Will's Media Life

75% of Students Prefer Downloading Music To Streaming

2009-11-12T15:08:00.000-08:00

A study by the University of Reading has found that 75% of college students prefer downloading their music to hard drives or MP3 players as opposed to streaming it using new sites such as Lala.

I have been playing around with Lala for the past few days and it is pretty cool concept. It allows users to stream any of Lala's 7 million songs once for free, and for as many times as they would like for as little as ten cents.

When a song is "streamed" as opposed to being downloaded, the listener must be connected to the internet to play their song, and the song cannot be transferred to an MP3 player. If a music listener mainly listens to music on an internet-connected computer and doesn't have an MP3 player, however, a service like Lala would be great way to save money on music purchases.

I'm not surprised, though that most college students prefer to download music. It wouldn't be worth 10 cents to me to listen to a song that I can only listen to on my computer. I listen to a significant amount of music on my computer, but I really like also having my music on my iPhone. Plus, if a service like Lala is discontinued, a user is likely to lose all of the music that they have purchased.

The availability of songs that can be streamed for free on YouTube also makes paying for streaming music on sites like Lala less attractive. The quality doesn't always match Lala's, and many songs on YouTube are uploaded illegally, but many songs have official, high-quality music videos uploaded by record labels or artists and that can be played an unlimited number of times for free. I have noticed that many students ignore the video portion of music videos on YouTube and simply listen to the music while browsing another website.

Source: Yahoo Finance
Image: LaLa

Apple Uses Windows 7 Google Searches to Promote Macintosh Computers

2009-11-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

Apple has taken out Google Adwords related to Windows 7 so that when a user of Google does a search for Windows 7-related keywords, ads are displayed encouraging the searcher to purchase an Apple computer.

In working with novice computer users for a number of years, I have noticed that Google Ads really work because many people do not even notice that they are advertisements, but think instead that they are actual search results. I think that this marketing is brilliant on the part of Apple and that it may persuade some people thinking of upgrading to Windows 7 to instead get a Mac.

Source & Photo

Facebook's New Homepage

2009-10-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Once again, Facebook has changed the look of their homepage, and just like with the previous changes that Facebook has made to its look and the way that it operates, many of its users are outraged, and just like with every other major change that Facebook has made, stories such as this are popping up on my news feed.

I've thought about why Facebook would continue to change its site so much if everybody seems to get hate every change that they make, and think I've figured out why Facebook continues to change its site.

On the Internet, there's always something new. We used to use AOL, now we use Gmail. We used to use Myspace, now we use Facebook. In order for Facebook not to loose its spot as the dominant social networking website, it needs to continually be something new so its users don't flock to a different site.

Even if this upsets some of its users, it's worth it because the changes to Facebook make the site more modern and ultimately improve it. If Facebook is essentially a new site every year, what reason do people have to move on to the next "big thing?"

What are your thoughts about this? Why do you think that Facebook keeps changing its home page even if it upsets its users?

Review: Girl Talk's "Feed the Animals"

2009-10-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

Last night, Cobra Starship and Girl Talk came to Dunn Meadow at IU as a part of "B-Town Bash." I had heard of Girl Talk before in my T101 Media Life class when we were talking about "remixed media," and was excited he came to campus. Girl Talk (Gregg Michael Gillis) is an artist who makes musical remixes of unauthorized audio samples from a variety of songs.

Before the concert, I listened to some of his songs on YouTube and liked the music, and he put on quite a show for just being one man "preforming" with a laptop on stage. After the concert, I decided to download his newest album, "Feed the Animals" on Amazon.com, and would give it an "A." Remixes are not my favorite genre of music, but Gillis does a great job of making the transitions between songs seamless and making the entire album sound like one continuous piece of music. I also really appreciate the wide variety of music he uses and his use of classic rock in addition to pop songs.

His songs are the perfect example of the fact that all media are remixed, a fact that refers to both actual remixes such as this and the reuse of ideas from older media in newer media.

"Feed the Animals" is available from Girl Talk's label's website, illegal-art.net, for download using a "pay-what-you-want model," which can be nothing if you wish.

