Knowing the BBC, the following link is likely to disappear after about 7 days. Why? Because BBC policy is to remove podcasts for (some?) shows after a week. Why? Nobody knows… not the fellow who responded on behalf of the BBC to my question and not the thousands of listeners, many of whom pay for the BBC as a public service.

Anyway if these podcasts interest you, get them now!

Peter Day’s World of Business page

Press Under Pressure, part 1

Press Under Pressure, part 2

Sigh,
-pmh

ps: Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to share these legally downloaded podcasts with those who were unfortunate enough to have missed the publication window. These podcasts will self-destruct in 7 days.

No need for links, just search on ‘pubsubhubbub’… all hits will be relevant! -LOL
-pmh

So this is the first time since picking up Tapscott’s Grown Up Digital that the Portable Consultant watched what he was really doing as he searched for interesting content on the Net. He now has a greater appreciation for what’s happening here:

Join the dots…
A friend tells me, via email, about a song their kids like and includes a this link to the Hide and Seek video by Imogen Heap.

Yes, I like the song (actually, I’m struck by similarities to Kate Bush) and check Heap’s Wikipedia entry where…

…I find out that, yes, others have made comparisons to Kate Bush’s style and…

…I go(ogle) to Imogen Heap’s web site where I spot a link to…

…her Twitter page where I see she’s got an online concert tonight!, so I…

…loop back an email with that last link to my friend suggesting that they might want to catch the concert too.

But then, since I’m liking the music and I now know she’s got a new album out…

…I check out First Train Home, one of Imogen’s other videos on YouTube and,…

…in the YouTube page’s Video Responses list, I spot an acoustic cover by Anne Legras, who, yes, blows me away so I check out Anne’s YouTube channel, too and…

…loop back again to my friend with a link to another Legras’ YouTube video of L’encre de tes Yeux, a song that almost immediately became one of my favourite songs of all time!

Alright. This, of course, is exactly what everyone under 30 (and many under 40′s) are doing with music. No surprise.

Shining the spotlight…
I have to smile when I hear Roger Faxon, head of EMI, interviewed on a podcast by The Economist. Mr. Faxon takes pains to justify his business’ role in the modern music scene – describing the need for “shining the spotlight” on new performers that deserve to stand out. Explaining why it is necessary for his business to choose the hits Faxon says: “There’s this sort of view of the world that the Internet is this huge democracy and everybody gets to vote. Most people don’t want to vote.”

Nothing new there either, right? There are whole political parties that base their campaigns on that premise. Why shouldn’t those of us who enjoy popular music just follow along as well.

Who makes the choices now?
Still, I can’t help feeling that unless Big Music adapts itself to the world of social networking their business model is doomed. We are now in an environment where a personal search for the music of Imogen Heap (who is, by the way, an indie artist) can uncover a Parisian metro busker with “undiscovered” talent. Now that such undiscovered performers have the capability to make and sell their CD or mp3 directly to me, why in this world wouldn’t I vote for what I want to hear? It’s all about who makes the choices, now.

All the best for your future success, Anne. I’ll be pointing my friends in your direction.

Cheers!

-pmh

Let’s be clear: if your property can be altered, recalled, or reclaimed by the seller without your permission and knowledge you never really owned that property. Home foreclosure and car repossession are other examples that come to mind. The CBC article is right to refer to it as the Amazon Kindle Service – a service may be discontinued at any time.

George Orwell would indeed smile to see Amazon fulfilling his vision of the future – along with such better known examples as MS Windows (Genuine Advantage program and the .NET framework assistant) and locked cell phones.

Yes, there are probably legitimate copyright issues here – but this is no way to run an eBusiness. Bad Amazon… bad, bad!

-pmh

Update:

1. This MSNBC article on the Amazon 1984 scandal has a more humorous (sarcastic?) tone.
2. This Fictionmatters article provides balanced and deeper coverage of the underlying issues. (…but I still say “Bad, Amazon… bad, bad!”)
3. Microsoft has apparently updated its .NET Framework Assistant to allow you to uninstall it from Firefox without the need to edit the Windows registry, locate remove system files, etc.

Update 2, The Apology:

Here’s word on Amazon’s apology but note that “…the apology failed to state that Amazon would not do the same thing again in similar circumstances…”

It’s also yet another nail in the coffin for DRM. Can you hear the chorus of “I told you so!” from the anti-DRM movement?

Hi Ho!
-pmh

Back in July of 2005 I suggested here that Internet options (like podcasting) would compete with satellite radio. I followed this up with a couple of posts… here… and here.

Today The Economist commented on the pending merger of XM and Sirius while noting “…the satellite-radio networks have been struggling to respond to competition from recent advances in broadcasting, such as through the Internet.”

You read it here first! …um… sort of.

Hi Ho!
-pmh

UPDATE:
Shortly after posting this I was on the road and heard Todd Maffin‘s podcast on this very topic.

Certainly it will take time, but when a major force like Apple iTunes’ boss suggests that the world would be better off without DRM you can be sure they are also working behind the scenes to promote this vision.

The statistics on the percent of DRM protected content found on the average iPod are a strong argument for the futility of the DRM approach. Apple iTunes has done everything by the book, as the media industry demanded, and DRM has been a spectacular failure, to judge from the figures Jobs quotes.

Jobs musings are entitled Thoughts on Music, but with a video iPod and videos available through the iTunes store it seems clear that the lessons learned about music DRM will also carry over to video DRM; same lessons, but I would guess it will take longer for the MPAA and similar industry groups to learn them.

The features incorporated in Microsoft’s Vista to protect so-called “premium content” have been said to threaten the new OS’s stability – and they certainly will raise the cost of many computer components, according to Peter Gutmann’s Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection.

Gradually the industry will realise that there is no ROI to justify these measures.

-pmh

The Economist agrees with this blog in an article sub headed “New media struggles to age gracefully.”

Chunky or Smooth?
Having briefly been Yahoo’s “next door neighbour” with the Open Text Index search engine back in 1995, it is also painful to read the Peanut Butter Manifesto. I feel deeply for the frustration of a cool, agile company growing up and having to please its shareholders every three months.

Chunky or smooth, there’s enough Peanut Butter to go around.

Cheers,
-pmh

The presentation by Lawrence Lessig mentioned in the update to my Right to Index/Search post is provided through a relatively new video service, YouTube.

YouTube is like Flickr with video… tag, blog, and link to your multimedia.

Which raises the question: why isn’t YouTube Flickr? That is, what is it about multimedia that Flickr didn’t get and so missed this market? Did becoming a Yahoo! company remove the creative urge?

-pmh