Advice on the iPod Touch and iTunes 7.7--Ask the Editors
Q: I am thinking of buying an iPod Touch but have a couple questions. First, I heard about the screen quality being lesser than the iPhone. Is this true and is it real noticeable? I mean if it still looks good compared to other MP3 screens then I guess I don't care. Also, I was using a Zune until now and I really liked having the subscription music. I heard something about Apple trying to get a subscription going--is there any new news about this? Finally I also have seen from reviews that the quality of the music is not as good as previous iPods were. Is this true and would it be noticeable to someone who will more then likely just use the earphones that come with the iPod Touch or maybe slightly more expensive ones?--viper134, via CNET forumsA: I have used both the iPod Touch and the iPhone on numerous occasions and cannot personally see any difference in screen quality. In fact, they have the same display specs (480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 pixels per inch), so any noted difference is likely the result of a buggy unit or just the user's imagination. It's a pretty nice screen for video-watching, in my opinion. I like the Philips SHE-9850...right now.PhilipsOn the subscription front, we haven't heard anything around here that suggests that Apple will be offering an all-you-can-eat music plan anytime soon, but that doesn't mean much. Steve Jobs is notoriously adept at keeping such things under wraps, and people love to speculate about what's next on Apple's agenda.As for sound quality, I always recommend replacing the stock earbuds for any MP3 player, though I don't think the ones that come with the Touch are any worse than those that have come with previous iPods (in fact, they are likely better). People certainly notice nuances in sound quality between the Touch and other versions of the iPod, but I wouldn't say that the Touch sounds any worse than the others. I find the audio quality to be more than passable on that model.Q: So we have iTunes 4. I never updated it. Should I? I'm worried it will screw something up. We had issues getting iTunes to work with everyone's account here on Windows XP, so that everyone's music is on their profile/account and no one else's. If I update iTunes, will anything change besides the look? Will everything be OK?--Scott, via e-mailUpgrades are worth it for some, but not for others.A: If you haven't updated iTunes since 2003 (v.4.1), my guess is that you probably haven't updated your machines since 2003 either. If that is the case, your computer may not meet the necessary system requirements (see below) to run the latest version of the software. If it's an older machine that does meet the minimum, there's still a chance that the newer, more intensive software will cause it to grind to a halt. In any event, I can't guarantee that everything will be OK and largely the same after an update, especially when it comes to the user profile information. I've had various issues when updating iTunes in the past, and plenty of users have experienced problems with many music software apps when it comes to updating. If you want to use an iPhone, rent movies, or even use a new iPod, you'll need to use iTunes 7.6 or later. If you're happy the way things are, then I would suggest not upgrading to the latest version.Apple's posted requirements for running iTunes 7.7:Windows Requirements32-bit editions of Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Vista64-bit editions of Windows Vista500 MHz Pentium class processor or better256MB RAMSupported CD-R or DVD-R drive to burn CDsBroadband Internet connection (DSL/Cable/LAN) for buying and streaming musicAdditional Video Requirements2GHz Pentium class processor or better512MB RAM32MB video RAM(Senior Editor Donald Bell contributed to this response.)CNET Networks/Corinne Schulze MP3 Mailbox Monday is a recurring feature where I answer a selection of questions about MP3 players and accessories, such as headphones, speakers, and music services and software. Check back often to see if the advice presented here might be of some use to you, or send your questions directly to me. (Note: We never include last names, but if you prefer to remain completely anonymous, please state as much in your e-mail.)
