Advice for the Record Industry

[James Fee]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/130667.html' target='_blank'>http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/130667.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Who hasn't heard the recent horror stories about students being sued by the RIAA for downloading music? This tactic won't work. Suing consumers has gained headlines, but it will not reenergize the music industry. To grow, the record industry must shed its legacy business models and respond to how its customers want to obtain and experience music. Look what happened with movies. As savvy Hollywood executives capitalized on new consumer technologies, motion picture revenues grew. In the past decade, Americans have rushed to home theater, to DVD and now to high-definition television (HDTV). Hollywood embraced these trends by providing entertainment in the new formats their customers demanded. As a result, Hollywood has prospered, breaking revenue records and making its customers happy. Although studios share concerns about unauthorized downloading, they have moved quickly to market "pay-to-view" Internet services, cut prices and added new DVD features. Hollywood's profits are booming."</i><br /><br />I would say that Hollywood has had their own troubles with "new media". Sure DVDs have been a success, but have you noticed how much content is available for download on the internet from movie studios? Seems like Hollywood needs to step up also.

[MyquiH]

The RIAA busting downloaders is akin to the DEA storming crack houses and arresting everyone inside. Yes, it would be easy pickings arrest-wise, but there's a good reason the DEA doesn't -- because the end users are not the root of the problem.

The RIAA is in a tough position. It's easy to chastize them for their tactics, but they realize they're in a battle they cannot win with the way media is currently distributed. DRM is a right first step, but until I can take a song I own and listen to it on my PC at home, my iPod in the car, and on my laptop at work, I will avoid DRMed content like the plague. I'm stuck buying a tune from iTunes for legitimacy, then either stripping the DRM or grabbing the mp3 version from a P2P file sharing app.

[Jason Dunn]

...have you noticed how much content is available for download on the internet from movie studios? Seems like Hollywood needs to step up also.

Actually, no, I haven't. Not to sound like a smart ass, but I honestly don't go searching for movies online. DVDs are pretty cheap nowadays, there are some great DVD rental services out there, and I want to watch them on my big screen TV not on my computer. :D

[James Fee]

Actually, no, I haven't. Not to sound like a smart ass, but I honestly don't go searching for movies online. DVDs are pretty cheap nowadays, there are some great DVD rental services out there, and I want to watch them on my big screen TV not on my computer. :DSo you don't think the Portable Media Center needs an online component? Seems like people might actually buy them if they knew they could get content. *shrug*

[Jason Dunn]

So you don't think the Portable Media Center needs an online component? Seems like people might actually buy them if they knew they could get content. *shrug*

Sure, absolutely, but LEGAL content - I won't buy a PMC then try to load it up with illegal DVD rips, though I'm sure some will. ;-)

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

I still think the PMC is a evolutionary dead end. Why not a better PPC or something..

[Jason Dunn]

I still think the PMC is a evolutionary dead end. Why not a better PPC or something..

Because Pocket PCs are computers, not appliances - the PMC is an appliance, like an iPod, and people can use it easily. Pocket PCs are too complex.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

You've heard my argument on the uneccessity of a PMC, so I won't repeat myself; I still think this is likely to be a domain better served by a PPC, unless said appliance drops to like $99, enough to make it an impulse buy for those who might have the slightest use for it.

Plus while I'm at it, in its current form the PMC is anything but an appliance.

[[email protected]]

You've heard my argument on the uneccessity of a PMC, so I won't repeat myself; I still think this is likely to be a domain better served by a PPC, unless said appliance drops to like $99, enough to make it an impulse buy for those who might have the slightest use for it.

Plus while I'm at it, in its current form the PMC is anything but an appliance.

I'm with you Lee, totally. Start the UI as an app, like on the PC MCE, but on a PPC/Smartphone. If the PMC had gaming I would see the point of standard hardware and controls, but for playing a video?

[Jason Eaton]

The Sony PSP actually stands a good chance of bringing video to the consumer. Well at least a little better then the PMC.

The infrastructure for games being a large backbone, WITH the addition of other abilites makes it a good primer in my mind. While I don't think I would get something that just plays movies, now that I have a portable game console that CAN play movies I have been exploring that opportunity.

It has its own faults, so believe me when I say it is an unpolished start, but movie quality is excellent to decent (depending on recording settings).

