Four other great use of iPod Nano

Four great use of iPod Nano other than a music player

HJaving a touch screen of 1.5 inches and weighing less than an ounce and measuring 1.48 x 1.62 inches, the sixth generation iPod Nano is easy to grab and go. (It is available in 8 GB or 16 GB).

FM radio

headphones are needed to tune in FM stations because the antenna is built into the headphones. I listen to our local English news station for weather, traffic updates, and local music, local lecture every time I walk out in the garden for leisure.   

Audio Notes

I always get ideas for articles or messages while I'm driving to the store or any other place where I can not write easily. I started to take quick voice notes on my Nano, which also syncs with iTunes. With these instant inspiration kept, I can arrange all things more smoothly.

Books and Podcasts

Surprisingly, I discovered audio books and podcasts on iTunes. I always knew they were there, but I rarely used. My sister and I downloaded a few tech podcast for our Nanos and now, we can exercise the Yoga together, dance following the podcast, or cook some new delicious dishes. The podcasts are always free and the contents are so wonderful.I have also downloaded audio books when I'm on the bicycle.  

Clock

There is a smart clock on the ipod Nano. The unique thing I wanted was that he had a digital version, it's just analog. Whether hooked to my iWatch or shirt, I use the clock all the time.

iPod sales is slowing

Apple shipped 22.1 million iPods in its October-to-December quarter, up a mere 5 percent from same quarter last year.

But as I've argued before, you must count iPhone unit sales for a fair year-to-year comparison because each iPhone takes the place of a potential iPod sale. It's essentially the highest-end, most expensive iPod.

But even with the 2.32 million iPhones it sold, that makes a total of 24.42 million, for a total of 15 percent unit growth over the previous year's quarter. That's respectable and Apple's doing spectacularly well elsewhere--for example, iPod revenue (not including the iPhone) grew 17 percent over last year, suggesting Apple's selling a lot of high-end iPod Touch units. But compared with the previous quarter, which showed 17 percent unit growth in iPods--and 30 percent growth if you add in the iPhone--this is a definite slowdown.

I doubt people are buying other MP3 players instead of an iPod--I don't expect Microsoft to report anywhere near a million Zune sales for the December quarter, for instance. (Microsoft reports earnings Thursday.) Rather, I'm guessing that we're seeing the maturing of the MP3 player market. The early adopters were in three or four years ago and have already gone through one or two replacements. The mass market's been in for at least a year now, and now it's coming down to bargain hunters and the normal replacement cycle.

Yahoo prepare to support DRM-free MP3s

Yahoo Music's going to join Amazon.com in offering DRM-free MP3s, either for free as part of an advertising-supported service, or for sale on a per-download basis, according to anonymous record company executives cited in this AP story.

Ian Rogers, the exec in charge of Yahoo's music service, has certainly thought long and hard about the future of the music industry, and Yahoo's got tons of traffic (which it hasn't done a very good job of monetizing, but that's another story). I like the site's search interface--it's a lot better than Amazon's, which mixes MP3 downloads and physical CDs with no rhyme or reason--and it's the only major commercial music download site that offers lyrics.

They've got a fighting chance, in other words, but will need something extra to differentiate themselves from the rapidly growing pack. Some ideas: offer a range of bitrates, all the way up to lossless. Do more with the lyrics, like integrating them into music streams, then scrolling them across the Yahoo Media Player when users play or link to a song that's hosted on the Yahoo streaming service. Make it as easy as possible for independent artists to post their files on the site, like CDBaby and (recently) Last.fm--depth of catalog is key.

What not to do: stay wedded to Windows Media Audio, require a subscription fee or online registration, or (worst of all) try and create yet another desktop application for playing music--we've got plenty of those already, and most iPod users will stick with iTunes.

I'll wait on the details before speculating further as to whether a revamped Yahoo Music will hit or miss.