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Thursday, May 7, 2015
HP buys mobile music company Melodeo
HP buys mobile music company Melodeo
I've written about Melodeo's products a couple of times, most recently in January, when I got a demo of a forthcoming update to Melodeo's Nutsie app for Android phones. Nutsie (the name is an anagram of iTunes) runs on several mobile platforms, and gives users a way to get music from the iTunes library on their computer to a mobile device over the air. Unfortunately, the current version of Nutsie only allows users to transfer iTunes playlists, not full libraries, and users can't navigate to single songs. It's more like Internet radio based on each user's personal iTunes library than true portability.This was supposed to be fixed in the update I saw, which would let users upload their entire iTunes libraries to Nutsie's servers, then let Android phones access those full libraries over the air. Basically, Melodeo was building an online music locker, like what MP3Tunes offers. It sounded like a great solution for Android's weak spot in music, and I even speculated that Google might acquire Melodeo. But the updated Nutsie app hasn't come out yet, and when I contacted a spokesman about two weeks ago, he told me that Melodeo had some big news coming up that was delaying its product plans. This was it. So what's HP going to do with Melodeo? My guess: it's going to build a music streaming service for the WebOS mobile device platform, which HP gained in its acquisition of Palm earlier this year. All of the big mobile players are positioning themselves for a world in which consumers stream music from the cloud rather than downloading it directly to their devices. Apple bought streaming music company Lala in 2009 and shut the standalone service down in May, and it's reportedly in negotiations with record companies about using Lala's technology to build some sort of online music service. Google announced big music ambitions for Android at its I/O conference in May, including the acquisition of Simplify Media (which had an application for users to stream iTunes libraries directly from their computer to a mobile phone, with no online service in between), as well as plans to build an online iTunes competitor. Microsoft's Zune Pass subscription service is coming to Windows Phone 7 later this year, and the company could build a music locker service on top of SkyDrive, which offers 25GB of free online storage.HP has technology called iStream for streaming music from its MediaSmart Server (based on Microsoft's Windows Home Server technology) to an iPhone. HP also teamed up with U.K.-based Omnifone in January to offer a subscription-based music service to PC users in Europe. But Melodeo ups the ante: HP now has the technology and people to help build its own online music service, competing with whatever the other big mobile players come up with.The acquisition also has implications for smaller companies trying to come up with similar solutions, like HomePipe, which lets users stream music from their home computers to various mobile devices, and ParkVu, which just today announced its Music WithMe BlackBerry app that lets users upload iTunes music directly to their BlackBerry phones. Consolidation is underway, and companies like these may have to find a big benefactor to thrive in the coming mobile music battle.
I've written about Melodeo's products a couple of times, most recently in January, when I got a demo of a forthcoming update to Melodeo's Nutsie app for Android phones. Nutsie (the name is an anagram of iTunes) runs on several mobile platforms, and gives users a way to get music from the iTunes library on their computer to a mobile device over the air. Unfortunately, the current version of Nutsie only allows users to transfer iTunes playlists, not full libraries, and users can't navigate to single songs. It's more like Internet radio based on each user's personal iTunes library than true portability.This was supposed to be fixed in the update I saw, which would let users upload their entire iTunes libraries to Nutsie's servers, then let Android phones access those full libraries over the air. Basically, Melodeo was building an online music locker, like what MP3Tunes offers. It sounded like a great solution for Android's weak spot in music, and I even speculated that Google might acquire Melodeo. But the updated Nutsie app hasn't come out yet, and when I contacted a spokesman about two weeks ago, he told me that Melodeo had some big news coming up that was delaying its product plans. This was it. So what's HP going to do with Melodeo? My guess: it's going to build a music streaming service for the WebOS mobile device platform, which HP gained in its acquisition of Palm earlier this year. All of the big mobile players are positioning themselves for a world in which consumers stream music from the cloud rather than downloading it directly to their devices. Apple bought streaming music company Lala in 2009 and shut the standalone service down in May, and it's reportedly in negotiations with record companies about using Lala's technology to build some sort of online music service. Google announced big music ambitions for Android at its I/O conference in May, including the acquisition of Simplify Media (which had an application for users to stream iTunes libraries directly from their computer to a mobile phone, with no online service in between), as well as plans to build an online iTunes competitor. Microsoft's Zune Pass subscription service is coming to Windows Phone 7 later this year, and the company could build a music locker service on top of SkyDrive, which offers 25GB of free online storage.HP has technology called iStream for streaming music from its MediaSmart Server (based on Microsoft's Windows Home Server technology) to an iPhone. HP also teamed up with U.K.-based Omnifone in January to offer a subscription-based music service to PC users in Europe. But Melodeo ups the ante: HP now has the technology and people to help build its own online music service, competing with whatever the other big mobile players come up with.The acquisition also has implications for smaller companies trying to come up with similar solutions, like HomePipe, which lets users stream music from their home computers to various mobile devices, and ParkVu, which just today announced its Music WithMe BlackBerry app that lets users upload iTunes music directly to their BlackBerry phones. Consolidation is underway, and companies like these may have to find a big benefactor to thrive in the coming mobile music battle.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
