +41%
Isohunt.com +37%
Torrentreactor.net +15%
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iPods 2005 Roundup
A number of tech companies have had big years but none may have had a bigger year than Apple. Apple has become of a part of the zeitgeist as much as pop stars and famous actors. It's all because of a little handheld music player called the iPod. A few interesting thoughts brought to us by John Stith over at WebProNews.
Steve Jobs managed to keep everyone hopping this year with all the nifty little products including the diminutive Nano and the iPod Video. The two products generated a lot of buzz, both good and bad but still kept the name in the news. Apple worked a deal with Disney to show content from the ever popular "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost."
Then there's the iTunes juggernaut backing up iPod or perhaps it's the other way around. Regardless, iTunes has been a lightening rod for a number of reasons. It's helped the music companies find a profitable method of distributing content and to recoup some losses from the massive file swapping networks. The 99-cents-a-song model has proven worthwhile. An odd twist to this tale has been Apple becoming a dam against the record companies and their quest to raise song prices.
What else do we have here? Oh yes… Apple dropped IBM for its processors and chose to go with Intel for the PowerPC line. Oddly enough, this didn't receive nearly as much coverage, even though it was probably a bigger story. IBM and Apple had a profitable relationship for years and while there were stated reasons for the breakup, IBM seemed to have alleviated many of the problems Apple almost immediately after Apple signed the deal with Intel.
But, the iPod was the dominant force for Apple in 2005 and could quite possibly be in 2006. As many have pointed out, Apple has surpassed Sony as the go-to tech company for new stuff. After a big year in 2005, with Steve Jobs in the headlines frequently and Apple being a dominant presence, what can Apple follow up with?
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Video Downloads - Music Downloads - The Future
ABC's "Desperate Housewives'' can be downloaded onto most computers, but you'll need an iPod to watch it elsewhere. But let's say you want an episode of "Survivor" instead. ITunes doesn't have it, but if you're a Comcast subscriber, you'll soon be able to order it for 99 cents through your cable box. "Law and Order: SVU"? That 99-cent download is available only to DirecTV subscribers who have the company's latest video recorder.
Video downloading is the hottest idea in TV right now, and choices are proliferating. In the last month or so, broadcasters have announced major initiatives to sell shows a la carte.
But there's a catch. To watch a favorite show, unburdened by network programming schedules, today's viewer has to know which technology to use and own the latest equipment. And another network's show requires a completely different setup.
It will take at least a couple of years to get from this early stage to the era of the digital jukebox, when most movies and TV shows will be downloadable from a single place, tech industry watchers say.
Copyright holders are starting out timidly, unsure whether offering programs for download will siphon money away from their broadcasts and DVD sales.
Technology makers are trying to convince Hollywood that it can protect its properties from rampant piracy. Hollywood is worried about file-sharing technology such as BitTorrent, a software tool that allows users to download large files quickly.
Continue reading "Video Downloads - Music Downloads - The Future"
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Have DVD Movies loaded onto your iPod Video.
You love your video iPod. But you're unable to use it to watch your existing DVD movie collection. That's where LoadPod comes in.
LoadPod, the nation's leader in iPod loading services, has launched a DVD movie loading service for users of the new Fifth Generation "video iPod" in eight major U.S. cities. LoadPod picks up the customer's video iPod and DVD collection at their home or office, and returns the iPod fully loaded in a few days. Movies are encoded into 320x240 display format, ideal for the video iPod's screen, and take up an average of less than one gigabyte of iPod space apiece. iPod Movie Loading service is currently available in New York City, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle.
LoadPod invented the iPod loading industry in early 2004 when it became the first and only nationwide service to load a customer's existing music CD collection into their iPod via in-person service. Today, LoadPod is proud to extend its services to include loading a customer's existing DVD movie collection into their video iPod. As with all LoadPod services, iPod Movie Loading requires no shipping, traveling, labor, or hassle on the part of the customer. Customers can place their iPod Movie Loading order, starting today, on the LoadPod website .
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Bittorrent Brunch of Music Downloads
An interesting selection of Torrents has been posted by Largehearted Boy. Including Elvis Costello in Berlin '99, Neil Young, Radiohead, Roxy Music '79 BBC. Also on his site he has the Live 8 downloads and other festivals.
Scout Niblett: 2005-11-10, Munich [flac]*
Erin McKeown: 2005-10-29, Edinburgh [flac]*
Killers: 2004-12-01, Toronto [flac]*
Mekons: 2004-03-13, Hoboken [flac]*
Elvis Costello: 1999-10-05, Berlin [flac]*
The Tragically Hip: 1998-12-12, Milwaukee [flac]*
Radiohead: 1988, demos [flac]*
The Fall: 1985-04-01, Cleveland [flac]*
Roxy Music: 1979, BBC Rock Hour [flac]*
Neil Young: "5X or Less" live compilation [flac]*
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Win one of 5 30GB iPods with Video
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Snoopy iPod Nano Special Edition
This Snoopy iPod Nano set features a special edition 2GB iPod Nano that has Snoopy and Woodstock engraved on its back. The set also includes 3 unique Snoopy face-plates, a case, a lanyard, and a beautiful box to brag to the world that you own a limited Snoopy iPod Nano.
There's only 1000 sets available worldwide, so it's quite big deal. Furthermore, it's priced at a mere 33,600 Yen (US$288). They'll get snatched up like hot cakes!
[via Akihabaranews ]
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Video to iPod Software and Tutorials
| Video conversions: Apple QuickTime www.apple.com/quicktime /tutorials Videora www.videora.com PSP Video 9 for Windows www.pspvideo9.com Crazi Video www.riverpast.com Podner for Mac www.splasm.com ffmpegX for Mac http://homepage.mac.com/ major4 |
DVD conversions: Pocket DVD Studio ( www.pqdvd.com )
HandBrake ( http://HandBrake.m0k.org )
Pocket DVD Wizard ( www.pocket-dvd-wizard.com )
Video Vault ( www.divmm.com )
Super DVD to iPod Converter ( www.lenogo.com )
TV-show transfers:
MyTV ToGo ( www.mytvtogo.com )
EyeTV for Mac ( www.elgato.com )
TiVo ( www.tivo.com )
TVHarmony AutoPilot ( www.tvharmony.com/main/products.php )
Video downloads (parents, monitor use by kids because not all content is family fare):
Apple iTunes video podcasts ( www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts )
Minnesota Stories ( www.mnstories.com )
Guba ( www.guba.com )
iVideoBlast.com ( www.ivideoblast.com )
Blinx ( www.blinx.tv )
Vodcasts TV ( www.vodcasts.tv )
Heavy ( www.heavy.com )
Despair Inc. ( www.despair.com/spin.html )
Yahoo Video Search ( www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000202.html )
10 essentials for your video iPod ( www.podguide.tv/archives/2005/12/ten_essentials.html ).
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What you Need To Download Music and Video to your iPod
Buying prepackaged music videos or TV shows to download onto your iPod is just the beginning. To beef up your video library while saving money over the long haul — those two-buck hits can really add up — you can tap into a dizzying variety of services and software offerings.
With the right tools, you can "rip" movie DVDs and move their contents to your player. You can convert home videos on your computer into iPod-usable form. If you use a Windows PC or a Macintosh for TiVo-style TV recording, you can transfer shows to an iPod. And you can scour the Web for video "podcasts" and other clips by the hundreds.