My twisted view is the size of the device is the key point. I say there is a breaking point to the size screen people are willing to watch a movie on. Size of screen drives overall size of device. Size of device is counter to function of device... that is if the thing is big enough to have a 5 inch screen, and take up so much room, for me to legitimize taking it anywhere it has to preform more then one function. I think that is where the PSP has strength over a regular PMC.

Just some two pennies on the street as they say... no need to pick them up if you don't want them.

[Felix Torres]

You've heard my argument on the uneccessity of a PMC, so I won't repeat myself; I still think this is likely to be a domain better served by a PPC, unless said appliance drops to like $99, enough to make it an impulse buy for those who might have the slightest use for it.

Plus while I'm at it, in its current form the PMC is anything but an appliance.

I'm with you Lee, totally. Start the UI as an app, like on the PC MCE, but on a PPC/Smartphone. If the PMC had gaming I would see the point of standard hardware and controls, but for playing a video?

Actually, MS has hinted that PMC *will* play games...
...and other things...
PMCs *are* based on PPC-like hardware so it is easily doable.
Their position in the interviews is that they are "looking into what customers want". And, I'm sure that what people are doing to the Sony PSP is part of that market research.

Me, I'm hoping for a combined device that can do audio, video, photos, *books*, and some gaming.

They key phrase is "Portable Entertainment", just as with PPC the key phrase has always been Pocket Productivity. Doesn't mean you don't play games on the PPC or store documents and schedules on a PMC but the PMC should align more with an MCE PC or XBOX than with an XP desktop.

That is the stated plan and since PMC's are barely six months old, I wouldn't rush to bury them just yet.

Nor am I rushing to buy before v3.0 comes out. :twisted:

[[email protected]]

You've heard my argument on the uneccessity of a PMC, so I won't repeat myself; I still think this is likely to be a domain better served by a PPC, unless said appliance drops to like $99, enough to make it an impulse buy for those who might have the slightest use for it.

Plus while I'm at it, in its current form the PMC is anything but an appliance.

I'm with you Lee, totally. Start the UI as an app, like on the PC MCE, but on a PPC/Smartphone. If the PMC had gaming I would see the point of standard hardware and controls, but for playing a video?

Actually, MS has hinted that PMC *will* play games...
...and other things...
PMCs *are* based on PPC-like hardware so it is easily doable.
Their position in the interviews is that they are "looking into what customers want". And, I'm sure that what people are doing to the Sony PSP is part of that market research.

Me, I'm hoping for a combined device that can do audio, video, photos, *books*, and some gaming.

They key phrase is "Portable Entertainment", just as with PPC the key phrase has always been Pocket Productivity. Doesn't mean you don't play games on the PPC or store documents and schedules on a PMC but the PMC should align more with an MCE PC or XBOX than with an XP desktop.

That is the stated plan and since PMC's are barely six months old, I wouldn't rush to bury them just yet.

Nor am I rushing to buy before v3.0 comes out. :twisted:

Good points!

Windows XP > Windows Mobile
MCE > PMC

Xbox > ???

I guess we'll have to wait until the Xbox has merged with MCE ;)

[Felix Torres]

Windows XP > Windows Mobile
MCE > PMC

Xbox > ???

I guess we'll have to wait until the Xbox has merged with MCE ;)

Could be. There are again rumors of an XBOX Homestation, this time as an XBOX HD derivative.
(There are supposed to be three XBOX HD configurations in the works; diskless, with HD, and MCE-like, with the first two due this year and the third next year.)
And again, lets not forget Gizmondo, the PPC-based gaming box...

[mobile]

Jason,

As you are pointing out, DVD rental companies like Netflix are great. However, in my opinion it's just a transition stage. Soon enough people are going to realize that that expensive plasma/lcd TV they bought can also display anything a computer outputs. Once they understand that, they will go: "Oh, but doesn't that mean I don't need my DVD player? I mean, isn't there a DVD in that new computer we bought? Oh, and btw, couldn't we just surf the Internet on the big screen TV if we hooked it up?"