App.net- 'Plumbing' for social apps, not Twitter rival (podcast)
App.net: 'Plumbing' for social apps, not Twitter rival (podcast)
App.net founder Dalton Caldwell was impressed by Twitter in its "early days" when third-party developers were using it as a platform to "build really strange and amazing software, which is not what the people at Twitter necessarily intended."At that point, said Caldwell, "they had an open platform and you could build any kind of business on it in."But, he added, "there's been a number of business moves made by Twitter to restrict third-party access to the data and discourage third-party clients being built."He said Twitter's "business model is advertising and it makes perfect, logical sense for them to want to control the clients to be able to place advertising in them." (Scroll down to listen to podcast interview)Still, he said that his new service, App.net, "is not meant to replace Twitter" or "compete with Twitter in the sense that we're trying to steal their user base." There used to be an encouragement of it (third-party apps), but they changed their mind, and to me that looks like a hole in the market."So, he set out to build his own infrastructure that could be used by others to create "mini social networks." He likens App.net to "plumbing" or the "proverbial electric grid." He said that "from a consumer perspective it won't feel like you're using App.net." The "inspiration of this project," he said, "was to imagine that you have an API (application program interface) that's very similar to Twitter, but would not require advertising to support it and thus app developers would be able to build any kind of application they would want to build."App.net alpha lets members exchange messages of up to 256 characters.Screenshot by Larry Magid/CNETTo test the concept -- and raise the necessary seed funding -- Caldwell created a Kickstarter-like appeal, asking people to contribute.The minimum amount, $50, comes with a year's worth of access to the App.net site.The goal was to get 10,000 people to collectively kick in $500,000. But at last count, App.net had raised more than $800,000 from 12,000 backers.People can still come to the site and pay $50 for a membership or $100 for developer status.What members get is access to a Twitter-like Web site where people can post and read comments of up to 256 characters (Twitter's limit is 140), but Caldwell is quick to point out that the current site is simply an alpha proof of concept.His main goal is to get developers to create apps that work on the infrastructure he's building. As per his funding model, he doesn't want to accept advertising but wishes to "align our financial incentives so that the company...is financially incentivized to protect and nurture our third-party developers."Getting thousands of early adopters to chip in to help build an advertising-free infrastructure and play around with a newTwitter-like application is impressive, but -- as we discuss in the podcast --- it's not the same as building a sustainable business where people continue to subscribe and build on the service. With a core group of active users and developers, App.net is off to a good start, but as Caldwell fully understands there's a long road ahead. Listen nowYour browser does not support the audio element.Subscribe now:iTunes (audio) |RSS (audio)
App.net founder Dalton Caldwell was impressed by Twitter in its "early days" when third-party developers were using it as a platform to "build really strange and amazing software, which is not what the people at Twitter necessarily intended."At that point, said Caldwell, "they had an open platform and you could build any kind of business on it in."But, he added, "there's been a number of business moves made by Twitter to restrict third-party access to the data and discourage third-party clients being built."He said Twitter's "business model is advertising and it makes perfect, logical sense for them to want to control the clients to be able to place advertising in them." (Scroll down to listen to podcast interview)Still, he said that his new service, App.net, "is not meant to replace Twitter" or "compete with Twitter in the sense that we're trying to steal their user base." There used to be an encouragement of it (third-party apps), but they changed their mind, and to me that looks like a hole in the market."So, he set out to build his own infrastructure that could be used by others to create "mini social networks." He likens App.net to "plumbing" or the "proverbial electric grid." He said that "from a consumer perspective it won't feel like you're using App.net." The "inspiration of this project," he said, "was to imagine that you have an API (application program interface) that's very similar to Twitter, but would not require advertising to support it and thus app developers would be able to build any kind of application they would want to build."App.net alpha lets members exchange messages of up to 256 characters.Screenshot by Larry Magid/CNETTo test the concept -- and raise the necessary seed funding -- Caldwell created a Kickstarter-like appeal, asking people to contribute.The minimum amount, $50, comes with a year's worth of access to the App.net site.The goal was to get 10,000 people to collectively kick in $500,000. But at last count, App.net had raised more than $800,000 from 12,000 backers.People can still come to the site and pay $50 for a membership or $100 for developer status.What members get is access to a Twitter-like Web site where people can post and read comments of up to 256 characters (Twitter's limit is 140), but Caldwell is quick to point out that the current site is simply an alpha proof of concept.His main goal is to get developers to create apps that work on the infrastructure he's building. As per his funding model, he doesn't want to accept advertising but wishes to "align our financial incentives so that the company...is financially incentivized to protect and nurture our third-party developers."Getting thousands of early adopters to chip in to help build an advertising-free infrastructure and play around with a newTwitter-like application is impressive, but -- as we discuss in the podcast --- it's not the same as building a sustainable business where people continue to subscribe and build on the service. With a core group of active users and developers, App.net is off to a good start, but as Caldwell fully understands there's a long road ahead. Listen nowYour browser does not support the audio element.Subscribe now:iTunes (audio) |RSS (audio)
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