Posts by Techwriter10

Microsoft is readying a new cloud service called My Phone that enables users of Windows Mobile 6 or later to sync contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and other information with the My Phone web site. According to an Engadget report on Friday, Microsoft will officially launch the service at the Mobile World Congress February 16-19 in Barcelona. At first blush, the service resembles Apple's MobileMe in many respects, but there are some key differences, at least based on how much one can learn from the My Phone FAQ on the official Microsoft My Phone Beta web site.

Not The Same as MobileMe

It's an interesting to note that Microsoft's first question on this site involves using the service as a backup of your phone information. If you lost your phone, you can update your new phone with settings stored on the site. Notice they don't start off by explaining that you can sync your various devices as MobileMe does. In fact, it doesn't appear to provide syncing across devices at all. Its sole purpose is to have a backup in the cloud.

While that does have some utility, it's probably not the main reason people want to have a cloud service for their phone. More likely, they want to use in the fashion that Apple has developed, a way to keep all your devices including your desktop, laptop and iPhone all in sync.

What's more, unless you …

I've been very interested to see which Android phones will follow the G1,which wasn't terribly impressive as a debut. As more Android phones enter the market, it should be interesting to see if they gain traction or not. As for iPhone rumors, when it comes to Apple, there's always lots of rumors, but it's never easy to tell fact from fiction until the day it actually makes announcements. Doesn't make it any less fun to speculate, however.

Ron

Related Article: Can Pre Exclusivity Turn Around Sprint:
http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-sprint-has-to-make-the-most-of-pre-exclusivity/

Hi Elo8
Thanks for the fantastic comment. I agree completely. If Apple doesn't keep its eye on the ball, it could leave an opening for other vendors with products that people want.

The App Store, however, is a huge differentiator right now and the games have been tremendously popular. I'm not sure changes Apple is planning for the next generation iPhone will exclusively benefit gamers (I don't use it for gaming myself, but my son does on his Touch), but your warning is a wise one.

Thanks again for the great comment and I plan to subscribe to Tantillo's blog immediately.

Ron

Since Palm introduced its new smart phone at CES last month, the buzz has been deafening and for that alone, Palm deserves a lot of credit. Let's face it, they were up until that moment, a company on life support, but with one smoothly-presented product announcement they were on the lips of the entire the internet and people began anxiously awaiting the release of the new Palm Pre (Rumor pegs a March 15th release by Sprint).

People were suddenly talking about Palm again (and not speaking nostalgically about their Palm Pilots). The questions remains however whether this phone can really take on the likes of the Apple iPhone or even the G1 or the Blackberry (in all its various incarnations)? I'm not so sure it can, but it's good to see another fighter stepping up to try.

What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape?

John Keats was writing about a Grecian urn when he penned those words, but the Pre has style and that is a big factor for cell phone users. It also has a nice little keyboard tucked away and that will surely appeal to the many people who dislike the touch screen keyboard. Unlike the G1, which has a clunky slide-out keyboard, the Pre's keyboard is beveled and bent slightly for easier use. It has a beauty to it that the awkward-looking G1 lacks. I haven't held one, but like the iPhone (and iPod), it appears to be a device …

David Meerman Scott (who is also a fellow contributing editor at EContent Magazine) is an expert in social networking and using the internet as a marketing tool and speaks frequently on the subject. His best selling book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR was published in 2007 and was reprinted 11 times and published in 22 languages. His latest book World Wide Rave will be published in March. I last spoke to David in May about how social media was changing PR and Marketing.

I recently asked him about his new book and how individuals and companies can use his concept of a "world wide rave" to get people talking about their products and services on the web.

RM: What is a World Wide Rave?

DMS: A World Wide Rave is when masses of people around the world can’t stop talking about you, your company, and your products. Whether you’re located in San Francisco, Dubai, or Reykjavík, it’s when global communities eagerly link to your stuff on the Web. It’s when online buzz drives buyers to your virtual doorstep. And it’s when tons of fans visit your Web site and your blog because they genuinely want to be there.

RM: Why did you write this latest book?

