http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117950324?categoryid=1009&cs=1&nid=2570

Disney trying out an unprotected MP3 album. Although they don’t mention it, it almost certainly is using the Frauenhof watermarking system, because thats what Yahoo are trying out.

Perhaps one of your readers is a Disney person. :)

Next up, I want the end of the coup in Thailand, the King released and democracy restored.

“Nothing is static. Everything is changing. Everything is falling apart”

- Fight Club

This is exactly the same process that happened with audio/MP3/Ogg etc. The first MP3 players were computers. Eggheads with thick rimmed glasses fashonied thier computers into appliances into packages that could be stuffed into various places (ie the EM-PEG player) in many respects a BIG in car early ipod, superior to anything in it’s day. Flash players like the Rio and scored of imitators came out.

Many early tools for ripping CDs to MP3s came out, pirate services (the original Napster) for distributing those MP3s came out to exploit the internet’s now growing bandwidth. In 2000 a 3 megabyte MP3 file actually was a bandwidth hog for the internet.

Enter Apple, come up with a 10 gigabyte player near capable of storing ALL of a person’s CD collection, offer them easy to use software to rip thier collection and offer them a cheap easy download service (99c a song). And let them take thier music anywhere, even the car. The record industry didn’t destroy pirate music filesharing for the masses, Apple did.

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Fast forward almost 10 years later (after all the first MP3 players came out in the late 90’s)

Bandwidth has improved, Digital rights management (which MP3’s spawned) has crippled the recording/movie industry’s ability to cleanly distribute thier content without fear of piracy. And the thick rimmed pirates thrive distributing Television, Movies, and other content using filesharing tools honed to perfection (after the earliest filesharing tools originated to distribute smaller MP3’s in the old days). Now advanced tools like Bittorrent can deliver whole DVD’s.

The Thick rimmed crowd even has a buch of media players that will play thier movie format DIVX many from Japan and China, some hack thier Xboxes and install X Box Media Center. Some use thier computers the way people used to use thier computers in the old days to listen to MP3’s.

And in walks Apple with the same formula. Give people an easy to use box, to attach to thier picture viewing device (Television) not thier computer. Let them download movies and television, for a reasonable price $2 for television episodes (ok maybe a bit pricey). and $10 for a movie.

New DRM issues since MP3’s are a bit of an issue though. No matter, you ARE Disney/MGM/Buenavista start there…. But what about competition?

Your only REAL competition in this regard? Microsoft? Of course not, don’t be silly, (Microsoft has been truly stifled in it’s ability to capitalize on the internet, which is amazing since everyone uses thier browser). No, your competition, is the only other electronics manufacturer coming out with a content delivery device like yours. The only other electronics manufacturer that OWNs it’s studio, like you essentially do. SONY….. Sony will try to enter this arena with the PS3. But the danger for Sony is thier own greed (Remember ATRAC?)

All Apple has to do is make thier product easier to use than Sony’s, more beautiful, and beat Sony to the punch. Hmmm Has Apple ever done this before?

It all looks like a big yawn to me, the Zune device is too big, the Zune service too restrictive, too many ‘gotchas’. My guess is they can’t understand why their media services keep flopping, and an analyst suggested a rebranding. iTunes is catchy, you need a single syllable name, Tune, Bune, Cune, Dune, Fune, Gune… Zune!

Personally I prefer ‘Chune’, or maybe ‘EyeChunes’ :-)

As for Apple’s effort, when they launched iTunes it had the advantage of ’sucking less’ than previous music stores. That was possible because previous music stores totally-utterly-sucked-donkey-balls. They don’t have this advantage this time, the restrictions on use and playback means it has no special advantage.

I think the next big hit will be Yahoo if they can convince the record companies to drop the DRM in place of the Frauenhof watermarking system (which could work with movies too), failing that I note the continued rise of independants offering sans-DRM music and programming.

Note also the recent attack on the MPAA rating system is also relevent here, since its part of the big-studio locking on movie distribution:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated