Jim Connelly

Will Labels Join Party A Decade Late?

January 23, 2007 by Jim Connelly

We are now a decade into the digital music revolution, and everybody is on board. Everybody, except of course, those who have stood to profit the most from this — the major record labels.

Instead of realizing that this was the future in the same way that their customers did, the labels have ignored, sued, restricted, and DRMed digital music while futzing with CDs in a zillion ways (except, of course, significantly reducing prices) trying to stem the tide. Nothing — outside of iTunes, which was pared with the iPod — has worked. And iTunes has worked more for Apple than the major labels.

But now, there are rumblings that they are ready to throw in the towel, and embrace the 21st Century. And to be fair, we’re only 7 years into that century: they still had 93 years to go.

So the question on the table is this: are the major labels ready to start allowing unrestricted downloads of .mp3z? Files that will play on any device? Files that I can burn and rip and copy and trade and play on anything and open edit and do all of the same things that I was able to do with cassettes and albums and 8-Tracks and CDs?

The Weekly ‘Loper – January 21, 2007

January 21, 2007 by Jim Connelly

While you were busy announcing your bid to become the next POTUS, here’s what we were looking at:

An iPhony Controversy – I mean it’s not like someone came out with an actual phone that duplicated all of the iPhone functionality and the UI.
Second Life and the Fourth Estate, Part Two: A Stupid Kind of Benevolence – “Second Life: Now You Can Stare At The Sun!” In the name of love, of course.
24 Season Premiere DVD Release Cool, But Not That Cool – And we were wondering why Magic Mountain didn’t get sold as part of the Six Flags deal. PARC obviously had some kind of advance knowledge . . .
Fr*ck Da FCC – If we have learned anything from this whole flap, it’s this: Kirk is a “mental retarded” person.
Asleep On Patrol: Old Media Misses The Real Enemy – It’s like that old Wired cover story about Newt Gingrich: “Friend and Foe.”
P-Diddy and Burger King: Brand-Destruction in the World of YouTube – Our latest ‘Loper, Bill O’Connor, deconstructs Diddy and Burger King’s not-so-brilliant YouTube-based ad campaign.
That’s What I Like: Knitting – Kassia reveals that she ocassionally steps away from her computer. We understand and support her in her decision.

24 Season Premiere DVD Release Cool, But Not That Cool

January 16, 2007 by Jim Connelly

Did you see 24 last night? Me neither. The whole two-night, four-hour premiere is resting nice and snug in our TiVo Series 3. Since there is only so much adrenaline rush “Do it, NOW!” we can take in a single sitting, we will probably watch it in one-hour dollops over the next couple of nights.

So no spoilers, please. Obviously things explode, people die, Jack yells, Chole pouts, Bill frets, Wayne looks better than any Prez ever (just ask Rox), and so on and so forth, but I just don’t want to know why these things happen.

And this year — this week, anyways — I have the extra added comfort in knowing that if my TiVo somehow malfunctioned, I could always run out and buy those four hours on DVD.

An iPhony Controversy

January 15, 2007 by Jim Connelly

In what seems like just seconds after the announcement of Apple’s iPhone and its pretty icon-filled UI, clones of that UI have already appeared as skins for devices which — unlike the iPhone — have the advantage of actually currently existing.

Skins appeared for Windows Mobile devices and the Palm Treo, and one of the skins is called the “iPhony,” about which, ha! Apple, of course, has no stomach for jokes — even good ones like “iPhony,” hee! — and has wasted no time sending out cease-and-desist letters..

Am I the only person who enjoys the irony of Apple instigating legal action over people instacloning the look of a product when it currently doesn’t even own the name of that particular product?? After all, Cisco could come out with their iPhone tomorrow, you never know!