DMS: I became fascinated with how and why ideas spread online. And the more I studied what made things spreadable, the more I ran …

Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier answered my post in this post on OStatic:

http://ostatic.com/blog/open-source-windows-dont-count-on-it

Thanks, Lisa. I agree, it's not likely to happen, but it's a fun idea to kick around.

Thanks for commenting.

Ron

Thanks. And I didn't know that. Thanks for the link.

I came up with an idea this week: What if Microsoft made Windows open source? Before you accuse of me of link baiting, I believe this idea has merit for several reasons. It will reduce the cost of development, put the power of the community behind supporting what's become an endless and expensive project and let Microsoft concentrate on enterprise solutions and cloud initiatives.

The Future is in the Cloud

Microsoft's future plans are clearly in the cloud. One of the big announcements at the Professional Developer's Conference last Fall, in addition to Windows 7, was Azure, a comprehensive cloud platform that includes end user application services like Office Live, Exchange Live and Sharepoint Online; development tools like Live Services and .NET services all built on top of Windows Azure, which acts as the cloud services *operating system.*

Let's face it, whether it's social network services like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn or Google services like Gmail, Google Docs and Google Calendar; more computing is being done in the cloud. Once you move the majority of your applications to the web, a desktop OS becomes far less important because all you really need is a core set of functions and a browser. Microsoft clearly recognizes this.

That's not to say that all applications could live in the cloud because certain applications such as Adobe's Creative Suite Tools (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, et. al.) need to run on the desktop. The desktop OS won't …

Syntmeister,
Thanks for the additional data.

Ron

Hi:
Thanks for sending the link. It shows how you can get a different take depending on what you read, and with numbers it's always easy to make them look the way you want them to look, but I think that my basic premise still holds.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment and for following up with a link with additional information. It's helpful to everyone reading the post or following the comments.

Regards,
Ron

Kirasaw:
You're absolutely right that Zune numbers numbers include the entire platform including the store and I thank you for correcting me. But the article I link to does say the overall decrease in revenue reflects a decrease in device sales.

If we were actually comparing both platforms, you can imagine what the numbers for Apple would have looked like had we included iTunes revenue with their overall ipod sales.

I'm not sure where you get the information that overall iPod revenue was down, but even if it was, overall Apple revenue was record setting as was iPod unit sales.

Anyway you slice it (if you'll pardon the expression), the Zune had a disastrous quarter while Apple did startling well.

Thanks again for your detailed comments. I appreciate the feedback and I should be more careful in how I report these numbers.

Ron

Michael Gartenberg has an interesting idea in a November post in his Mobile Devices Today blog. He suggests Microsoft could save Zune by decoupling the platform from the player and getting out of the hardware business. Gartenberg says:

"Is Zune dead? No, I don't think so but I do think it could be evolving beyond being a runner up to Apple to a credible story for Microsoft to tell, linking the desktop and mobile device space and of course, becoming and integral part of Windows Mobile."

Read the whole Gartenberg post to learn more.

Last week Apple and Microsoft released their fourth quarter MP3 player sales figures, which Apple chooses to call its first quarter for some odd reason, and the numbers were a startling contrast. On one hand you had Microsoft with a 54 percent drop off in sales from the fourth quarter last year. On the other, you had Apple, selling a record number of iPods (again).

Somewhere Steve Ballmer must be banging his head against a wall wondering if his company will ever catch a break, while Steve Jobs convalesces contentedly knowing his company continues to grow in spite of economic conditions that would suggest that people would stop buying expensive little gadgets.

Microsoft Zunes Out

I have to admit I've never been a fan of the Zune design--just looks clunky to me--but I've read reviews and I know it has some interesting features, particularly its integration with the popular XBox 360. But Microsoft had to be flinching when it learned that Zune sales had dropped off the charts in the fourth quarter of 2008 losing more than half of its previous year fourth quarter sales. According to this article on New Media Update that translates into $100M in less revenue. That doesn't bode well for the device itself and could suggest that Microsoft will be getting out of the MP3 device business very soon.

Apple Takes Off

Apple, meanwhile continues to do what Apple does and that's make money hand over fist, economy …

The sad thing is that when it worked, it was an excellent service for bloggers. I'm hoping they fix it, but as of today, it's still broken.