Ripping DVDs: Richard Erickson of Burnsville uses Pocket DVD Studio software to convert his store-bought DVDs, such as "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Incredibles," for personal Pocket PC consumption.
The software yanks both video and audio off a DVD platter and deposits a movie file on his desktop. He transfers the file to a flash-memory card and sticks that into his HP Pocket PC. He is then able to watch his new video anytime.
"When I downloaded a trial" version of Pocket DVD Studio, which "does five or so minutes of video, I was hooked," says Erickson, who works as a video engineer in downtown St. Paul.
PQDVD.com, which sells Pocket DVD Studio, also offers Windows software for video iPods as well as Palm-based organizers and PlayStation Portables.
In the Macintosh realm, a free program called HandBrake rips DVDs for Mac and iPod use. Greg Swan, a resident of downtown St. Paul, had little trouble using the software to move "Batman Begins" onto his video iPod.
This kind of DVD-ripping software looks to be Kat Carney's salvation. The Durham, N.C., fitness buff owns more than 600 exercise DVDs, and she's desperate to get some of these onto her new video iPod so she can refer to the player (which she attaches to her arm via a Velcro holder) during gym workouts.
Previously, she relied on DVD audio transferred to an older iPod, but the routines were hard to follow without the video. So, "when I found out about the iPod video, I said, 'Oh, here we go — now we're in business.' " Last week, she had her workout videos "nice and stacked up, ready to go" for iPod conversion on her home computer.
Converting home videos: Home hard drives are typically loaded with home videos, and getting these onto an iPod or other video gadget is relatively straightforward. Apple Computer, for instance, offers a "pro" version of its QuickTime software that can convert many common kinds of video, as well as detailed video-conversion instructions on its Web site (see sidebar).
Michael Keliher of Minneapolis prefers to use Windows-based Videora software.
"This software automatically converts digital video files that are already on your computer (.mpg, .avi, etc.) into a format that's compatible with the video iPod," says Keliher, who works for a St. Paul-based marketing company. "Also, Videora can be used to download videos from the Web, convert them and transfer them to an iPod — all automatically."
Swan isn't as impressed with Videora, noting the firm's iPod Converter program "is pretty terrible, in my experience."
Videora Holdings provides a range of video-software utilities aimed at iPod and PlayStation Portable users as well as those using Xbox 360 gaming consoles and TiVo television-recording devices.
Continue reading "What you Need To Download Music and Video to your iPod"
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iPods and Music Downloads End Year on a High
According to figures from Hitwise, the online intelligence company, visits to music download sites, such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, saw a 50 per cent increase between December 24 and 25. Hitwise also found that visits to download sites were 15 per cent higher than last Christmas.
Even before the Christmas increase, the BPI, the UK record companies' trade association, said download sales had topped 23m this year, five times the 4.7m sold in 2004.
Weekly downloads already exceed 650,000 and may pass the 1m mark for the first time this holiday season.
The figures reflect the growing popularity of MP3 music players such as the iPod, which were among the most popular Christmas gift items this year. A number of retailers, such as Dixons, John Lewis and Amazon, have reported that MP3 players were their biggest-selling electronic items in the run-up to the holidays.
Some analysts expect Apple to have shipped 37m iPods worldwide by the year-end, with about 10m sold in the key Christmas quarter.
Apple's iTunes Music Store increased its dominance of the download market, receiving twice as many visits as its next closest rival, Sony's Connect internet site. This compares with Christmas Day last year, when iTunes was only 10 per cent ahead of its then closest competitor, Napster.
Despite trailing some way behind Apple, Sony's Connect site, which was launched 20 months ago, has also seen phenomenal growth this year. Last Christmas, the site was barely on the radar screen, ranked 15th most popular among internet users. This year, it is the second most popular destination for music downloads.
Heather Hopkins, director of research at Hitwise UK, said the increased traffic to the Connect site may reflect the popularity of the Sony Ericsson Walkman mobile phone, which has an integrated MP3 player and which is working closely with the Connect site on content.
Demand for the Walkman phone has been enormous since its launch in July, helping push up Sony Ericsson's third-quarter handset sales up 29 per cent year on year and taking the group up to fourth position in the global mobile handset market.
The music industry expects downloads and mobile phone ringtones to account for 6 per cent of all revenues this year.
Thanks to the Financial Times
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Top of the Pods - December 11th 2005
These are the top 5 rated podcasts courtesy of Digital Podcast as voted on by you during W/E Dec. 4th 2005 for All genres.
1. The Al Franken Show
After debunking right-wing propaganda in his bestselling books Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them and Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, Al Franken is taking the fight to America's airwaves--and he's doing it drug-free. With his co-host, veteran radio personality Katherine Lanpher, Franken will deliver three hours a day of fearlessly irreverent commentary, comedy, and interviews. Franken and Lanpher have a mean streak a smile wide. The Al Franken Show will energize fans, infuriate liars, and deliver the truth--in what Al Franken likes to call the Zero Spin Zone.
2.
SneeZwort.com - the adult podcast
This could be the rudest (and free) podcast on the net. Watch and listen to hot nude babes. Some having sex. Yes this is rude. And I do all the content. I add films and MP3's all the time. I hope you like. If you do, please recommend us to others.
3.
Pod-Porn.com
The Adult Auditorium - Audio files of fun, fantasy, erotica, fidelity, infidelity, and debauchery. For mature minds only!
4.
open source sex
erotica, sex ed and more with Violet Blue : provided by Rizzn's Podcaster
5.
SherlockHolmes
A web pod-casting of Sherlock Holmes stories.
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Win an iPod with Video - Free Draw
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Glossary of BitTorrent File-Sharing Terms
Here is a brief list of words associated with BitTorrent and their meanings.
torrent Usually this refers to the small metadata file you receive from the web server (the one that ends in .torrent .) Metadata here means that the file contains information about the data you want to download, not the data itself. This is what is sent to your computer when you click on a download link on a website. You can also save the torrent file to your local system, and then click on it to open the BitTorrent download. This is useful if you want to be able to re-open the torrent later on without having to find the link again. In some uses, it can also refer to everything associated with a certain file available with BitTorrent. For example, someone might say "I downloaded that torrent" or "that server has a lot of good torrents", meaning there are lots of good files available via BitTorrent on that server.
peer A peer is another computer on the internet that you connect to and transfer data. Generally a peer does not have the complete file, otherwise it would be called a seed. Some people also refer to peers as leeches, to distinguish them from those generous folks who have completed their download and continue to leave the client running and act as a seed. seed A computer that has a complete copy of a certain torrent. Once your client finishes downloading, it will remain open until you click the Finish button (or otherwise close it.) This is known as being a seed or seeding. You can also start a BT client with a complete file, and once BT has checked the file it will connect and seed the file to others. Generally, it's considered good manners to continue seeding a file after you have finished downloading, to help out others. Also, when a new torrent is posted to a tracker, someone must seed it in order for it to be available to others. Remember, the tracker doesn't know anything of the actual contents of a file, so it's important to follow through and seed a file if you upload the torrent to a tracker. reseed When there are zero seeds for a given torrent (and not enough peers to have a distributed copy), then eventually all the peers will get stuck with an incomplete file, since no one in the swarm has the missing pieces. When this happens, someone with a complete file (a seed) must connect to the swarm so that those missing pieces can be transferred. This is called reseeding. Usually a request for a reseed comes with an implicit promise that the requester will leave his or her client open for some time period after finishing (to add longevity to the torrent) in return for the kind soul reseeding the file. swarm The group of machines that are collectively connected for a particular file. For example, if you start a BitTorrent client and it tells you that you're connected to 10 peers and 3 seeds, then the swarm consists of you and those 13 other people.