A poll about music

Do you buy CDs, LPs, MP3s, iTunes, or 8 track cartridges?
I purchase about 80% of my music on LP. For a few years in the early 1990s it was almost impossible to find new vinyl, but now it's reasonably common, especially for indie rock, electronic music, and hip hop. (Classical? Not so much. Jazz? Only re-releases.) In fact, vinyl availability sometimes convinces me to buy a record I otherwise might have skipped--Of Montreal'sGladiator Nightstick Collection and Wilco's Sky Blue Sky come to mind. (The Wilco was particularly nice because it came with a full CD, so I could more easily rip it to my computer to transfer to my iPod and Zune players.) About 1 in 20 brand new LPs have defects--most recently, Radiohead's In Rainbows was marred by a bunch of crud in the grooves on side 2. When that happens, I'll exchange it for a CD, reasoning that there might be some persistent manufacturing or storage problem. (A record store worker recently told me that every shipment they received of the $200 Sigur Ros box set contained warped records. They had to take a lot of returns.)

If so, do you buy them from Amazon or other online retailer, brick and mortar chain store, or local "record" shop?
Local record shops have the best selection of vinyl, so I usually buy from Sonic Boom in Seattle, and go out of my way to visit Amoeba whenever I'm in the Bay Area and Other Music in New York. If I really want a new release, I'll check the band's or label's Web site to see if they sell the LP. I also buy LPs at shows whenever they're sold--I'll buy an LP from a band whose set I liked in a heartbeat, but hardly ever a CD. I have not bought anything from iTunes because of DRM, although I've gotten plenty of free downloads as promotions. I've bought a handful of songs from the Zune Marketplace and other Windows Media-based stores for testing purposes.

Do you regularly buy used CDs or LPs? And rarely buy new CDs or LPs?
I regularly buy new and used LPs and occasionally buy new CDs. I never buy used CDs. For used LPs, the seller might have gotten rid of it as they replaced it on CD. For used CDs, the seller almost always got rid of it because (a.) it sucked (which means I'll seldom take a risk on a used CD) or (b.) it had a scratch or other mar that made it physically unplayable. Either way, I'm often too lazy to go back to the store to exchange it within the allotted time period, which means I'm stuck with a CD I don't want.

Do you subscribe to a subscription service, if so, which one? Rhapsody, Yahoo, Napster, etc?
No, but I might if it offered lossless downloads with no DRM.

Or do you get your tunes from a P2P like Morpheus or Blubster?
Only for tracks that I can't find easily, like unauthorized live recordings. Instead of suing me, why not sell them to me?

What about DRM, do you care?
I won't buy DRM-protected files because I want to play music I own on any device or player I own. CDs don't have DRM, analog sources don't have DRM, why should I pay the same price for less portability?

What percentage of your physical music collection did you get for free (ripped CDs, gifts, etc)?
Less than 10%. I have about 40 ripped CDs and a number of LPs and CDs I've received as gifts over the years. I also have a number of digital files that have been given to me on flash drives.

Is sound quality a factor, would you pay more for higher quality downloads or subscriptions?
Yes, I'd pay more than $0, which is what I pay for downloads today.

Do you buy CDs, burn 'em, and them sell them?
Luckily, I've always been able to find work, so I've never needed to do this.

How do you discover new music? Radio, friends, online, record stores?
Almost exclusively through friends and by going to shows, with about 10% through local radio station KEXP. Often, I'll hear about the same band or album several times from multiple friends who don't know one another, read a great live review in a local weekly, then hear a song on KEXP--that happened to me with Battles last year, and it turned out to be a good indicator that I'd like them.

Microsoft iPhone?

How long have we been reading these Zune Phone rumors? Microsoft still hasn't officially announced any plans to build an iPhone, but yesterday's corporate reorganization clearly points that way.