The Weekly ‘Loper – January 14, 2007

January 14, 2007 by Jim Connelly

While you doubling down on something that you should have never started in the first place, here’s what we were looking at:

Second Life and the Fourth Estate – Reuters has a Second Life bureau, cool, but why does their reporter need to make his last name Reuters?
2007: The Year Web Video Comes To The TV – Lotsa people are going to try and bridge the gap this year, let’s just hope that someone does it well. Sadly enough, it looks like Apple TV is just a glorified iPod that happens to have HDMI & Progressive outputs. I would love to be wrong about this.
Why I want an iPhone – Just ahead of Steve Jobs’ unveiling of the iPhone, Tyson is nearly giddy with anticipation.
Why The HD-DVD / Blu-Ray Wars Are Not Over – Just saying that a war is over doesn’t make it so. And in the tech world, that is especially true if the porn industry is choosing your competitor.
Whatever Happened To Medialoper? – On our first anniversary, Kassia takes a look at how we started, and looks ahead to where we are going. One thing to add to the origin myth: the day after we had the meeting, we had a final list of names from which to choose.
iPhone: Welcome To The Backlash – That didn’t take long, as the backlash on the iPhone came with almost Zune-like swiftness and intensity. Of course, with all apologies to Steven Levy, the iPod itself is hardly perfect — the question for the masses will be whether they think that its better than what else is out there. And if they wanna spend at least a K to buy it.
That’s What I Like: Medialoper – One thing I forgot to mention: I also like the feedback that comes from and dialog that gets started by our readers.
iRobot; You Left Your Socks In The Couch Again – Hmmph. I think that this whole post ignores the fact that I’ve gotten much better: I used to leave my socks on the kitchen table. Progress!!

That’s What I Like: Medialoper

January 12, 2007 by Jim Connelly

When we started Medialoper a year ago, I had no idea what to expect. After all, we’d been having these discussions about media and technology and entertainment for a very long time and we were excited about translating them to the web, but there is a huge difference between red wine and whiskey-fueled bull sessions and sitting down and writing a well-researched, well-reasoned analysis on the latest developments in these fields.

And blogging? On a regular basis? Me? Hell, I’ve got a New Yorker cartoon pinned on my cubicle wall of one dog saying to another: “I had my own blog for a while, but I decided to go back to just pointless, incessant barking.”

What I hadn’t counted on was how fun it is to do this.

Why The HD-DVD / Blu-Ray Wars Are Not Over

January 10, 2007 by Jim Connelly

After no doubt unfurling a huge banner in its offices that said “Mission Accomplished,” the Blu-ray Disc Association has declared that major combat operations in the Hi Def DVD Wars are over, and Blu-ray is the victor.

Oh yeah? Sorry, Blu-ray Disc Association, but I think that you are obviously suffering from an extreme case of “premature evictoration:” the declaration of a victory long before your opponent has actually been vanquished. As if just saying you won makes it so.

Sure, some of your backers might buy your load of B.S. — because you’re saying what they desperately need to hear — but it’s entirely possible that three-four years from now, you’ll still be bogged down in the trenches, begging for a surge in advertising dollars that will hopefully spur sales.

The First Great Debate of 2007: Lost vs. Heroes

January 9, 2007 by Jim Connelly

As the TV Networks wake up from their holiday slumber, and cast aside the Rudolphs and reruns for some actual new content, Flak Magazine has addressed the first major burning pop culture question question of 2007: has Heroes already overtaken Lost as the go-to show for sci-fi loving, network TV watching weirdos? Like us?

That’s what an article in Flak Magazine posits: that Heroes has already overtaken Lost in terms of, er, overall awesomeness.

2007: The Year Web Video Comes To The TV

January 8, 2007 by Jim Connelly

It’s beginning to look more and more like 2007 will be the year that gap between Web Video and your TV will be closed.

Sling Media, who make the Slingbox, a device that allows you to watch your TV’s programming on pretty much any compter anywhere, will be joining the parade of manufacturers who want to help cross that last 10 feet from the laptop to the big-screen.

Whatever Happened To The Ricky Gervais Show?

January 4, 2007 by Jim Connelly

A year ago, perhaps the hottest thing on the internets were the podcasts of the Ricky Gervais show. And why not? The weird comic rhythms of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington had already been honed for a few years on XFM radio, even while Ricky & Stephen were making comedic history with the original BBC The Office.

The overwhelming buzz, however, died down somewhat when the podcasts went from free to paid.