tracker A server on the Internet that acts to coordinate the action of BitTorrent clients. When you open a torrent, your machine contacts the tracker and asks for a list of peers to contact. Periodically throughout the transfer, your machine will check in with the tracker, telling it how much you've downloaded and uploaded, how much you have left before finishing, and the state you're in (starting, finished download, stopping.) If a tracker is down and you try to open a torrent, you will be unable to connect. If a tracker goes down during a torrent (i.e., you have already connected at some point and are already talking to peers), you will be able to continue transferring with those peers, but no new peers will be able to contact you. Often tracker errors are temporary, so the best thing to do is just wait and leave the client open to continue trying. downloading Receiving data FROM another computer.
uploading Sending data TO another computer. share rating If you are using the experimental client with the stats-patch, you will see a share rating displayed on the GUI panel. This is simply the ratio of your amount uploaded divided by your amount downloaded. The amounts used are for the current session only, not over the history of the file. If you achieve a share ratio of 1.0, that would mean you've uploaded as much as you've downloaded. The higher the number, the more you have contributed. If you see a share ratio of "oo", this means infinity, which will happen if you open a BT client with a complete file (i.e., you seed the file.) In this case you download nothing since you have the full file, and so anything you send will cause the ratio to reach infinity. Note: The share rating is just a number that is displayed for your convenience. It does not directly affect any aspect of the client at all. In general, out of courtesy to others you should strive to keep this ratio as high as possible, of course. distributed copies In some versions of the client, you will see the text "Connected to n seeds; also seeing n.nnn distributed copies." A seed is a machine with the complete file. However, the swarm can collectively have a complete copy (or copies) of the file, and that is what this is telling you. Referring again to the "people at a table" analogy , consider the case where the book has 10 pages, and person A has pp.1-5 and B has pp.6-10. Collectively, A and B have a complete copy of the book, even though no one person has the whole thing. In other words, even if there are no seeds, as long as there is at least one distributed copy of the file everyone can eventually get a complete file. Meditate on this, the Zen of BitTorrent, grasshopper.
Continue reading "Glossary of BitTorrent File-Sharing Terms"
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File Sharing on the Internet for Music Downloads
BitTorrent is a protocol designed for transferring files. It is peer-to-peer in nature, as users connect to each other directly to send and receive portions of the file. However, there is a central server (called a tracker) which coordinates the action of all such peers. The tracker only manages connections, it does not have any knowledge of the contents of the files being distributed, and therefore a large number of users can be supported with relatively limited tracker bandwidth.
The key philosophy of BitTorrent is that users should upload (transmit outbound) at the same time they are downloading (receiving inbound.) In this manner, network bandwidth is utilized as efficiently as possible. BitTorrent is designed to work better as the number of people interested in a certain file increases, in contrast to other file transfer protocols.
One analogy to describe this process might be to visualize a group of people sitting at a table. Each person at the table can both talk and listen to any other person at the table. These people are each trying to get a complete copy of a book. Person A announces that he has pages 1-10, 23, 42-50, and 75. Persons C, D, and E are each missing some of those pages that A has, and so they coordinate such that A gives them each copies of the pages he has that they are missing. Person B then announces that she has pages 11-22, 31-37, and 63-70. Persons A, D, and E tell B they would like some of her pages, so she gives them copies of the pages that she has. The process continues around the table until everyone has announced what they have (and hence what they are missing.) The people at the table coordinate to swap parts of this book until everyone has everything. There is also another person at the table, who we'll call 'S'. This person has a complete copy of the book, and so doesn't need anything sent to him. He responds with pages that no one else in the group has. At first, when everyone has just arrived, they all must talk to him to get their first set of pages. However, the people are smart enough to not all get the same pages from him. After a short while they all have most of the book amongst themselves, even if no one person has the whole thing. In this manner, this one person can share a book that he has with many other people, without having to give a full copy to everyone that's interested. He can instead give out different parts to different people, and they will be able to share it amongst themselves. This person who we've referred to as 'S' is called a seed in the terminology of BitTorrent.
How does BitTorrent compare to other forms of file transfer?
The most common method by which files are transferred on the Internet is the client-server model. A central server sends the entire file to each client that requests it -- this is how both http and ftp work. The clients only speak to the server, and never to each other. The main advantages of this method are that it's simple to set up, and the files are usually always available since the servers tend to be dedicated to the task of serving, and are always on and connected to the Internet. However, this model has a significant problem with files that are large or very popular, or both. Namely, it takes a great deal of bandwidth and server resources to distribute such a file, since the server must transmit the entire file to each client. Perhaps you may have tried to download a demo of a new game just released, or CD images of a new Linux distribution, and found that all the servers report "too many users," or there is a long queue that you have to wait through. The concept of mirrors partially addresses this shortcoming by distributing the load across multiple servers. But it requires a lot of coordination and effort to set up an efficient network of mirrors, and it's usually only feasible for the busiest of sites.
Continue reading "File Sharing on the Internet for Music Downloads"
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File-Sharing Survey of 2005
The year 2005 was an excellent year, depending of course on your point of view. For the tech industry, BitTorrent soared to new heights while Steve Jobs enjoyed record breaking iPod sales. Yet not everyone shared this success. The RIAA continued its fight against P2P networking with little effect, as Sony-BMG disgraced itself and the DRM concept.
Great article from Tom over at Slyck's I've added a few links for extra info.
Winners
BitTorrent - There is little doubt BitTorrent has emerged as the quintessential file-sharing protocol in 2005. Estimates on its size are staggering – anywhere from 60%-90% of a ISPs bandwidth is consumed by this protocol. In addition, it's suggested that up to 10 million individuals are transferring files via the BitTorrent protocol at any given moment.BitTorrent has emerged as a legitimate distribution source as well. Being a highly efficient protocol for the distribution large files, it has become a popular method for distributing the Linux operating system and authorized multimedia entertainment.
Apple Computers, Inc. – Apple has managed to resurrect itself despite the overwhelming PC market. But Steve Job's success isn't attributed to a more practically priced Mac. Instead, Steve Jobs can thank the iPod. After selling over 30 million units, it has become nearly synonymous with the term “MP3 Player.”
Several variants of the iPod; the iPod Nano, the iPod Shuffle, and the new video iPod, have helped Apple once again become a house hold name. The residual effects of the iPod success story have helped Apple add 1 million Mac users, while doubling its stock value from $34 a share in January to $74 at close of business yesterday.
LimeWire – There was a time when the Gnutella network was little more than a running joke in the P2P world. The network was largely inefficient, file transfers were slow, and resources were scant. But then the remarkable happened. Led by the developmental efforts of Limewire and BearShare, the old problems associated with this network were swept away paving the way for the Gnutella resurrection.