Photo: pitchfork.com

IU's New Twitter Directory

2009-10-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

I Stumbled across the new twitter.iu.edu today and it felt it is blog-worthy because it emphasizes my last post. This website gives students a clean directory for subscribing to IU-related Twitter feeds, and I discovered the @indiananews feed on it today. I think that is a smart move on the university's part to promote the Twitter feeds related to IU.

Image: twitter.iu.edu

IU ranks among top Tweeting schools

2009-10-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

Indiana University ranks among the top 7% of college users of Twitter, with 16 accounts and an 9,877 followers. Just checked my Twitter page and it looks like I follow three of them. I really like how the university tries to connect with students by staying up with current technology.

Source: IndyStar
Photo: Cartoonart

Starbucks and Microsoft Strong in Social-Media Marketing

2009-10-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

According to a study that "linked social engagement, customer satisfaction and business success" through a companies use of Social-Media Marketing, Starbucks came out on top, with Microsoft taking fifth place. These corporations are mastering the new art of communicating and developing a relationship with their customers through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

I find it interesting that this new marketing shifts away from expensive ads to promotion that is free. It costs nothing to make a Twitter account and tweet about a new product or promotion, unlike purchasing ad-space on the Internet or on television. It is amazing to me that people actually choose to follow the Twitter feeds of companies such as Starbucks. Doing this is like opting to have more ads on Twitter, yet Starbucks has over a quarter of a million twitter followers! I thought that we lived in the age of AdBlock Plus and TiVo, an age where people try to avoid advertising wherever they can.

I would like to ask my readers if they are following any Twitter feeds that are essentially ads? If so, why do you do this? Any other thoughts on this phenomenon?

Source: Seattlepi

10/7/09 IU Network Outage

2009-10-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, October 7th, 2009, students and faculty were unable to log in to university computers or access the internet on any computers connected to the IU network. According to an inside source who prefers to remain anonymous, this was caused by a faulty wireless access point that was continually requesting IP Addresses (the unique numerical address that are assigned to each computer on a network), but not releasing them to computers connected to the access point. This access point quickly took all available IP addresses on the IU network, causing a chain reaction that took down most services on the network.

This event underscored the importance of Internet access in a modern university, especially IU, where the Internet is needed to do most coursework. For example, I was unable to complete a reading assignment in a physical text because the assigned pages were located on the internet.

Even though I had assignments that could be completed offline, I found myself constantly trying to log in to my computer and other university computers during the outage; I felt lost without an Internet connection, even for a few hours. It amazes me to think that there was ever a time without ubiquitous Internet access. The Internet is an extremely large part of my life, and my collegiate experience would be fundamentally different without it.

It is also amazing that it is so natural now to look up information online or complete an assignment on Oncourse (IU's course management system) that we don't even notice how much we are using the Internet until it stops working.

With this being said, I would like to ask my readers: Have you ever experienced an Internet outage like the one at Indiana University Bloomington yesterday? Did it make you notice how much you use the Internet without even noticing it? Please leave your responses below.

Steve Carell's Daughter Profits From Lemonade Sales to Paparazzi

2009-10-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

The eight year old daughter of actor and producer Steve Carell is making the big bucks selling lemonade to the paparazzi and even the police in her Los Angeles neighborhood, giving us an interesting look at the business that can be created from media that has nothing to do with the sale or production of media.

Carell explains, "She went down to the corner. ... I figured she'd come back in half an hour or an hour with 75 cents. She came back with $36 in half an hour.

"Billy Ray Cyrus (came) by walking his dog and drops $20 on a cup of lemonade, so she keeps the $20. Then the paparazzi who had been following Billy Ray Cyrus, they all came and bought lemonade as well. And then the police who were called to chase the paparazzi circle back and bought lemonade. Now she thinks she can do that for a living."

Source: SFgate
Photo: FusedFilm

iSofa.tv Makes Watching Internet Videos More Like Watching TV

2009-09-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across iSofa.tv because of a post on Digg that linked to a video on it. Basically, this Reo de Janeiro-based website provides viewers with an interface for viewing internet videos that acts more like a TV channel than YouTube. Instead of having to choose a new video after a video is completed, a related video automatically plays and related videos will continue to play until the user hits "pause" or closes the website.

The site also allows users to create and share their own personal "channel" with content relating to a subject of their choosing. Check it out, it's an interesting example of the remediation of the traditional television viewing experience. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Best of YouTube in 4 Minutes

2009-09-28T17:31:00.001-07:00

This is an excellent example of remixed media, enjoy!

