Lee Aase | Social Media University, Global (SMUG)

Washington Post: Instant Letters to the Editor

Earlier today I saw an article called “A Messy Age for Music” about digital music on the Washington Post site. It was part of a package the Post put together on the iPod’s 5th birthday.

I thought the article was pretty informative, but just took issue with a quote that essentially equated the iPod with Betamax or 8-Track tapes. Maybe it’s just that we’re an eight-iPod family that makes it personal for me, but I just believe that with this week’s announcement that Apple sold 8.73 million iPods in the last quarter, and bringing the cumulative total to more than 67.6 million, it’s pretty unlikely that Apple’s AAC format is going to become obsolete and unplayable.

I searched the web to find how many total 8-track units had been sold, and couldn’t find a figure. Anybody have a number on that? I’m betting it was significantly less than 67 million, and that the critical mass for the iPod format will keep it from becoming obsolete.

So I blogged about it, and linked back to not only that article, but all of the articles in the series.

Then, as I was reviewing traffic to my blog tonight, I realized something interesting: several readers had gotten to my post through the Washington Post site. When I clicked back I discovered this:

Post Links to Bloggers

Since this is powered by Technorati, I assume it’s important that you “ping” Techhnorati in order to be included in the listings. I have used the free service pingoat to ping Technorati and several other blog engines.

I had seen and heard some articles about how the Post “gets” the conversation of the blogosphere. It was neat to experience it first-hand, and to write a letter to the editor that was essentially published instantly.

Technorati: Technorati, Washington Post, iPod, Blogging, Pingoat, Betamax, 8-Track

The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil

I had to catch my plane at 3:45 yesterday in San Francisco, so I couldn’t stay for the post-conference workshop, but I did get some good reading material for the ride home, Debbie Weil’s The Corporate Blogging Book. A signed copy, no less.

The Corporate Blogging Book
I got through the first seven chapters on the plane. It’s a good overview of blogging from the corporate perspective, and what it has to offer both from an external marketing perspective and also for internal/employee communications.

Here’s a link to Debbie’s blog, where she has links to some other reviews, and where you can download and read Chapter 1 right now.

I think Chapter 7, “Top Ten Tips to Write an Effective Business Blog” is the highlight…but then, I haven’t read the last three chapters or the 40 pages of Bonus Resources. Not surprisingly, one of the top ten tips is “Package what your write (ten Tips, five Rules, seven Ways.)” Here are the other nine:

I’m looking forward to reading the rest, and maybe I’ll have a full overview then.

Technorati: Corporate Blogging, Blog, Debbie Weil

Big Layoffs at NBC

The Washington Post had an article yesterday discussing the seismic shifts at 30 Rock:

NBC Universal announced sweeping cuts to its television operations yesterday, demonstrating just how far a once-unrivaled network must now go to stay competitive with YouTube, social networks, video games and other upstart media.

The media giant said it will shed up to 700 jobs — 5 percent of its workforce — and slash $750 million from its budget by the end of 2008. The changes will be felt from Secaucus, N.J., where MSNBC will shutter its headquarters, to television sets around the country, which will soon begin tuning to game shows and reality programming in the 8 p.m. time slot. NBC said it plans to phase out costly scripted dramas and comedies during the first hour of prime time.

Network television, for half a century the unquestioned leader in media profitability and viewership, is wrestling with the same challenge facing newspapers, news magazines, radio and other traditional media properties: how to manage costs while converting to digital delivery in an increasingly splintered media landscape. Although the promise of revenue in the new era is great, actual revenues from Internet and mobile media services still are not.

Viewers have noticed that things in TV land have been changing bit by bit in recent years, now that they can get their favorite shows on their PCs, cellphones and iPods. Yesterday’s announcement by NBC Universal, however, is an indisputable signal that — at least for one network — the television-as-family-hearth era is dying.
…
NBC News President Steve Capus starkly illustrated the new landscape, which must include all forms of delivery that consumers demand: “We’ve been a TV business that dabbles in digital. Now, we’re positioning as a news content-production center going forward that happens to do television.”

Jeff Jarvis has an interesting take on the NY Times’ version of the story, too.

Technorati: NBC, MSNBC, New Media

That’s Why They Call it Yahoo

In an article that coincides with the iPod’s fifth birthday (tomorrow), the Washington Post has an article today about the topsy-turvy world of digital music.

Ah, progress. It used to be that you just went out and bought a compact disc and you didn’t have to worry about whether it would work on your player.

These days, in the age of digital distribution, we don’t need to buy CDs anymore. What we have, instead, are a bunch of online music services, offering songs for sale or rent via quick download to a bunch of digital music players that might or might not actually play them.

The article is helpful overview of some of the “messy” issues involved in the multiple incompatible players and formats, but it includes a quote from Yahoo Music’s director of product management, Ian Rogers, that I think is way out of line.

He said he hopes today’s protected file formats will eventually go the way of the Betamax videotape or other, now-obsolete music formats.

“I feel for anybody spending $10,000 to fill up an iPod today,” he said. “It’s like spending $10,000 on eight-track tapes in 1978: You’re going to be super-bummed come 1990.”

Bad analogy, Mr. Rogers. I’m willing to bet that maintaining backward compatibility with AAC files on computers or whatever new devices Apple invents won’t be an issue. If Microsoft has kept Windows compatible with earlier versions for a decade, doing the same for DRM music files will be relatively simple.

Everyone who is concerned has the ability to burn their music and back up to CD files today, for maybe a nickel a song. I’m not going to take the time to do that, because I’m betting I will be able to play my files on some device for the rest of my life. Those 8-tracks, on the other hand…

The reason everyone laughs at the “8-track” punch line is no one makes a device anymore that can play them. It requires a physical manufacturing of a special device. That’s not true for digital files.

What it comes down to is Apple has been able to bridge the gap between the pirates and the copyright holders, and has staked out a position that is eminently reasonable for people who want to follow the law and share fairly.

For some newer bands, copy protection hasn’t been an issue. They thrive of the viral nature of the net, and want their music to get broad distribution outside of the major record labels. But Apple’s important contribution was to put the seal of legitimacy on digital music, so that the big current hits are available in the same location as those in the Long Tail.

Check out these other related Post features from its section entitled, “The iPod Turns 5”

Changing Her Tune on Apple’s iPod
Digital, Our Song for the Ages
Music Store Cold War
iPod Jeers and Cheers

Technorati: Apple, iPod, Yahoo Music, CDs, 8-Tracks, Digital Music, DRM, Long Tail

The Downside of Power Windows

My flight home last night on Northwest was mostly uneventful. I wish the same could be said of the drive home from the airport.

On the way from MSP to Austin, I stopped at the McDonald’s in Lakeville, Minn. for some sustenance (since all I got on the flight was a $2 can of Pringle’s.)

MSP to Austin

I rolled down (well, I guess that would be the old-fashioned way of describing it, as you will soon see) my window to pay, and as I pulled away, was met with a surprise. You can see the reenactment below (along with footage of the outside of our home that illustrates the blessings of our small-town life.) The total time for this video is one minute.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwMdRwAyWHU]

The 40 degree ride with the window open (and the car’s heater turned on full blast) lasted about an hour and 10 minutes. As Steve Martin would say, though, it seemed more like three hours and 28 minutes.

If anyone can give me pointers on what the problem with our ’96 Chevrolet Lumina’s power windows might be, I would appreciate it. Is it a fuse? Something more serious? It would be great if I could get this fixed this weekend instead of having to take the car into the shop.

Technorati: GM, Chevy, Lumina, Steve Martin, Norman Rockwell, Power Windows