Limewire has since remained at the forefront of Gnutella development and has quickly become the mainstream P2P program of choice. However unlike Kazaa, Limewire is highly respected among new comers and hard core file-sharers alike. Although Limewire's network crawler estimates over 2 million connected users (a majority of which are Limewire clients), the number is suspected of being much higher – perhaps exceeding 5 million.
Open Source P2P – On September 13th, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) sent approximately seven ‘cease and desist' letters to various commercial P2P developers. The letters demanded they impede the infringing activities of their users or face litigation.
Limewire, BearShare, MetaMachine (eDonkey), WinMX, and Ares Galaxy are believed to be among those contacted by the RIAA. The reaction varied among each developer. BearShare closed its forums and hasn't released another version since September. WinMX completely shut down its operation. MetaMachine “threw in the towel.”
While the effort appears to have stifled commercial development of file-sharing, it served only encourage open source development.
Because of Limewire's open source nature, development continues unabated. Even if Limewire institutes the anticipated DRM version, or shuts down completely, development should prosper without consequence. Limewire development is a community affair that exists outside the mere confines of a corporate office. The result of this community effort has spawned the popular Frostwire variant that likewise is built upon the same open source principles.
Although it's doubtful we'll ever see another official eDonkey client, eMule and its variants continue to evolve. Already controlling over 90% of the network, open source eDonkey2000 applications have made MetaMachine irrelevant. If you're worried about eMule, don't. Considering it's an already stable client, development has always been on the slow side. Yet to sooth any concerns, an eMule developer recently told Slyck.com, “Development goes forward normally, and a new version will be released eventually.”
The story is similar for BitTorrent as well. Built on similar principles as Gnutella, BitTorrent is the very definition of a free community. Dozens of open source clients are regularly updated, and of course the protocol is free for anyone to examine.
At the end of 2005, 4 of the 5 largest communities – BitTorrent, eDoneky2000, Gnutella, and Ares Galaxy – are all open source.
ThePirateBay – With 836,879 registered users, 2,451,086 peers and 113,419 tracked torrents, ThePirateBay.org has become the most popular BitTorrent indexing site. Its ever expanding server farm helps millions of individuals share information, and the fact it resides in the BitTorrent friendly country of Sweden has allowed this tracker to remain intact.
ThePirateBay has grown in notoriety as being clearly defiant of any kind of copyright enforcement. The site's administrator, Anakata, has become well known for his handling of DMCA and other copyright violation notices. From its early days in mid-2004, when it only served 6750 torrents and 156389 peers, ThePirateBay.org has become a leader in this community.
Losers
RIAA – The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) wasn't without its fair share of successes in 2005. As a co-plaintiff in the Grokster vs. MGM lawsuit, the Supreme Court remanded the case to the lower courts and ruled this file-sharing company could be sued.
Continue reading "File-Sharing Survey of 2005"
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New Podcast from The Telegraph
TheTelegraph has announced a free podcast service - a convenient new way to sample the highlights of each day's paper.
You simply download it as an MP3 file, then listen to it directly through iTunes or windows media player at your desk - or transfer it to your portable MP3 player to enjoy on the move.
Each day, this single audio download features three key articles selected by the editor, to give you a flavour of the day's paper.
It allows you to sample the Daily Telegraph's incisive political, business, social and sporting writing - in many cases read by the columnists themselves. And you can look forward to even more features and exclusive content coming soon .
To get your free podcast
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The Future of Podcasting
According to a recent release by Bridge Ratings for user growth in
the podcast universe, based on interviews with radio listeners in
ten national markets, 4.8 million persons (up from 820,000 podcast
users in 2004) have at some time during 2005 downloaded a podcast
from either a radio station or other source. The study estimates
that iTunes was referenced as the most often accessed portal for
podcast downloads.
The study notes that two different metrics define the podcast user
universe: Weekly users and those that have ever downloaded and
listened to a podcast. By 2010 podcast audience growth is expected
to reach a conservative 45 million users who will have ever
listened to a podcast. Aggressive estimates place this number
closer to 75 million by this date.
Currently, approximately 20% of users who have ever downloaded and
listened to a podcast do so on a weekly basis. This group downloads
an average of six podcasts per week and spends approximately four
hours a month listening to the podcasts they download.
By 2010 Podcasts will positively impact radio by boosting tune-in,
says the study, since on average less than 20% listen to their
podcast downloads on an MP3 player or other digital device.
Projections and summary notations:
-- 5 in 300 (1.6%) have ever downloaded a podcast. (5M) in 2005
20% download weekly (1M)
-- By 2010, podcast downloaders will reach (median estimate) 60
million, with 18 million a week
-- Average user downloads 6 podcasts a month
-- Average user spends 4 hrs/month on podcasts
-- Only 20% currently listen on MP3
Source: Bridgeratings, November 2005
As an interesting addendum, the Bridgeratings included an Early
Adoption chart to aid in anticipating innovative acceptance and
growth:
- Innovators: 2.3% of population... brave consumers, pulling the change
- Early Adopters: 13.5%... opinion leaders try out new ideas, but
carefully
- Early Majority: 34%... thoughtful people, but accept change more
quickly than average
- Late Majority: 34%... skeptical, will use only when the majority are
using it.
- Laggards: 16%... traditionalists, will only accept only if the new
idea has become mainstream or tradition
Content from Center for Media Research.
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Mom Fights Music Downloading Suit on Her Own
It was Easter Sunday, and Patricia Santangelo was in church with her kids when she says the music recording industry peeked into her computer and decided to take her to court.
Santangelo says she has never downloaded a single song on her computer, but the industry didn't see it that way. The woman from Wappingers Falls, about 80 miles north of New York City, is among the more than 16,000 people who have been sued for allegedly pirating music through file-sharing computer networks.
"I assumed that when I explained to them who I was and that I wasn't a computer downloader, it would just go away," she said in an interview. "I didn't really understand what it all meant. But they just kept insisting on a financial settlement."
The industry is demanding thousands of dollars to settle the case, but Santangelo, unlike the 3,700 defendants who have already settled, says she will stand on principle and fight the lawsuit.
"It's a moral issue," she said. "I can't sign something that says I agree to stop doing something I never did."
If the downloading was done on her computer, Santangelo thinks it may have been the work of a young friend of her children. Santangelo, 43, has been described by a federal judge as "an Internet-illiterate parent, who does not know Kazaa from kazoo, and who can barely retrieve her email." Kazaa is the peer-to-peer software program used to share files.
The drain on her resources to fight the case _ she's divorced, has five children aged 7 to 19 and works as a property manager for a real estate company _ forced her this month to drop her lawyer and begin representing herself.
"There was just no way I could continue on with a lawyer," she said. "I'm out $24,000 and we haven't even gone to trial."
So on Thursday she was all alone at the defense table before federal Magistrate Judge Mark Fox in White Plains, looking a little nervous and replying simply, "Yes, sir" and "No, sir" to his questions about scheduling and exchange of evidence.
She did not look like someone who would have downloaded songs like Incubus' "Nowhere Fast," Godsmack's "Whatever" and Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life," all of which were allegedly found on her computer.
Her former lawyer, Ray Beckerman, says Santangelo doesn't really need him.
"I'm sure she's going to win," he said. "I don't see how they could win. They have no case. They have no evidence she ever did anything. They don't know how the files appeared on her computer or who put them there."
