Dia 1 de Abril de 06, no Porto.
Com Duarte Velez Grilo (Blitzkriegbop), Carlos Jorge Andrade (Lusocast), Filipe Homem Fonseca e José de Pina (O horror inominável), Edgard Costa (GavezDois) e José António Moreira (Sons da escrita) (fonte: A rádio em Portugal)
«OTTAWA (CP) - Music via the Internet, satellite, IPods and a new generation of cellphones is taking its toll on old-fashioned commercial radio, and the industry wants federal broadcast regulators to help level the playing field. In a submission to the CRTC, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters warns that "a new generation of unregulated competition is upon us." That, plus huge increases in music copyright payments in recent years, means the outlook for private radio is uncertain. "This does not mean that more regulation is required, but rather more effective regulation needs to be designed," says Glenn O'Farrell, president of the CAB which represents more than 400 radio stations across the country. (...) The CAB projects a loss of listeners over the next decade to new audio technologies, warning the revenue losses could be as much as $39 million by 2010, and even worse beyond that.» (fonte: Faced with new media competition, private radio makes proposals to CRTC, Canoe Money, 2006-03-16 13:50:00)
A autoridade britãnica que licencia a difusão de música através de streaming quer obrigar esses operadores a ofererem o serviço apenas a residentes - para utilizadores de outros países, o organismo em causa exige que sejam pagas licenças de direitos de autores aos países respectivos - o que se mostra demasiado complicado (tecnicamente) e financeiramente inviável! A partir de um 1 de ABril o streaming internacional pode fechar!
Mais aqui.
Como juntar o FM com o computador? Este sistema grava e guarda tudo o que ouve no FM para o computador!
«Snaptune, Inc. has released Snaptune™ One, a new software product that ‘downloads’ complete songs, talk shows, interviews and live sessions directly from FM radio to a PC.
Snaptune One records, isolates, and identifies complete songs, talk shows and other interesting segments automatically.
Users pick their favorite local radio stations from a list for their location, and Snaptune does the rest. Snaptune One displays a list of the songs playing on the radio as it finds them. Users can sort them, play them, write them, burn them, or transfer them to an iPod or other media player.
Snaptune uses pattern-matching techniques to find songs without any reference to play lists or other external data allowing it to work on almost any radio station.
Snaptune One can podcast directly across a home network to iTunes on a user’s laptop and from there onto an iPod. »
(fonte: Corey Deitz, Radio About, New Software Downloads Complete Songs From FM Radio to PC, 11/3/06)
Qual será o suporte principal para a difusão da rádio no futuro? Será possível definir um suporte central (como a emissão hertziana, actual), e nesse caso será a Internet (com o podcast a poder ter protagonismo), ou a rádio será sobretudo um sistema convergente, sem que haja um suporte triunfante, mas vários (conjugando-se suportes hertzianos com digitais, telemóveis ou webcasting)?
(algo que me dizia que fazia sentido pôr uma interrogação no título deste texto. É que, na verdade, e como lembra no comentário Carlos Marques da Cotonete, «o primeiro serviço de rádio nos telemóveis em Portugal foi lançado há cerca de um ano pela Optimus e pelo Cotonete. Está disponível através do portal móvel da referida operadora». Passou-me, mas ainda bem que há leitores atentos. Via Optimus tentei saber mais sobre o serviço, mas não encontrei nada de relevante. A pesquisa continua e agradeço contributos)
Vodafone introduz serviço UMTS de rádio para telemóveis
O grupo Voadfone anunciou um novo UMTS baseado num serviço de rádio, o «Vodafone Radio DJ».
O novo rádio vai permitir aos clientes, em seis países da Europa, ouvir estações de rádio no telemóvel ou criar canais personalizados baseados na preferência de cada um. Os utilizadores vão ter a possibilidade de escolher o estilo de música que querem ouvir, romântica, alegre, melancólica, potente ou relaxante. O «Vodafone Radio DJ» vai estar disponível dentro de poucos meses em seis países, incluindo Portugal.»Diário Digital, 16-03-2006 18:33:04
«Eight million listeners in 2010. That's the latest best guess of research company Bridge Ratings as to how many listeners will have HD Radio, and compares with a projection of 54 million for satellite radio that year. The new HD Radio digital format is growing "slower than previously thought"; still, it has the potential eventually to rival the satcasters in receiver penetration, but that depends on how fast automakers embrace the technology, Bridge said. »
«Mercury Radio Research has released the results of a survey of 1,000 people conducted in Jan.-Feb. about HD Radio and the iPod. Given the choice between the two technologies at the same price, better than 50% preferred HD over the iPod. In polling men and women aged 12-54 of various ethnicities, Mercury gave participants a description of HD radio and asked for their preference versus iPods. Overall, 53% gave the thumbs up to HD, while 37% chose the iPod and 10% answered “don’t know.” Broken out, 18-34 adults chose HD by a 51% margin compared to 43% who selected iPods and 6% answering “don’t know.” HD led by 59% to iPod’s 28% in adults 25-54, with 13% of respondents answering “don’t know.”
More info on the study, including format breakouts are available at radiomarketingnexus.com»
fonte: Billboard Radio Monitor, Report: HD Radio Preferred Over iPod, March 15, 2006, By Mike Boyle
fonte: New York TImes, «South Koreans Clearly See Mobile TV» By SU HYUN LEE, March 16, 2006
ACT a 23/3/06: a partir de um relatório da Datamonitor: «World domination battle: DMB Vs DVB-H Vs MediaFLO. There are essentially three different technologies fighting it out to be the standard for mobile TV broadcast technology – DVB-H, DMB and MediaFLO – with a fourth, ISDB-T, unlikely to gain any traction outside of Japan. DMB is the only technology currently being used in commercial services (in South Korea). Commercial services from DVB-H and MediaFLO are expected to launch by the second half of 2006. Each technology has its own pros and cons, but in global market share terms Datamonitor expects DVB-H to be the long-term leader.»