Microsoft has reason to be worried. After about five years of plugging away with Windows Mobile, Microsoft's managed to create a reasonable competitor to Research in Motion for e-mail-enabled phones. But that's about it. In contrast, Apple launched the iPhone in June 2007 in the U.S. and by Q4, it was already the number-two provider of smart phone (or "converged device") OSs in the U.S., with 28 percent market share--ahead of Microsoft's 21 percent and behind RIM's 41 percent. Worldwide, despite an October European launch and a smaller global footprint than its competitors, Apple managed to reach 7 percent share worldwide, just behind RIM's 11 percent and Microsoft's 12 percent , although all of these folks are bit players compared with Symbian's 65 percent share. (All numbers courtesy of a February 2008 report by Canalys.)

Microsoft's acquisition of Danger has already been the subject of much speculation on CNET and elsewhere, so I won't spend too much time pondering how long it will be until Microsoft kills the Sidekick and its Java-based OS (as long as it takes to build a Windows-based version) or guessing about the acquisition price ($500 million sounds high, but possible given the premiums Microsoft has been offering lately).

The interesting part is buried in yesterday's press release announcing the latest Microsoft reorg: the company has appointed Roz Ho to lead the Danger integration. Ho has spent the last few months in an unspecified "special projects" role under J Allard, Mr. Zune himself. But before that, Ho was the longtime leader of Microsoft's Mac Business Unit, which means there's probably no Microsoft executive more familiar with Apple. Connect the dots and they spell iPhone.

So how will Microsoft go about it? My guess is they'll whip out some sort of Zune client software for the current iteration of Windows Mobile as a stopgap measure, while simultaneously building a completely new device that combines a consumer-oriented UI, mobile services, and an associated hardware reference design. They will probably brand it as a Microsoft product (like Zune and Xbox), instead of merely licensing the software (Windows Mobile) or software+reference design (the short-lived Portable Media Centers). Sidekick's manufacturing partners, Sharp and Motorola, might be involved. Timeline: probably not until 2009, although the Windows Mobile Zune client could come out this year.

Artists experimenting with USB releases

A Billboard story this weekend discussed the rise of flash memory drives and bracelets as a medium for album releases. I knew that Willie Nelson had experimented with selling USB bracelets of live recordings, but artists like the Mars Volta and Ringo Starr are also offering new albums on USB. So far, because they're more expensive to produce than a CD, most artists are selling them as niche products for the biggest fans--for example, the Mars Volta is offering a monthly download to fans who pay $30 for the USB version of their last album, The Bedlam in Goliath, and Radiohead's former record label, EMI, is offering a live show download to fans who bought the USB drive containing all seven of the band's EMI albums. Eventually, though, as memory prices continue to drop--as they inevitably will--USB drives could become a mainstream product.

Companies like All Access Today and Aderra are already promoting services where they'll record you live and immediately press the recording on to a USB drive for sale at the show, so I'm sure independent artists could strike a deal with them to press a limited number of new albums on USB as well.

So while the CD's certainly not dead yet, its physical replacement is in the market today.

Jill Sobule

New or relatively obscure artists might have to turn to an organization like ArtistShare or Sellaband to get listeners to fund a professional-level recording project, but established artists have an easier way: they can ask their fans. (Or have their mothers do it.)

That's what Jill Sobule has done. She's best known for her minor 1995 hit "I Kissed a Girl," but has released several albums since then. Unfortunately, she's had a lot of trouble with her labels--two have gone bankrupt, and another two have dropped her. So to fund her next recording, she's soliciting fans on her site jillsnextrecord.com, and offering them exclusive perks based on how much they give: $25 gets you an advance copy of the CD, $200 gets you into all her shows for a year for free, and $5,000 gets her to play your party. Before the AP published a story about her earlier this week, she'd received more than $54,000 since mid-January; now, she's at more than $66,000.

My only question is: 75,000? She explains that she wants to create a record that "kicks ass"--think big-name producer, professional studio musicians--plus do some serious promotion on it, but that seems pretty expensive for a recording by an independent musician. Money can't necessarily buy a great recording--I've heard amazing full-length LPs recorded with SM-57s and 58s into a Roland VS-880, and we can all think of terrible recordings by artists with enormous budgets. Then again, if she can get that kind of money up front without capitulating to a label, more power to her.