Continue reading "Mom Fights Music Downloading Suit on Her Own"
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Luxury ipod Accessories
Luxury-goods merchants Neiman Marcus Group Inc. and Coach Inc. are getting a sales boost from Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod music player by offering designer covers costing as much as $840.
Neiman's "Christmas Book" catalog features seven iPod cases made by designers such as Gucci Group NV and Emilio Pucci SRI. The Dallas-based retailer's Valentino Swarovski crystal-studded cover is more than double the $399 price tag for the most expensive version of the iPod.
Sales of digital-player accessories are surging this holiday season, after climbing fourfold to $412 million in the first nine months of the year, according to market-researcher NPD Group Inc. The iPod accounted for 72 percent of all music players sold in the United States through October.
"The portable digital-player accessory market is exploding and it's not going to stop," said Stephen Baker, a vice president at Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group. "Sales for the fourth quarter of 2005 are expected to exceed the total volume generated so far this year. With momentum like that, the industry is poised to approach $1 billion for 2005."
Cases and bags were the second-biggest category after speaker systems and accounted for 18 percent of the dollar volume, NPD said.
The top sellers industrywide are the Coach and Juicy Couture lines and covers embellished with studs and grommets, as well as metallic washes in bronze and gold, said Melissa Galit, an accessories expert at Doneger Group, a New York-based retail-consulting firm.
While some iPod owners prefer $34.95 rubber cases, prices for most iPod fashion-technology covers mostly range from $68 to $230, she said. The iPods themselves range from $99 to almost $400. Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has sold more than 28.3 million iPods since it introduced them in October 2001.
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eMusic Reaches 1 Million Music Downloads
Proclaiming that it has” the greatest independent music catalogue ever assembled,” eMusic recently announced the addition of the millionth track to its subscriber-driven online music service. The track, a new live version of the Pixies' "Here Comes Your Man," brought the subscriber-based service full circle. In 1998, the first two songs in eMusic's library were by Frank Black and the Catholics, whose frontman Frank Black is now in the Pixies.
In the past six years, independent labels have emerged as the hottest force in the record business, and through partnerships with thousands of independent record labels eMusic is now delivering in excess of four million downloads per month to more than 100,000 subscribers. Its entire catalog is in MP3 format, and selections run the gamut of musical styles, from Alternative/Punk and Urban Hip/Hop to Classical and Inspirational.
I (Frank Moldstat) recently became a trial eMusic subscriber, after being solicited with an offer of 50 free songs. The offer required that I register on the site, providing my name, contact details and credit card information. The subscription takes effect after a two-week trial period; if I terminate it within two weeks, there's no further obligation – and the 50 tracks are mine to keep.
But after exploring the site in some depth, I've decided to keep the subscription. The content is fresh and extensive, the cost is reasonable, and eMusic offers multiple ways of discovering new music. It provides write-ups from the All-Music guide, subscriber-written reviews, and columns such as former New York Times music critic Ann Powers and Newsday 's classical music critic Justin Davidson. It also publishes genre-specific monthly e-newsletters that highlight new releases and offer reviews and commentary. An in-house magazine, appropriately called “magazine,” is linked from eMusic's home page, covering all genres with artist spotlights, daily reviews and editor's picks
In addition, personalized recommendations are available through member playlists, and you can access download lists from “Neighbors,” members whose taste is similar to your own. There are also fairly active user forums on the site, where people tout new artists they've discovered and discuss current musical trends.
A built-in search function enables subscribers to find specific artists, albums, labels and song titles. Finally, there's the good old reliable method of discovery -- browsing. eMusic breaks down its catalog by genre, style, region, era, most-downloaded albums, live shows and other categories.
Genres include Alternative/Punk, Blues, Classical, Country/Folk, Electronic, Inspirational, Jazz, New Age, Rock/Pop, Urban/Hip-Hop, World/Reggae and Soundtracks/Other. Clicking on any of these leads to a dedicated page for further refining a desired musical style. As an example, style categories for Alternative/Punk are Alt/Punk Ska, Alternative, Alternative Experimental, Alternative Hard Rock, Brit Pop, Emo, Garage Rock, Goth, Hardcore, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Industrial, Live Alt/Punk, Math Rock, New Wave, Post-Punk and Punk. Each has hundreds of entries.
Continue reading "eMusic Reaches 1 Million Music Downloads"
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V Cast Music - Competition for iTunes with Music Downloads
Verizon plans to launch, on January 16, a music-download service wirelessly, via mobile phones onto Windows PCs, writes CNET. Called V Cast Music, the service is intended to compete with Apple's iTunes and other, and it would give Microsoft, which is Verizon's partner in the project, a better foothold in mobile services. The service will be available via Circuit City, Verizon Wireless stores and Verizon's website, allowing customers to browse, preview, download and play music from a mobile handset and a computer.
Verizon expects the service to offer more than a million songs by spring, including music from artists on major labels, such as Warner Music Group, EMI Music, Universal Music Group and Sony BMG.Through a partnership with Microsoft, Verizon's V Cast Music service allows the transfer of music between Windows PCs and mobile phones, giving Microsoft a better hold in the mobile infrastructure market.
Music execs, in turn, are eager for alternatives to iTunes and Apple's ability to set industry-wide prices and policies for digital music.
Today, Verizon Wireless only offers music phones , similar to Rork that Motorola, Apple and Cingular launched to much fanfare in September. Only, unlike Rork, Verizon's music phones don't easily work with iTunes, the service that's used by the lion's share of digital music downloaders. And while Cingular made a big deal of the service, Verizon hasn't made much noise about its phones so far.
In rolling out a service allowing for over-the-air music downloads, Verizon is clearly behind Sprint. And while Verizon says its service's features will be more exciting than Sprint's, I've got to see that to believe it.
What I've read about the new service so far seems to be a rerun of what Sprint or Cingular offer already. Sure, the new music service will allow not just for over-the-air music downloads but also for transfering music between Windows-based PCs and mobile phones. But Sprint users can already do that .
Perhaps Verizon, which developed the feature together with Microsoft, is going to make the process more seamless. That would be very valuable.
Perhaps the service will also be less choosy than Sprint's in terms of the types of music files it can play on cell phones. Sprint's service can't play certain music files formatted for the PC.
I hope that's the case, and that Verizon will introduce some unique capabilities rather than simply play catch-up.
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The BitTorrent Route to Download Music and Video
First released two years ago the BitTorrent P2P filesharing protocol has been steadily picking up users.Over the last six months it has really taken off — its creator Bram Cohen claims that BitTorrent accounts for a third of all Internet traffic. Most recently it hit the headlines when Cohen met with the head of the MPAA (the US cinema industry association) to discuss how BitTorrent could be used for legitimate commercial services, and agreed to remove any links to copyrighted content from his website.
Firstly, let's clear up the issue of what BitTorrent is and isn't. The press reports on Cohen's meeting with the MPAA have somewhat misleadingly implied that BitTorrent is a P2P network, such as FastTrack or Gnutella, or a software application such as Kazaa or Grokster. It isn't really either of these things — when people say "BitTorrent", they generally mean the open source protocol that can be used to share files over the Internet. There is no BitTorrent network, and neither is there any single piece of client software, although Cohen created the original client, which is also called BitTorrent. However, this is far less popular than other BitTorrent clients from different developers, such as Azureus, BitTornado and BitComet, which have more functionality.
