iTunes

My Problem With iTunes 7

September 19, 2006 by Jim Connelly

So I downloaded and installed iTunes 7 last week, plugged in my iPod Nano, and I saw the strangest thing: all of my music had disappeared. It was there in iTunes 6, but not so much anymore. 4GB — 700 songs (that 1000 songs is a 128k joke) — had simply vanished. Gone like Kahoutek.

Except of course, it wasn’t: according to the space indicator, it was all still there, taking up room on the Nano’s hard drive. I had 3.72GB of something taking up space on my , it’s just that neither iTunes nor my Nano could find it. This, BTW, is exactly one of my fears about the already infamous Zune “three days / three plays” issue: the music stays on your hard drive, but is forever inaccessible.

So I said frack that, and restored the iPod, figuring that I would just start from scratch. After determining that it was all clear, I did what I’ve always done: used Windows Explorer to drag a file directly to the iPod window in iTunes, only, unlike every single other time in the last year I’ve owned the Nano, it didn’t show up. Oh sure, it took space, but wasn’t seeable as a song. Gee thanks!

Why Steve Jobs Pre-announced Apple’s iTV Product

September 12, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

Of all of the product announcements made during today’s Apple event, the most surprising, by far, was the pre-announcement of a new set-top box. Code named iTV, the box will use standard wireless networking to feed iTunes content to any home entertainment center. The device is scheduled to come out in the first quarter of 2007.

Does anyone remember the last time Apple pre-announced a new product this far in advance? What happened to the legendary Apple secrecy? A huge part of Apple’s mystic is built around the intense reaction the press has to the unveiling of unexpected new products. That coverage usually drives customers to jump on the bandwagon and buy the latest Apple products immediately. By previewing iTV this far in advance Apple risks losing both the buzz and consumer interest during the months leading up to its release. Worse yet, iTV won’t be available for the holiday shopping season.

Will Spiral Frog Leap Into Our Music Collections?

August 30, 2006 by Jim Connelly

[Lopy notes: Spiral Frog finally launched, and we finally reviewed it]

Free legal downloads!! From a major label, no less. Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? It’s supposed to be a reality, as a site called Spiral Frog has contracted with Universal Music to provide free downloads starting in December.

Of course, there is a catch — you are going to have to deal with advertising while you download. Here’s how they describe it:

Nothin’ From Nothin’ Leaves Nothin’

August 19, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

A long time ago in a galaxy far away, we had a little something called “AM Radio”. On AM Radio, they played something called “singles”. These singles were sometimes just that — individual songs recorded by artists. Sometimes these singles came from a flat piece of grooved vinyl called an “album”.

This being the the olden days (think approximately the time that the wonders of electricity were fully explored), sometimes you’d hear a single on the radio and you’d go to the store and buy it. The single generally had two songs, on on the A side and one on the B side. Some people took the whole power of the purchasing dollar thing further and bought entire albums.

Why Zune & iPod Should Have the Radio On (Radio On!)

August 14, 2006 by Jim Connelly

Last week, I wrote a post about ways that Zune could actually be an iPod killer, if Microsoft did things like
not have DRM’d music, integrated wireless, and supported AM/FM and satellite radio.

However, according to Zune Luv?, this last suggestion means that I have lost the plot . . .

How Zune Could Actually Be an iPod Killer

August 9, 2006 by Jim Connelly

Lotsa talk — maybe too much talk — about Zune, Microsoft’s new “iPod Killer,” and how it really doesn’t have a chance to grab much of Apple’s market share. Or be anything but a boondoggle.

However, we should all just try and remember that the iPod/iTunes juggernaut is anything but perfect, and there are actually several things that Microsoft could do with Zune to take advantage of those imperfections.

I’m not saying, of course, that they will, just that they should.

Was Google GTunes A Victim of Zune?

August 8, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

One of the most persistent media rumors of early 2006 involved Google launching a digital music service to rival Apple’s iTunes. There was a point earlier this year when it seemed as if every analyst on Wall Street was predicting that Google would be launching GTunes any day now. iTunes was clearly doomed and its days would soon be numbered.

Far be it from me to say “I told you so”, but back in April I went on record with a list of reasons why Google Music won’t matter. Now comes word that Google is going to sit out the upcoming digital music war. Instead, they’ll be partnering with MTV to insert advertising into videos that will be available on the still dismal Google Video service. No matter how Google tries to spin it, the MTV deal is a huge letdown for anyone expecting the company to make its mark on the music industry.

5 Signs That Zune Has Already Jumped the Shark

August 4, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

You’re probably wondering how the hell an unreleased product jumps the shark. By definition something has to have been around long enough to become a parody of itself before this happens. The amazing thing is that Microsoft has managed to turn Zune into a parody of itself without ever going through the product release cycle. I could give you some very specific details on how they managed this feat, but that would violate the NDA they asked me to sign. Instead, I’ll point to a few of the obvious signs that anyone with access to Technorati could easily uncover on their own.

Suggestions For The New Media World

July 31, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

Possibly one of the most inadvertently candid comments I head last week came from an executive at a publishing house who said (and I paraphrase), “We’re just throwing a lot of stuff at the wall to see what sticks.” Fair enough. The way people access entertainment is changing rapidly, and it’s better to try and fail than to sit on the sidelines and wonder how you missed the Next Big Thing.

Failure is hard, I know, so I have a little advice:

Keep It Simple – Don’t invest large dollars in a complex projects that take years to launch. Services like iTunes work when they’re easy-to-use. They fail when they grow overly complex or illogical (note to iTunes: time to rethink the basic navigation!). Build your technology in a way that encourages modularity and expansion.
Keep It Free – When I wrote about consumers being nickle-and-dimed to death with new media offerings, I wasn’t joking. Think about what consumers are paying and determine if what you’re offering is worth another buck or two a month. Consumers are already paying for cable, broadband, phone service, extra phone services, fees and surcharges, and regular entertainment. At some point, there’s going to be a backlash against all these fees.
Keep It Open – Don’t lock your business into a single service provider. Don’t hook up with Verizon to the exclusion of Cingular. Don’t lock in to iTunes and ignore other services. Don’t assume that everyone knows that your website is the only place to access “your” content. Likewise, don’t assume that everyone is using the same media player or, gasp!, a Windows customer. Embrace diversity like you never have before.
Keep It Social – Do not fear your customers. Let them talk back to you. Let them talk to each other. Keep the barrier for interaction low – and make sure you have someone on staff who is smart enough to judge the difference between healthy debate and outright destruction. Allowing a little dissent creates a level of authenticity largely missing from corporate new media offerings.
Keep It Moving – Don’t assume that you’ve met the demands of the market with your latest killer app. After everyone else steals your idea (and you know they will), you’ll need something just as cool as a follow-up.

Finally, make sure that you and customers are having fun.

Is Zune A PlaysForSure Killer?

July 27, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

Earlier this week I told you the 10 things you need to know about Microsoft Zune. While that list will get you through small talk at most cocktail parties, there’s one item that merits more discussion — the fact that Zune will not be PlaysForSure Compliant.