Last week I opened my Feedburner account to check the daily traffic statistics for my by Ron Miller blog. There was a link at the top of the page encouraging me to transfer my Feedburner account, which Google had purchased back in 2007, to my Google account. Seemed like a sensible thing to do since I have all my Google services under a single sign-on except Feedburner. It turned out it was a terrible idea.

Since last Tuesday when I made the transfer I have not had site stats and my subscriber stats have been erratic. Google completely botched the transfer and there doesn't seem to be any resolution to the problem any time soon.

What Is Feedburner?

Feedburner is a service for bloggers and podcasters that lets you manage subscribers and view details about your daily site traffic including how many visitors you had, the 10 most read posts, how they found you (e.g., link from another site or a search engine) and which outgoing links they clicked the most. There is some incredible data here including which countries visitors came from, what OS they used, in which browser they were viewing your blog and much more. It's a wealth of information and it gives you some insight into what readers like on your blog and what the readers themselves are like.

Google Gets Involved

Feedburner was a pretty neat service when I found it several years ago. Not …

Bernie:
Thanks for the comment. You have to worry about licenses regardless of the type of software, so in my view, the license concern is nothing more than a red herring. The GPL is very clear and this is something I wrote about in Gartner Exaggerates Open Source License Concerns.

I don't think it's more likely that you'll have legal problems by using open source, which has existed for years and years, than you would with proprietary software.

Good way to get yourself kicked out of the community, Dude. This kind of self promotion in the comments section in DaniWeb blogs is completely unacceptable.

There are number of factors coming together that lead me to believe that open source's moment is right now, today, this year. Open source already runs so many things and just last week as Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, he asked Scott McNealy of Sun to prepare a report on open source technologies as a first step toward exploring the use of open source in government.

When you combine this with the current economic crisis, the maturation of open source products in general, and a willingness to explore FOSS (free and open source software) as a reasonable alternative, these factors are coming together at this one moment in time and it's time for Open Source to step up.

The Products

Consider MySQL and Apache's host of projects, which are used in businesses every day of the year. Alfresco is a serious player in content management to name but a few excellent enterprise-class open source products. On the desktop Firefox and Thunderbird are as likely to be found as Internet Explorer and Outlook or Outlook Express these days on a Windows machine and OpenOffice is reasonable, free alternative to Microsoft Office.

The Economy

The economy is a mess. IT budgets are tight. Companies are looking for ways to cut costs. Now is the time to look at open source.

As I've written here before, it's not free, but it does greatly …

TechCrunch reports today that Google is taking another step that suggests the good times are over, making it tougher for businesses to use the free ad supported version of Google Apps.

The article says that Google has lowered the number of users that can use a free account in order to force businesses to buy the ad free subscription. This of course, will guarantee a revenue a revenue stream (assuming the businesses continue to use Google Apps) rather than relying on of the more volatile ad business.

For details, see the TechCrunch Article:

For the last 10 years Google has been on an upward trajectory making gobs of money and astounding us all with there seemingly endless fount of innovation. For a time, there seemed to be a new product announcement every week. Google has always been very savvy about exploiting the news cycle, and keeping the brand in the public eye, but no company can grow forever and a couple of recent news stories suggest that Google's era of non-stop growth is finally over.

Cutting Employees

On January 14th, Google reported in the company blog that it was cutting 100 full time recruiters, which according to the NYT, represents 25 percent of the recruiting force. The Google blog post explains the company only took this step after "wind[ing] down almost all our contracts with external contractors and vendors providing recruiting services for Google."

This is significant for a couple of reasons. First of all, it marks the first time ever that Google has cut full time staff for any reason. Secondly, Google is cutting the people who hire employees and admits they are doing so because they are hiring fewer people.

Eliminating Products

Like all companies when times get tough, Google began taking a hard look at its products, most of which are free. If the revenue doesn't support the product and the company is no longer flush with cash, it's time to cut the laggards and that's exactly what Google has …

Calico:
Thanks for your comment, but your post suggests that we shouldn't have any discussion of Jobs whatsoever, and that's just not realistic, nor is it right in my opinion.