Files are shared by means of a very small "torrent" file placed on a Web site; when a user opens this link with their BitTorrent client, they are connected to a network made up of all the users uploading/downloading that particular file. The BitTorrent protocol works by breaking each file into a large number of small pieces, which are simultaneously uploaded and downloaded by those who are connected to that particular file. In this way, BitTorrent maximises network efficiency by enabling users to simultaneously upload and download the same file.
Continue reading "The BitTorrent Route to Download Music and Video"
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Year of the iPod
Apple Music Mania Vinyl junkies and Luddites aside, '05 was the tipping point for digital music, and the year Apple became unquestionably synonymous with the portable digital “lifestyle.” iPods and iTunes hold an overwhelming market share; they have an unparalleled knack for making new technology usable by normal folks ( viz. video, integrated podcasts, digital music in phones); and the buzz on their products is reliably insane.
This year every single iPod variant — Mini, Shuffle, Nano, ROKR, video iPod — was greeted by consumers and media with the kind of rapturous acclaim previously reserved for actual superstars. What exposes Apple's true ubiquity, however, is that their products are influencing other important music happenings.
How do you account for the rebirth of the single format? Answer: the iTunes music store . How about the muted reaction to the Supreme Court's Grokster decision? No one cares about piracy quite so much now that you can buy songs for 99 cents. What's the answer to terrestrial radio's ratings woes? A new, genre-agnostic radio format called Jack that — you guessed it — mimics the shuffle setting on an iPod. And what if you've given up on radio altogether? Well, underground phenomena like podcasting have arisen to take its place.
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iPod Insurance Warning
A recent Press Release from Hiscox, a UK based Lloyds Insurer, says that with iPods and MP3 players set to be a ‘must have' gadget for Christmas, specialist insurer Hiscox is warning music lovers that they could face a “double whammy” if their portable player is lost or stolen, as they stand to lose both their player and potentially their music library too.
Apple is expected to sell more than 9.4 million iPods during the three-month period ending December 31st¹, providing rich pickings for would-be thieves. Recent figures show that muggings and snatch thefts of iPods in London have increased more than fivefold since last November², all the more reason for owners to ensure they have adequate insurance.
However, most standard home contents insurance policies exclude portable electronic equipment and limit data reinstatement to fixed home computers. Conversely Hiscox will not only insure portable computer equipment as a standard part of its all-risks worldwide contents cover, but will also pay up to £2,500 towards the cost of buying back any irretrievable music if it is not stored on the hard drive of a computer. This means that iPod users do not have to suffer the double loss of hardware and content.
Kevin Kerridge, Head of Direct Business, Hiscox commented: "Music fans stand to lose both their iPod or MP3 player and their music library if their player is stolen. Unless their songs are backed up on a PC, the cost could be huge. For example an iPod mini or nano can store 1,000 songs which can cost 79p³ each to download. This means a full library could be worth up to £790.
“To lose both an iPod and your own personal music library without any insurance is a frustrating and unnecessary double whammy. Consumers should make sure they are covered by their contents insurance.”
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New Rock Podcast
The major record rabel Interscope recently released The Rock Podcast program through Apple's iTunes. The first episode contains tracks from a number bands published by the label (like NIN, U2, and AudioSlave)with interviews and other good stuff coming in the future.
This level of endorsement from a major record label like Interscope shows that the industry has quickly embraced this medium as a way to promote their artists.
While I think it's great, it would be even better if they included the entire song in the Podcast, truly embracing it as a replacement for radio - but only adding snippets, it's just not the experience that Podcasting should be.
(via Punknews.org )
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Free Christmas Music
Garritan , a company that makes computer music software, has posted its second album of free holiday music, A GPO Christmas 2 . The album is a collaborative effort of the Garritan Personal Orchestra community.
A community of professional and amateur composers and arrangers from all over the world met on the Internet and agreed to submit their own recordings of holiday pieces, to be freely distributed on the site.
Each of these orchestral-style recordings were made not with live orchestras, but rather were created by a single person working on a computer. Most of what you'll hear was created by someone playing at a keyboard and meticulously programming and editing musical phrases in a digital sequencing program.
Check out Toby Bresnahan's take on What Child is This? for an example of the music on the free CD.
The tracks are available for free download at the Garritan site. While they can be downloaded for free, podcasters should contact the arranger if they are interested in using them in a podcast.
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Disney Launch New Podcast on Xmas Day
On Christmas Day, Walt Disney World will launch a weekly podcast called "Walt Disney World Resort: Plugged In." The broadcast will be part of "Happiest Celebration of Earth," which celebrates the 50th anniversary of Disney's theme parks.
The podcast will include news about upcoming events as well as behind-the-scenes reports that include interviews with Disney's Imagineers, who design the theme park rides. Disney also said that upcoming podcasts will feature interviews with celebrities, including John Stamos, Vanessa Williams and Susan Lucci.
Listeners can subscribe through iTunes or through the Disney Web site .
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Free Content for your Video iPod from Blinkx tv
blinkx, the smartest thing on your computer and on the Web, today launched blinkx.tv To Go, a service that enables users to search for specific video content online and sync it with one click to their iTunes or personal video player software, regardless of its original format.
Over the past several months, video blogging has exploded on the Internet, suggesting that many consumers are eager for an alternative to commercial broadcasts. However, this kind of independent content is not widely available at traditional download sites, such as iTunes.com, and what there is, can be difficult to find. With its new blinkx.tv To Go service, blinkx is throwing open the doors to a wide variety of new, user-generated video and making it fully searchable and portable with one quick click.
blinkx.tv To Go enables users to enter a search of video blogs, and with one click, either upload specific results to their iPod or portable video player, or save the search as a "channel," which is automatically and perpetually updated and fed to their devices, where it can then be viewed as a single media stream. blinkx takes care of all the formatting, regardless of the original file type.
"blinkx.tv To Go empowers Internet users to customize not only what video content they receive, but also how and when they view it," said Suranga Chandratillake, CTO and founder of blinkx. "We wanted to make the experience of finding compelling multimedia and making it portable, as efficient and easy as possible. Our vision of IPTV combines the interactive, customizable experience of the Internet, with the simple, seamless way we watch TV, and now we've made it portable."
blinkx.tv To Go is available at www.blinkx.tv , and leverages the tremendous growth and variety of user-generated content on the Web. For example, skiing fanatics can enter a search on "moguls" or "iron cross," and with one click, save their favorite footage from the results to their iTunes or portable video player library. Alternatively, users can save the search as a feed which would continually and automatically submit relevant video to their library, for viewing at their convenience -- whenever and wherever they chose to watch it.
About blinkx
blinkx, the smartest thing on your computer and on the Web, is changing the way that people think about search. Only blinkx can harness the desktop, Web and TV -- unifying content with a one stop search tool. Available to users on the Web at www.blinkx.com and www.blinkx.tv , as well as free to download, blinkx automatically and intelligently links to content anywhere and in any format, on the Web, on the desktop and even on TV. blinkx's conceptual toolbar means users are no longer limited to keyword search; instead, blinkx assesses all the information that the user is actively viewing, and automatically recommends and retrieves relevant content, from local, Web and TV searches, based on context. In addition, www.blinkx.tv makes thousands of hours of TV content fully searchable and available on demand for the first time. blinkx is a privately-held company based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com .