In a matter of years there will be "convergence" of TV/DVD/computer/home automation/phone devices. It's somewhat ironic that we are even having this discussion in this forum. After all, DMT is littered with articles about what I'm referring to as "convergence." We even see some of it going on in the "back rooms" of business. If I'm not wrong, Netflix and TiVo just did a deal where they would cooperate on on-demand video, or something like it. Moreover, SBC is building some giant fiber network, promising astounding download speeds for consumers in the "near" future. Apparently, somewhere in that deal Microsoft is also supposed to provide real-time, on-demand content. Abroad, for example in Scandinavia, people have access to vDSL, which, if you're close enough to the station, will give you download speeds of up to 25 Mbps. Plus, all the new good looking "living room proof" OSs and hardware, which specifically aim at becoming entertainment hubs/servers are all part of the convergence. All that said, not only Hollywood and the music industry should feel threatened, but the cable and TV industries should seriously start looking at what's ahead. If I can get any media content directly to my computer, streaming or with only a fast download, without going through my cable company or a DVD rental company, why would I? It's just like with printed news. I know, a lot of people still buy newspapers, but I certainly don't when I can pick whatever news I want to read on the Internet. Sure, I may not be representative of the general population at this point in time, but it's just a matter of time until I am. After all, if you think about it, few people had even heard of the Internet just ten years ago ... and the cycles are just spinning faster and faster.

Of course people should be paid for their work, but it should also be commensurate with the effort they put in. In my opinion, the record companies are making an unproportional profit compared to the artist and everyone else in the value chain. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you see it, the one that can best adapt to the environment and the circumstances will survive. That's Darwin's theory. The RIAA seems to think that survival of the fittest means that the strongest, or in their case, the one with most money, will survive. Unfortunately for them, that's not how it works. If that's how it works, we would still have dinosaurs roaming the earth. The Internet and the possibilities it brings is a classic example of a disruptive technology, which will change, or in my mind, has already changed, how things are done. I agree with whomever it was who said it earlier in this thread, the recording industry, and probably also Hollywood and the TV industry, will have to adapt to the new rules, or they will go under.

:D /// mobile

[[email protected]]

Windows XP > Windows Mobile
MCE > PMC

Xbox > ???

I guess we'll have to wait until the Xbox has merged with MCE ;)

Could be. There are again rumors of an XBOX Homestation, this time as an XBOX HD derivative.
(There are supposed to be three XBOX HD configurations in the works; diskless, with HD, and MCE-like, with the first two due this year and the third next year.)
And again, lets not forget Gizmondo, the PPC-based gaming box...

I would definately get the Xbox-MCE combo.

I've never understod why Windows gaming isn't incorporated into the Media Center experience. My pictures, My Videos, My games... No?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Actually the PSP's form factor is just about right. I think the first Taiwanese or Chinese clones that do something similar with either the 1.8" drives with a standard card slot OR a 8cm DVD disc with a standard card slot might have some limited success. Again it goes back to how often do people want to watch videos on the go..

[Jason Dunn]

As you are pointing out, DVD rental companies like Netflix are great. However, in my opinion it's just a transition stage. Soon enough people are going to realize that that expensive plasma/lcd TV they bought can also display anything a computer outputs. Once they understand that, they will go: "Oh, but doesn't that mean I don't need my DVD player? I mean, isn't there a DVD in that new computer we bought? Oh, and btw, couldn't we just surf the Internet on the big screen TV if we hooked it up?"

Yeah, absolutely. DVDs as a physical medium will fade away, but it will take longer than most people think - we're still a physical culture, where we like to see what we own. It's only recently that we've been buying software/music/videos that are on our hard drives and nowhere else. It will take several generations of this thinking before people are ready to switch over to fully digital owership. Then again, maybe ownership will never happen - maybe it will be a rental system like Netflicks has now.

BTW, nicely written post - I hope to see more of you here.

[James Fee]

Sure, absolutely, but LEGAL content - I won't buy a PMC then try to load it up with illegal DVD rips, though I'm sure some will. ;-)
Well that was my point. We can legally download music, but there is nothing like napster or itunes for movie downloads. Hollywood is behind the curve and that is why I disagreed with the articles assessment.

[Felix Torres]

Sure, absolutely, but LEGAL content - I won't buy a PMC then try to load it up with illegal DVD rips, though I'm sure some will. ;-)
Well that was my point. We can legally download music, but there is nothing like napster or itunes for movie downloads. Hollywood is behind the curve and that is why I disagreed with the articles assessment.

Hollywood is so behind the curve, they can't even get it into their heads that DVD sales and On-Demand view (especially of TV shows) are two separate markets:

http://businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2005/tc2005046_3428_tc206.htm