It's not as though I was lurid about it. Jobs is a public figure at a publicly traded company and as such we have to talk about this. As I said, we don't have to speculate about his condition, which I didn't. We don't have to gossip about it in a celebrity sense, which I didn't, but he is a public figure and an important part of his organization and we absolutely have a right to discuss that.

What I was attempting to do was define the parameters of reasonable discussion because there is going to be one because of his role and who he is. --Ron

Thanks for your comment and you make a perfectly valid point. Part of the problem here is that Apple has built a cult of personality around Jobs. They have made him a larger than life figure and sooner or later he is going to leave the organization. If stock holders perceive him as the only creative force in the company, it's a huge disservice to everyone else involved and the stock holders themselves.

There has been a lot of chatter this week about the health of Steve Jobs. On one level, it's a perfectly understandable discussion. Jobs is a public figure and as such what happens to him--good or bad--interests us.

But a friend of mine suggested that any discussion of Jobs' health was crossing the line into gossip. He was not alone as comments in the many blog posts in the aftermath of this week's announcement attest. I maintain that there is room for serious and meaningful discussion about this, and that because Jobs is who he is, we should be talking about this and asking tough questions.

Public or Private

The fact is that Jobs is the very public face of a publicly traded company. His health matters more than on a People Magazine sort of level. It matters because many people believe he is the driving force behind all of Apple's greatest ideas. As such, what happens to him affects stock prices in a very real way and each bit of news whether it's a letter or a rumor can have a profound impact on investors who have put up real money.

Drawing a line

As I discussed in Steve Jobs Lives, Story at 11, which I wrote after the Macworld letter came out, there is legitimate debate regarding how much of any person's health is the business of anyone but that person, his family and his doctor, but in reality …

Hi
Great piece.

While I agree that medical information of this sort is clearly private, I'm not sure it's as simple as that at a publicly traded company. There are consequences related to these letters (and their effect on the stock prices). As you point out, Jobs is clearly one of the most important CEOs of our time. Apple has hitched its wagon to this star power for many years and made a great deal of money in the process.

Now, Jobs being who he is has an obligation to the stock holders. These stock holders actually do have a right to know what in most cases would be very private information. If Jobs isn't healthy (to whatever extent that may be), it's going to have a profound impact on the future of the company and the value of their investment.

So, while his medical condition in a vacuum really is nobody's business, in the business world, it really is the stock holder's business. It's the nature of being the very public face at a publicly traded company.

Ron

Even if the motivation is to save money, so what? The outcome is still positive for everyone and if they are willing to share what they learn with others, we all benefit.

There was a big fuss earlier this week when The Sunday Times of London published an article claiming that every Google search was the equivalent of boiling a pot of tea. My my, talk about a tempest in a tea pot. The Times attributed this bit of profundity to a prestigious Harvard University physicist named Alex Wissner-Gross, who is working on research on the environmental impact of computing.

It came out later in the week after everyone thought about it that this didn't add up. The Times quickly back-pedaled on story and Wissner-Gross said the writers had mis-interpreted what he said, but even though the story got it wrong, the basic premise is correct. Servers generate electricity and each time we search or perform any online activity whether Google, Twitter, Facebook, Qik, whatever we are burning electricity and that has environmental impact. That much is clear.

Not All Server Use is Equal

I wrote an article on green publishing for EContent Magazine several months back (which will be published next month) and talked to a bunch of smart people about this very subject. While it's clear that using servers on the scale that Google does has a huge environmental impact, the extent of that impact depends on many factors including the data center design, the physical location and the electricity source. What's more, Google is literally on the cutting edge of finding ways to minimize its environmental impact. It actually has a …

It's not about gossip. It has to do with Jobs being the very public face at a publicly traded company and the extent to which Jobs has exposed his company to very real stockholder law suits related to how he has handled this. When you are Steve Jobs, it becomes people's business because his health is related directly to the price of the stock.

Ron

Lots of strong opinions about Microsoft out there. There are people who stand behind it staunchly. In their eyes Microsoft can do no wrong and critics like me are simply buffoons who don't get it. Then there are people who hate Microsoft for everything it stands for. In their minds no matter what Microsoft offers, it's going to be bad.