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Vlogs,Vods,Video Bloggs in the Wake of the Apple iPods
From the internet counter-culture which spawned blogs and podcasts comes the newest thing in new media: vlogging.
In short video diaries and homemade reality shows, vloggers are using the power of cheap online technology to invite strangers into their lives.Topics range from in-depth discussions on the meaning of the universe to crude and jerky snapshots of everyday life.
In new vlogs uploaded this week, you could take a spin through teeming Mumbai in an auto-rickshaw, drop in on the life of young Filipina vlogger Karen Avila or watch a woman simply tending a kettle in her New York apartment.
Vlogs are an offshoot of "blogs", or weblogs - diaries posted on the internet which sparked a new wave of "citizen journalism" - and their audio equivalent, podcasting.
Vlogging's time has come thanks to a new generation of cheap cameras, editing programs and simple software - plus fast broadband connections needed to download content.
It draws on the utopian dreams of pioneers who envisage a network of citizen journalists across the globe, liberated from the "we know what's best for you" patronage of established media firms.
Giant leap for vlogging
"People are interested in seeing more of real people - they are kind of getting sick of the very flashy content and want something more down to earth," said Amanda Congdon, co-writer and anchor of Rocketboom , a wildly successful New York-based vlog.
The vlogging craze hints at the coming convergence of the internet and television, and the soon-to-dawn day when programs will be offered a la carte as web downloads rather than when a media firm chooses to broadcast them.
It comes as established media companies - newspapers as well as broadcast giants - are starting to post podcasts, videocasts and video news reports alongside written content.
Apple's unveiling in October of its new video iPod was a giant leap for vlogging - as short, basic downloads are ideal for the device's small screen.
Some vloggers glimpsed the true potential of the medium after last December's Asian tsunami disaster, when home videos, many made by tourists, were all over mainstream television stations and many were uploaded to the web.
"They had their moment in the tsunami coverage, when the BBC and other (established media) opened their websites to them," said Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet and American Life Project in Washington.
Amateur video reporters were also out in force when Hurricane Katrina smashed the US Gulf Coast with a murderous flood surge on August 29.
No reliable estimate is available on how many people are vlogging, but one vlog map program shows sites blossoming in the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Australia. Some are also cropping up in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
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Audacity Update Adds New Features for Podcasting
A new version of the free audio editor Audacity has been announced. A beta version is available , but it is not considered stable yet.
The software is popular with musicians and podcasters looking for a free, open source audio editing environment. Several features will be especially interesting for podcasters, including FTP uploading, transcription tools and batch processing.
New features
- Collapse/Expand Tracks - every track has an upward-pointing triangle at the bottom of the label area on the left side of the track. Click it once to collapse the track to a very small size, and click it again to expand it back to its previous size.
- Multiple clips per track - in Audacity 1.3, you can split a single track into multiple clips. You can move these clips around between different tracks, making it easy to construct complex compositions out of hundreds of smaller audio samples.
- Selection Bar - In Audacity 1.2, the current selection is contained in a status bar at the bottom of the window. In Audacity 1.3, this is replaced by a fully functional Selection Bar, which displays and controls the current selection (your choice of Start and End, or Start and Length), and the current audio position. The selection bar is fully editable - just click in any field and type to change the current selection precisely. In addition, many formatting options allow you to view times in different units, such as samples, CD frames, or NTSC video frames.
- Improved Label Tracks - Label Tracks are much improved, with support for overlapping labels, and support for modifying both the left and right edge of the label region just by clicking and dragging.
- QuickTime and Audio Units on Mac OS X - Audacity can now import any audio file supported by Apple's QuickTime technology. This includes .MOV and .MP4 (AAC) files. Encrypted audio files (such as those from the iTunes Music Store) cannot be imported directly into Audacity - Apple does not allow this to be done easily because it would be too easy to circumvent the encryption this way.
- Better performance with large projects - 1.3 now uses a hierarchical directory structure that results in better performance on large projects (tens of hours worth of audio across many tracks)
- Project integrity check on open - When you open an Audacity project in version 1.3, it checks to make sure that all data files are present.
- Transcription toolbar - A new toolbar for creating transcriptions of speech in Label Tracks. Includes features that enable you to change the playback speed, create labels automatically based on onsets, and more. To enable this feature, go to the Interface tab of the Preferences.
- Upload via FTP - Audacity 1.3 has an experimental new dialog for uploading files to a server via FTP. Currently it is just a simple FTP client; in the future we will integrate this feature into Audacity more so you can publish a project directly to a site as a Podcast, for example.
- Batch / CleanSpeech - Audacity has a new feature that allows you to process a bunch of files, for example normalizing and converting to MP3. The CleanSpeech mode provides a simplified interface for some standard adjustments typically made on speech recordings. You can access these features in the Batch tab of the Preferences dialog.
- Cut lines - When this feature is enabled (in the Interface tab of the Preferences), cutting audio in the middle of a clip does not remove it permanently - at any time in the future, just click on the cut line to restore it.
The Audacity site warns that "Audacity 1.3 is an unstable, beta version of Audacity. Users who want a completely stable, finished program should be using Audacity 1.2. Audacity 1.3 has hundreds of new features, but some features may be incomplete or confusing, it is more likely to crash, and you are more likely to lose data."
Both versions are available for download at the Audacity site.
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iPods Selling Well on eBay
Months after Apple discontinued it in favor of the iPod nano, the iPod mini remains a popular seller on eBay , reports the online auction giant. The iPod mini is among the most popular items on sale on eBay this week, according to a new report.
Since being discontinued in September, more than 39,500 iPod minis have been sold through eBay at an average price of $194, reported the company. iPod nanos, by comparison, have sold more than 16,000 units since their introduction — averaging $221 each.
The information comes from eBay Marketplace Research, a new service offered by eBay.
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A Videocast About Life as a Schoolteacher in Japan
A new videocast from Japan, Guzen Radio, is available on iTunes. Their object is to let us know what it's like to live, work and play in Japan. This is a video he did to promote his other podcast - English Teaching in Japan
The videocast is here
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PayPal Offers Free Songs with iTune Gift Cards
PayPal is running a special where you can get up to 25 free songs from the iTunes Music Store (Download iTunes Here) when you purchase iTunes gift certificates with your PayPal account. Purchasing a US$20 gift certificate earns you 10 free songs, and a $50 certificate earns 25 free songs. The promotion runs through December 31. Additional information is available at the PayPal iTunes promo Web site .
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Bush Wants a New iPod U2
Speaking to Sky TV , the politician reveals he has an iPod shuffle for running, as well as a standard iPod.
When asked about what is on the music player, Bush asked one of his aides to grab it and began looking up entries by artist. "Beach Boys, Beatles," the president said, before adding that he uses shuffle to listen to those bands as well as Aretha Franklin and "Dan" McClean recordings. One of several people in the room quickly corrected Bush, noting that Don, not Dan, was the man who sang "American Pie."When asked about what is on the music player, Bush asked one of his aides to grab it and began looking up entries by artist. "Beach Boys, Beatles," the president said, before adding that he uses shuffle to listen to those bands as well as Aretha Franklin and "Dan" McClean recordings. One of several people in the room quickly corrected Bush, noting that Don, not Dan, was the man who sang "American Pie."