BlackBerry users can download musc

BlackBerry owners may be feeling like they have nothing to brag about now that the iPhone has added connectivity to Exchange e-mail systems--the BlackBerry's bread-and-butter feature.

Not to worry. By April, Blackberry owners will have something the iPhone still lacks--the ability to download songs over the air from any location with cellular access. Canadian company Puretracks, which has licensed more than two million songs from all four major labels and plenty of indies, announced plans to launch a mobile store for the BlackBerry family of devices in April.

The files will be in the AAC format used by iTunes, which offers higher quality at small file sizes than MP3. But unlike iTunes, none of the songs will be encumbered by DRM, allowing users to transfer them to as many computers as they like. Puretracks also promises to make a Wi-Fi enabled version of the store for BlackBerry devices with built-in Wi-Fi connectivity--a direct competitor to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. No word yet on download pricing.

Different Music have colors?

Synesthesia is a mental phenomenon in which different senses (sight, sound, smell, and so on) become associated in unusual ways. A friend of mine has a form of synesthesia in which numbers have particular colors. I think it came out for the first time when she said my phone number was very blue and black. I asked her what she meant, and she explained how each number has a specific color, although these colors can sometimes change based on a number's proximity to other numbers. She also said that numbers and the fingers of her hands have particular genders.

Perhaps my friend would understand Guitarati, a music recommendation site that launched earlier this week. The front page consists of a collection of colored dots. Click on a dot, and you will see some songs that somebody (editors at the site? the artists?) have decided fit into that particular color scheme. Users can sample the songs and, if they like them, stream them for a penny or download them for a price set by the artist (most songs are $0.99 today). Over time, as users listen to particular songs, they can vote on the color they should be, and the song's color will reflect the average of all votes.

I give Guitarati points for uniqueness, but I'm not sure I get it. OK, perhaps Brian El's song "Aquatica," which appears about halfway down the page for a blue dot, is kind of turquoise, but that seems to be a suggestion from the title rather than the music. Most of the other songs on this page don't seem particularly blue to me...in fact, the top song on the page, "Eddy" by Happy Elf, sounds too aggressive to be blue. Perhaps it's more orange. Then again, maybe I'm a bad test case--Kind of Blue has always sounded grey and black to me. More like a rainy evening, not a clear sunny morning.

Future iPod with about 1 million songs

IBM researchers have reportedly demonstrated technology that will increase hard drive capacity 100-fold, as well as offer major improvements in energy consumption (leading to much longer battery life) and better reliability. Production is estimated in seven to ten years.

The reports summarizing the researchers' findings, which were published in Science (subscription required), use the shorthand "500,000 songs on a portable MP3 player" to describe the advance.

Today's iPod lineup contains no product advertised to hold 5,000 songs, so I'm not sure where the 500,000 figure came from. In fact, the current highest-capacity iPod is 160GB, and is advertised as being able to hold 40,000 songs. So this shorthand would imply a hard drive size of just under 2TB--only 12.5 times bigger than today's largest iPod.

That's actually well short of what Kryder's Law predicts--if hard drive capacity continues to double every year, then the hard drives of 2015 should be 128 times larger than today's. So the IBM researchers' claims of up to 100x capacity, while impressive, are not particularly surprising given the trends of the past decade. According to my calculations, 100x would mean the biggest iPod would have a 16,000 GB hard drive, which would be enough to hold more than four million songs at the current advertised compression rates. Or if you assume that Apple's lossless codec compresses the typical song to about 25MB, it could hold about 650,000 songs--with no loss in audio quality.

Of course, few people would use a portable hard drive of that size solely to store music--movies, games, and applications will probably take up most of that space. Still the idea that we'll be carrying terabytes of data in our pocket in a few short years explains why Apple, Microsoft, Google, and the rest of the industry are focusing so much attention on mobile computing.