I admit I've been a harsh critic of Microsoft in this space, but only because I believe it has deserved it, not because of any vendetta. When it comes to Vista, for instance, I criticize it because I've found it almost completely unusable based on my experience. I've had friends tell me they have few issues with Vista (any more than you would with any OS). When it comes to Windows 7, I'm willing to be open minded and let my experience guide me, but I have to say based on some early research (some of which I wrote about in Meet the New Windows, Same as the Old Windows), I do have doubts that this is going to be anything but repackaged Vista. I'm willing to give it a chance, but not much.

Take Your Positions

I've been using Microsoft products for 25 years. I used an IBM PC back in the mid-80s running MS-DOS. I have a copy of DOS 6, Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups,Win 95--the whole evolution of Microsoft Windows products on my bookshelf. So when I criticize Microsoft, I do …

Let's face it, when you have Macworld and the Consumer Electronics Show in the same week, it's an overwhelming amount of news to deal with, even (maybe especially) for a technology journalist like myself who gets paid to follow the latest and greatest and report back to you. I've been picking my brain this morning trying to decide what to focus on, but in the end I decided to punt and give you an overview of my top stories to come out of the two shows this week. So here we go:

1. Steve Jobs Has a Hormone Disorder

I know, not really news from either show, but as I wrote earlier this week in my post Steve Jobs Lives, Story at 11, Jobs released a letter to the Apple community regarding his health. It has long been rumored he was deathly ill. He wanted to set the record straight. Apparently, he has a hormone disorder, doctors have a treatment and should be putting on weight by spring.

2. Palm Introduces Sexy New Phone, Dubbed the Pre

This is a wildly attractive new phone from the folks at Palm. I know you thought Palm was dead and buried, but just when you think a technology company is gone, there it is again. The new phone, which will be distributed by Sprint, has a touch screen interface combined with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. Check out this demo on YouTube. There is …

I was carrying around the headline of this post all day yesterday since I saw a Guardian article yesterday morning with the text of a letter Steve Jobs wrote to the Apple community. Jobs explained that he felt compelled to let everyone know that he was sick, but he was not dying and he would continue to be CEO at Apple for the foreseeable future. Seems he has a hormone imbalance that lead to his severe weight loss, the condition is being treated, and we don't have to worry about it anymore. And he let it be known that was all he was saying about it.

I don't know about you, but this letter actually leaves me with more questions than answers, at least answers I can confirm independently. Apparently Wall Street believed him because according to the New York Times, stock prices shot up 4 percent on the news that he's not as sick as we thought or assumed.

Macworld Feedback

This week is the annual Macworld conference. Jobs has always been the big feature at this conference announcing new products for the coming year. Last month Apple shocked the world when it announced it was no longer attending Macworld after this year, and oh by the way, Jobs wasn't going to make the keynote.

People were stunned. There had to be an explanation and the one that the pundits came up with was that Jobs was deathly ill. Truth be …

I write a great deal about Google mostly because it is always trying new things and putting them out there for free for the world to try. The tools are easy to access and use from wherever you are--any device with a browser and an internet connection--and you can't beat the single-sign on across the tool kit, but for all it has going for it, Google has a major trust issue. Every time I write about Google the comments always include people who won't trust Google with their content ever.

Just last Fall, in fact, Richard Stallman suggested that cloud computing in general was to him a stupid concept (as I wrote in Does Using GMail Mean You're Stupid?). Most likely, he feels this way because it takes the information on our computers out of our control and puts it into the control of corporations. Stallman has a point. Even though I think cloud computing is the future of computing, Google and other cloud vendors face a major trust issue and it's going to be hard to reconcile this.

Gathering Our Information

The trouble is that Google makes things so simple for us to hand over our information and they cover such a wide range of tools from our mail to our RSS feeds to our documents--if we so choose. Whether or not you believe Google is evil, even the most trusting among us has to wonder on some level what Google could do …

I never suggested that I would be happy. If you read my piece all the way through, you will see that in fact, I think Microsoft is a necessary check against Google's power, but even beyond that I would take no glee in Microsoft's downfall if that were to happen (and as I wrote in a comment, I don't see them going away, merely diminishing). I would like nothing more than to see the company pull through and come up with innovative strategies for success.