Bush then casually noted that "Bono came in and dropped his new iPod on me" and compared the popular iPod nano from U2's lead singer to the older one he carries.
"This is a clunker compared to the newer version," he said.
Bush said it "can shuffle the shuffle" and called the device and its features "pretty high-tech stuff."
He made no mention of whether Bono's singing with U2 is among his selections.
Win an ipod - offer expires 31st Dec.
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iPod with Video - The New Porn Machine
What will be more popular in the long run? An episode of "Desperate Housewives" or a five minute trailer of "Milf's Unlimited" (I made that up!)? Since Apple introduced the iPod with Video a whole new industry has been born. Portable Porn.
According to TVPredictions.com, the first pornographic offerings showed up on video iPods within 24 hours of the product's launch. Already, the research company Yankee Group of Boston estimates the portable porn market will reach annual revenues of $200 million within four years.The audience is already waiting: SuicideGirls.com, which offers videos of women with an acute aversion to clothing, registered 1 million video iPod-style downloads.
Will we be carrying Porn in our Pockets in the future?
Phil Hall has written an entertaining article "Smut Finding Its Way Onto Video iPods In a Big Way"
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Podcasting and Videoblogging Survey
A recent study suggests that up to 40% of podcasters and vodcasters are in it for the Money! Dr Peter Chen, an assistant lecturer in media at Monash University and author of the Podcasting and Videoblogging: A Production-Side Analysis study, says that while he found the result surprising, it should be qualified in the sense that most producers probably didn't expect the podcasts or videoblogs to provide a substantial income.
"There's probably quite a large part of that 40 per cent who have quite a minimal commercial interest there," he says. "But then there's another section of that group who probably see podcasting or videoblogging as a gateway to mainstream media."
The survey found most of the 307 podcasters and 69 videobloggers (25 respondents produced in both formats) were relatively well-educated English-speaking males aged in their mid-30s.
Most spent between two and three hours developing a single episode of their shows, and while the average podcast was about 30 minutes, videoblogs were 13 minutes on average.
While Dr Chen was surprised at the limited number of female podcasters and videobloggers - 83 per cent of podcasters and 84 per cent of videobloggers were male - the shows covered a diverse range of subjects.
While the use of experts and guests was common in both videoblogs and podcasts, Dr Chen says most shows are produced by people working alone
"What we don't see is a lot of individuals working together to produce a show," he says. "It's a solo activity."
Describing the use of videoblogs and podcasts as "one of the first examples of that massively distributed internet digital platforms that people have been talking about for years and years", Dr Chen says that while the quality of programs can be varied, "to be honest, some of the audio podcasts are equal to or better quality than mainstream radio".
Links:
The Homepage of Peter Chen
PDF Version of the Report
Audio Summary of the report
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How to Profit from Podcasting
The Podcasting phenomenon is making a huge consumer impact and offers gigantic potential for anyone with good content and the desire to start their own podcasts. Similar to broadcasting, the term "podcasting" refers to placing a large number of customized songs or programs on a very portable device, (iPods or MP3 players), which are smaller than a man's wallet. And, many are reaching for their wallets to enter the world of podcasting.
To help anyone wishing to become a podcaster, wsRadio.com, whose tagline is "The Worldwide leader in Internet Talk," recently launched a web site, www.BecomeAPodcaster.com . This site provides free information and tips about the revolutionary, new podcasting medium. The website covers: What is Podcasting? How does it work? How can I do it myself? How do I promote my Podcast? And how do I make money with it?
WsRadio added podcasting to eBay Radio, produced for eBay Inc, in May of 2005. As one of wsRadio's most popular shows, wsRadio found that the podcasting option increased their listenership for eBay Radio over 15%. "That was proof enough to start adding podcasting for other programs, starting with the popular HayHouse Radio shows with famous authors like Wayne Dyer and Sylvia Browne" says Lee Mirabal, VP, Director of Programming for wsRadio. Lee continued, "Podcasting is an additional distribution platform for our Internet talk shows and is another example of how technology is driving the transition of talk radio to the internet." Lee, a 40-year broadcast veteran, loves radio but now jokingly refers to traditional radio as "Offline Radio." Offering other advice on this new medium, Mirabal points out that, "good sound quality and a professional presentation are vitally important for building a successful podcast audience. That is where wsRadio can help should an individual or corporation wish to host a show on wsRadio."
Continue reading "How to Profit from Podcasting"
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Popeye and Betty Boop for your Video iPod
iVideoBlast.com offers a new service to deliver the best classic Animation, TV Shows and Movies for your video iPod. The website – www.iVideoBlast.com – went live on December 12, 2005. The launch is just in time to help holiday shoppers add more value to their iPod purchases by including classic video entertainment for as little as $.99.
"The new video iPod is one of the top selling products for Christmas 2005 but the iPod technology is only as good as the content available for it," informs Justin Thorn co-founder of iVideoBlast.com.
Co-founder Scott Britner adds, "Consumers are desperate for good quality content and the new video iPod users are no different." The initial iVideoBlast.com library includes classic American video entertainment like Popeye, Betty Boop, Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffith, Looney Tunes, Three Stooges and much more.
If you own a video iPod or you are giving one as a gift be sure to visit www.iVideoBlast.com and fuel your iPod with a library of video classics… all for just $.99 per Animation or TV Show or $1.99 per movie.
For more information visit www.iVideoBlast.com.
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iPods and the Digital Video Business
Having become the 'de facto' method of listening to music on the go, can apple's ipods do the same for 'video-on-demand'? Within 3 months of releasing the iPod with Video, the company has sold more than 3 million videos. In a recent article, Adam Penenberg said:
As it tries to become a major power in the video world, Apple will face far greater obstacles than it did in the music biz. While record companies, fearful of piracy, refused to create an infrastructure to sell digital music, Hollywood has been inking deals with cable companies and technology companies. Last month, CBS and Comcast announced a video-on-demand service that will offer "digital rentals" of CSI and Survivor episodes for 99 cents a pop. NBC and DirecTV have worked out a similar deal. Not to be outdone, TiVo is planning a way for customers to download programs to portable devices. The BBC has been trying out Kontiki, a company that uses peer-to-peer software to allow users to watch movies, TV shows, and music videos on their PCs for up to a week after their original airing.In fairness to Apple they did call the new product 'iPod with Video' stressing that it is first and foremost a music player and not a video player. It has created a real stir and many companies have more than an eye on future developments. Content providers are obviously licking their lips but there remains a huge amount of content on the P2P networks and they'll never go away! You can read the full article here and make up your own mind.
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New Technology Podcast - Coolness Roundup
Digital Media Net columnists Charlie White and Stephen Schleicher announced their new podcast, entitled "Coolness Roundup." The weekly podcast is currently available on the iTunes Store and Podcast Alley, as well as via direct download. You've read Charlie White's articles, reviews and rants; you've learned from Stephen Schleicher's reviews and tutorials -- now you can hear what both have to say in this exclusive weekly podcast that takes you on a wild ride through the world of consumer electronics and professional content creation.
Said co-host Stephen Schleicher, "With constant change going on in the industry -- both consumer and pro