Nintendo Wii's Price to Drop to $199

2009-09-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

On September 27th, the price of the Nintendo's Wii Gaming Console will drop to $199. The Wii has cost $249 since its 2006 launch. I find this price drop a smart move on Nintendo's part and expect it to fuel Wii sales.

Source: Engadget

FCC Proposes New Net Neutrality Rules

2009-09-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

The FCC issued yesterday its proposed plan for Net Neutrality in the United States, mandating that internet providers such as AT&T and Verizion are not allowed to filter content on their networks or use software that makes some websites or services slower than others on their networks. A major part of the new rules are that they apply to wireless internet connections such as the iPhone's in addition to services such as Cable or DSL. See the following video for Bloomberg's coverage:

I find it very important that the proposed rules or similar legislation gets passed in the United States because it gives power to consumers instead of the telecommunications companies. Without regulations such as this, companies such as AT&T are able to do things like block using Skype on an iPhone over a 3G data connection as they currently do. Acts such as this are anti-competitive and hurt the users of communication devices and services. Thoughts?

Microsoft Releases "Virtual Search"

2009-09-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

On Monday Microsoft released a beta of a portion of it's Bing search engine called "visual search," a new image-based approach to search aimed to compete with Google Image Search. Unlike Google Image Search, Microsoft Visual Search combines images with information from search results. Try it out with these sample search results here, and let me know what you think.

Source: AFP

New iPod Nano Includes FM Tuner

2009-09-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

In addition to including a video camera, the new iPod Nano has a built-in FM radio tuner with the capabilities to pause live radio in a DVR-like fashion and to tag songs heard on the radio so that they can be later purchaced through the iTunes music store. The iPod Nano is the first iPod to include a radio tuner.

I, personally was surprised by this announcement. A FM radio tuner in the latest iPod seems like a strange blend of old media and new media. Also, it seems to me like the previous iPod Nano had everything that most people wanted in a music player and that Apple might have been adding this feature simply for the sake of adding a new feature.

I think that while the Nano's FM tuner could slightly increase radio's popularity, people will still mainly use their iPods to listen to songs that they have downloaded from the internet. What are your thoughts? If you had a new iPod Nano, would you use it to listen to the radio or mainly use it to listen to your own music? Do you think this could spur a comeback in broadcast radio?

Source: Indianapolis Star

Apple Releases New iPods Including $149 Nano With Video Camera

2009-09-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

As predicted, Apple released a new line of iPods today including a new iPod Nano with a larger screen and built-in video camera that is being sold for only $149 and is available immediately from Apple's online store.

The new lineup of iPod Nanos perfectly demonstrates the pervasiveness not only of consuming media, but also producing it. Anyone carrying a new iPod Nano can now make a video and upload it to YouTube within minutes.

In addition to new iPods, Apple also realeased iTunes 9, which I just installed and am loving so far. I find iTunes 9's iPhone and iPod touch application management it's most enticing feature, which allows users to organize applications inside of iTunes rather than just on the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Twitter, Facebok Move to Set-Top Boxes

2009-09-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

Apple's success with their wildly popular App Store has led television providers to develop a similar experience through the set-top boxes that are typically used to tune into digital TV channels and serve as an interactive guide.

“The beauty of the iPhone is that there are a lot of applications that Apple would not have imagined people want,” said Sree Kotay, chief software architect for Comcast. “We want people engaged with television in ways we haven’t thought of yet.”

Verizion has already developed a Twitter and Facebook application for use through it's FiOS system, but has realized the limitations of current set-top box hardware coupled with those of a traditional remote control. If these systems expect to take off, they need to include a remote that can be easily be used for typing as well as browsing through channels, and increase the power of set-top boxes.

I believe that if this is done right, it really has the potential of taking off, but that most, especially older TV viewers will stick to using their set-top boxes exclusively for flipping through the channels, no matter what the capabilities of their boxes may be.

Source: New York Times

Welcome

2009-09-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hello! My name is Will Petrovic, and this is my personal blog focusing on how the consumption and creation of media is becoming a greater part of all of our lives. This blog is being created to fulfill a requirement for T101 Media Life at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana taught by Mark Deuze (http://deuze.blogspot.com/).