Bugmenot, even the most ardent Microsoft supporter has to admit that it was not a great year for Microsoft.

Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I think you've nailed it and it's what I was referring to regarding the karma. MS has made its own bed and it is fully responsible for where it finds itself now, but I don't think it's too late. A company that large with that many resources has the means to rebound, but will take some serious innovation, not as you say, simply buying or copying the competition. Do they have it in them as a company to do that? Hard to say, but you can't rule out any company that's as deeply entrenched in enterprise computing as they are and one that has as much cash in the bank.

If Microsoft were to fail completely as kanaku suggests, I think it would be a disaster because as I alluded to, it would leave Google alone on the playing field with far too much power left unchecked. For better or worse, Microsoft acts as a check and for that reason alone, I think they remain an important technology company. But as I said, I don't see them going away completely. That's not going to happen, but I could see their influence continuing to diminish over time.

Instant karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
~John Lennon.

It's 2009 and I'm sure the powers that be at Microsoft are hoping it's going to be a good one without any tears, but even as the old year closed, the news kept getting worse for the software giant.

Just yesterday the web surged with news that 30 GB Zunes were freezing up, apparently the victim of a Y2K-type clock bug where the Zunes rebooted and froze as of January 1, 2009 Pacific Time. And this morning, Ars Technica reports that rumors are flying about a massive layoff on January 15 involving 17 percent of the worldwide work force. Not exactly the stuff that dreams are made of.

First, the Zune

The Zune has always been an iPod wannabe, never quite gaining the cool status that Apple seems to be able to achieve without breaking a sweat. From what I've read and heard, there are many features to like about the Zune, but when you are going up against the world's most popular MP3 player, you are going to face a perception issue, especially when these two companies are involved, regardless of the quality of the product.

The conventional Apple-Microsoft wisdom--fair or not--goes something like this: OSX is stable and secure and Windows is not, so even though the Zune has absolutely nothing to do with Windows, it simply feeds the perception that Microsoft …

With an incredible stroke of luck and happenstance, this is my hundredth post and my last post of the year. It seemed to me the perfect time to step back and assess my first year writing the DaniWeb TechTreasures by Ron Miller blog.

A Look at the Numbers

Just today I passed 186,000 hits on 99 posts. My best month in terms of hits so far was last month when I had 36,035. My most popular post was Alfresco-Adobe Pact Push Open Source Toward the Main Stream, which passed the 8200 hit mark this morning followed by Google Exec Hints at Future Open Platform, which sits at 7940 as of this writing. Both of these posts, not coincidentally, were picked up by Slashdot.

Some posts jump out of the gate and find an audience immediately, while others take time percolate and live on in search engine traffic. Among my personal favorites were not necessarily the most popular. At the end of May I wrote a piece after going to a conference on global warming called Can Technology Save Us From Global Warming. It started out very slowly, but has built up over time to over 1300 hits.

A Brief History

I began this blog in April, only knowing that I wanted to write about technology topics, and while I write about many subjects, I concentrated for the most part on the big three: Apple, Microsoft and Google. …

Thanks for the comment Jeff. I really don't think it's because of Mac Book sales. As you say, people still need a a bigger computer for certain tasks. It's strange because you would think some third party would come up with one, but it seems as though Apple must be blocking the way.

Nice idea. :) Thanks.

This is the time of year for wish lists, so why not make a list of products I would like to see Apple make in 2009. I'm not under any illusions that Apple will actually listen to me, but this is a fun exercise and some of these would be really easy to do.

1. iPhone External Keyboard

I like tap typing and I've gotten quite proficient at it, but if I want to use my iPhone as a portable computer and do some writing, I could use a real external keyboard with a cradle for my iPhone. I would like to see it fold or roll up for instant portability. A keyboard like this would eliminate the need for netbook computers because I could carry the iPhone and keyboard wherever I go. For some reason, it appears Apple is quashing this idea because I'm guessing it wants to prove that you can do it all with the on-screen keyboard.

