blocsonicRadio Wax MP3 player

The blocSonic netlabel has hooked up a Wax MP3 player for their stuff, like the player for Magnatune’s music or the player for uptempo net music that I hand-curated. The player is at http://blocsonic.com/radio. Their blog post about it is at http://blocsonic.com/post/introducing-blocsonic-radio.

This player is designed for music that is good but unfamiliar. It guides the listener through songs without requiring the listener to know anything them in advance. So it’s a natural fit for netlabels, who are long on taste and short on marketing.

The player is a new kind of music experience that is unlike webcasts, music blogs, MP3 player software, or podcasts. It’s free and open source. See github to get the core package. If you want a hand setting it up, don’t hesitate to ask.

reverse chronological video playlist

I clicked through to a video page on Talking Points Memo. The video autostarted. It lasted about a minute. When it was over, the page automatically flipped to another video page which behaved the same way. The second video was the previous posting. After it was over, the page reloaded to the page of the prior video. Etc.

So it’s a playlist composed of cooperating video pages, where each one does the same thing to keep the sequence going. And the playlist is in reverse chronological order, with each track a news clip.

It felt pretty compelling in its own way, but also gave me a little whiplash as the browser lurched from one page to the next.

future of publishers as potential future of labels

Richard Nash on the future of publishing

In my next venture, how would I reconcile the traditional author-agent-publisher-printer-warehouse-wholesaler-retailer-reader supply chain with the potential power of the Internet as a platform? I say “as a platform” to distinguish from how most publishers currently use the Internet—mostly as a logistics and marketing tool. Working with my friend and fellow publisher, Dedi Felman, what emerged from my research is a model that to some will seem unconscionably radical, to others unconscionably conservative: a business that properly avails itself of all the tools that now exist to enable the creation of writing and reading communities from which all else emanates—print books, downloads, marketing and publicity, editorial services—and, of course, revenue.

content packaging tech explosion

Things that are closely related: ebooks, the CMX and Cocktail music packaging formats, the offline features of HTML 5, and single page web apps. And maybe Adobe AIR.

Except that epub, the open format of ebooks, usually doesn’t support Javascript.

If I had to bet, I’d put my money on epub. The model of providing a zip file of HTML with an XML manifest is an easy evolutionary step which has been invented independently many times. CMX/Cocktail could easily migrate in that direction.

Epub uses an XML manifest, not something developed under the microformats.org umbrella. My experience with the XML is that it’s a bit cumbersome and could be simplified by using more plain old semantic HTML in its place. But whether a microformat.org production is more useful than plain old XML is a different question.

mobile vs located

Sometimes the important thing about a device like an iPhone or a Kindle is that it’s portable, also known as mobile. For example they let you carry a lot more books around than if the books were physical.

But sometimes you’ll have a thing like a Boxee, which is a living room device, that’s important in the same way. That way is that it’s *located*. A Boxee is designed for living rooms. It’s the right computer for a living room.

If you use a Chumby as an alarm clock, which is the form factor it copies, it’s located when it’s in your bedroom by where your alarm clock used to be.

A mobile phone with a computer in it is portable, sure. But if you get a phone-based app that’s designed for your living room, then it’s located.

Even a standard PC is located — it’s the right computing tool for your desk.

Located apps complement the place where you are. Some apps are mobile in that they are supposed to be all over the place. A phone is like that — the point is to be location-independent.

This augmented reality deal blows my mind. I am in awe. It makes me want to laugh madly.

What about located music? When is a music app located?

The thing I’m working lately has a located aspect. The fact that it’s located is the point of it.

YouTube in Hulu territory

YouTube Biz Blog: Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, and CNN Clips Coming to YouTube

The flexibility we provide partners in monetizing their content was a key factor in Time Warner’s decision to come to YouTube. You’ll see a variety of ad formats (like overlays or in-stream ads) on their content, depending on the kind of video you’re watching, and both Turner and Warner Bros. will be able to leverage the strength of their sales forces to sell their own ads on the site. We will also be integrating the Time Warner player into YouTube.com.

So Google is getting deeper into Hulu’s territory of licensing tv shows, but doing it in a way that’s more self-serve. Where Hulu controls the ads, YouTube empowers the company that owns the show to sell the ads for itself. This is typical of Google’s identity, in the sense that they always prefer to be doing code rather than content. I imagine that content providers are also taking on the risk of unsold ad inventory, which means Turner and WB are committed to the business rather than dabbling.

Music startups: the new kite eating tree

Dan Frommer: Music Startups: What A Crappy Investment

If MySpace does end up buying music service iLike for anything near the $20 million reported by TechCrunch, it’ll be just the latest disappointing return for VCs — who have poured millions into the digital music startup industry with little to show for it. Venrock’s David Pakman, who was previously CEO of eMusic, says on Twitter that iLike actually raised more than $35 million, not the $16 million reported elsewhere. “Ouch!” he adds. “Music startups aren’t great investments.”

It’s not like investors don’t know this already. I think there’s a bullet point in the first-day handout for new VCs: the copy paper is by the receptionist, the boss’s wife’s name is Dolores, and _no music startups_.

See also: Kite-Eating Tree.

Kite-Eating Tree

long lasting web sites

Yahoo!’s Picks of the Week (12-9-96)

If June can’t have a silent night, at least December can — and in several languages to boot. What we mean is, just in time for Christmas, Jako Olivier has gathered together the lyrics of the carol Silent Night, Holy Night, as translated into a number of languages. According to Jako, “it’s been said that [the song] has been translated and rewritten in 230 different languages.” At this site yule find a variety of vernacular versions, including Afrikaans, Halaka, Irish-Gaelic, Norwegian and Sesotho. So, no reason to feel left out this season when you hear a group of carolers gently crooning, “Bosiu bo kgutsitseng, Tsohle di phomotse.” Submit any lyrics you might know if you don’t see them posted here.

And as it happens, the Silent Night home page is still there, 13 years later. It’s thousands of years old in internet time, like the stonehenge of the web.

It’s an incredibly robust piece of work.