2. Apple eBook Reader

There have been rumors for a couple of years now of an Apple eBook reader device, but so far none has appeared. The Sony Reader is quite nice, but let Apple have a go at the design, and I think it could change the market completely (so long as it's not too expensive). I have used my iPhone as an eBook reader, but the screen is a bit too small for comfortable reading for more than a short period of …

Thanks for the comment. That's where the license money comes into play. They would presumably stop if they believed the artists were being compensated for fair use.

I wrote a post the other day criticizing the RIAA for failing to understand 21st marketing techniques. The night I wrote the RIAA post, I listened to an interview on Fresh Air with author and Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig, who recently published a book called Remix, and he articulated many of the ideas I was trying to convey in my post.

There is a bright line of ownership, Lessig says. We can not simply share a song with 10,000 people on a P2P network, but we should be able to use that song in a non-commercial creative work without fear of incurring the wrath of the RIAA (and other powerful organizations).

Back to YouTube

In my post the other day, I complained about the fact that Warner Music Group had ordered some cell phone videos of the December, 2007 Led Zeppelin reunion concert taken down from YouTube and I referenced David Meerman's Scott February 2008 EContent column suggesting that WMG was missing a golden marketing opportunity by forcing strict adherence to copyright law. Lessig brings up another YouTube example, actually more absurd than mine.

In this one a mother took some video of her 13 month old dancing to a Prince song. The mom uploaded the video to YouTube and Lessig says, that Universal Music contacted YouTube and told them to take down the video because this Mom was violating the law by playing this song in …

Thanks, I enjoyed the debate too. One last thing: If you can, listen to Lawrence Lessig discussing his new book Remix on Fresh Air. He discusses and articulates a lot of things I've been talking about from a copyright, rather than a marketing perspective, which I suspect will interest you.

One point he makes is that there are more musicians now making money than there were at the dawn of the web in 1995. That's certainly something to think about in this discussion.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98591002

We're going around in circles here, but just scroll down and check out the web sites I recommended earlier. It applies to musicians and anyone else. Do some research. I believe in these techniques.

I don't think anything I've written suggests I don't support a song writer's right to be paid. On the contrary, I think you should be paid whatever your talent supports, but the RIAA's tactics are not helping you if that's what you think.

Musical taste aside, no matter who it is, a classic rock act like Led Zeppelin or today's Top 40 phenom or an unknown kid trying to establish herself, it all comes down to using the internet to your advantage.

Suing and prosecuting potential customers instead of finding a way to turn them into customers just alienates everyone. Whether you are an RIAA spokesperson or just someone who spends his days defending them, this is the key point of my discussion. The internet is not your enemy. Embrace it and watch your career take off.

Thanks for the great post, Seawrx. You point out a lot of the other issues, beyond the lack of understanding of the internet, that the average consumer has with RIAA techniques. Thanks again for your post.

First of all this has nothing to do with P2P. P2P is a delivery mechanism and nothing more. It works well for delivering large files over the internet less expensively than using Content Delivery Network (CDNs). P2P has been used by illegal file sharers, but it's also a legitimate business tool used by many media companies today to deliver their content to paying customers.

What I'm talking about is changing your attitude about the internet, to see it as outlet to market your artists for far less money and far more successfully than you have been (and to change ideas like YouTube is your enemy and see it as marketing and sales tool you can use to your advantage).

If you want to learn more I suggest you visit these web sites and check out the books, download the free eBooks and learn all you can:

David Meerman Scott's Blog:
http://www.webinknow.com

Then go to Seth Godin's Blog:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Finally go to Chris Brogan's Blog:
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/

Listen to what these three guys are saying, talk to them, learn from them. They can take you where I'm talking about and they can explain it better than I ever could. If you're serious, I suggest you do it. These guys can help you. And as I said, if you do that, I will be the first one in line writing about it, applauding your new direction.

One other quick point, Google has actually only experimented with using ads on YouTube to this point. So while Google has invested more than a billion dollars buying YouTube, they are not making big bucks displaying ads along side the video.

See this post for more info:
http://tomokeefe.com/2008/06/04/monetizing-youtube/