Relativamente a este caso, surgem notícias de que há cada vez mais apoio para o sistema da MediaAudit, o que não pode deixar de ser interpretado como uma espécie de cartão amarelo ao PPM - afinal a indústria não está tão convencida como parece.
Agora é a CBS Radio, depois da Radio One e da Cox: «"We are impressed with how quickly The Media Audit /IPSOS team is hitting its milestones in bringing the radio industry an alternative electronic ratings service. The Media Audit/Ipsos formally applied to the evaluation committee in December and is now preparing for a market test 3 months later. That's impressive. Clearly they have a plan and they know what they are doing." commented Hollander.» (http://www.radioink.com/headlineentry.asp?hid=132847&pt=inkheadlines)
Da Reuters, de 14 de Março, com o título «IPod hearing risk needs more study - NIH», By Karey Wutkowski:
LaunchCast: http://launch.yahoo.com/launchcast/setup.asp
«uptake of DAB grew around 100% in Q4 2005, but still only 11.1% of UK homes own a set. Is this an acceptable figure, considering that DAB was launched in 1995, or could this explain the government’s reluctance to set a switch-off date for analogue radio? (...) The UK media also remains unconvinced – recent reports proclaimed the potential market for digital radio on mobiles and hailed Channel 4’s bid for a nationwide digital radio multiplex. Simultaneous broadsheet reports attacked digital radio for sub-FM audio quality and insufficient UK coverage. This mixed media message is not aided by the multiple forms of radio (DAB, Digital Radio Mondiale, HD Radio) that are continuing to emerge and compete for mainstream support» (fonte: «Future Radio: Will Digital Kill The Record Biz Star?»)
«The City of London is set to have a Wi-Fi network in place covering the entire city. It should be in place within the next few months. A private company called The Cloud will install the hardware and equipment, and will make use of street furniture like the lamp posts and street signs for the purpose.
People within range of the city-wide coverage will be able to surf the ‘net wirelessly and do things like listen to live streaming radio on wireless devices like wireless Palm PCs or WiFi radios like this one.» (fonte http://todmaffin.com/blogs/radio/?p=998)
«Apple is planning to remove the limit on the Motorola phone which can play songs from iTunes — a cap which restricts current users to store no more than 100 songs on the device.
At least that’s what the blogs are all abuzz with this morning after a few discovered a graphic in yesterday’s update to iTunes that presumably will rollout later which encourages users of the ROKR phone to download an update to get more music on their phones.
We already know that people — young people especially — are turning off their radios in increasing numbers and listening to their own playlists on iPods and other devices. That’s part of what is behind the expanded playlist format like JACK-FM — a late-to-the-party attempt at getting those listeners back.
So now, think about it.
If you could get a phone with 30 GB of storage (enough for your whole music collection) which would pause if your phone rang so you could take the call (hell, you already have the earpiece and mic plugged in) why would you need a radio (or iPod for that matter).
Radio’s future is in embracing alternate platforms. This is only one of them. There will be more.
UPDATE: Turns out the 100-song cap is staying in place. The upgrade graphics will be released to non-American customers whose phones were limited to as low as 25 songs. This will at least get their phones to the 100-song limit. But, as Engadget says: “Of course, the very existence of the upgrade system raises tantalizing possibilities for the rest of us, but for now, that’s all that’s being raised.”»
fonte: «“iPod Phone” becomes more of a radio threat», I Love Radio.org, Thursday, February 16th, 2006 at 8:41 am
«The report points out that a typical base-station, can handle an area between 3-to-10 kilometers in a non-line of sight environment. Or about 40 Mbit/s per channel, which basically boils down to this: one cell could theoretically allow hundreds of business connections at 1.5 Mbit/s and thousands of residential connections at 256 kbit/s. It is easier to see why I have always believed that this is a long haul technology, which can then work in tandem with WiFi meshes, for local connectivity»
"Nielsen//NetRatings... announced today that the number of active broadband users from home increased 28% year-over-year, from 74.3 million in February 2005 to 95.5 million in February 2006. Broadband composition among the U.S. active online population has seen vigorous growth during the past three years, increasing at least ten percentage points annually and hitting an all-time high of 68% for active Internet users in February 2006...
"Overall Internet penetration in the U.S. has stabilized over the past few years, reaching 74% at home in February 2006... Since February 2003, the average PC time per person among active Web users has increased approximately five hours from 25 and a half hours a month to 30 and a half hours a month."
Fonte: Nielsen ratings; 14/3/06
«The radio landscape is clearly evolving, but what do listeners ultimately want? Consumers now have access to virtually unlimited collections of music – both on-demand and through streaming formats. Outlets like Rhapsody deliver on-demand access to thousands of albums, while providers like XM Satellite Radio offer just as many niche genres. But somehow, having everything is only part of the puzzle, and listeners usually want someone else to sift through the barrage of possibilities. "Just having access to a sea of material is not going to push the ball forward," said Tim Westergren, head of recommendation service Pandora, during a South by Southwest (SXSW) panel Tuesday. Westergren spoke of re-energizing listeners, many of whom stop discovering music after their teenage years.
Pandora offers streamed recommendations based on expressed listener preferences, and matches core musical attributes to serve up new gems. That system may appear brainy to some, especially those that are more comfortable with actual deejays and more traditional radio formats. Elise Nordling, music director at SomaFM, pointed to the important companion role that radio plays. Deejays do more than just pick songs, they often build a bond with listeners. "People want company," she said. Meanwhile, music industry consultant and KCRW commentator Celia Hirschman pointed to the importance of nurturing listener relationships, which are created by establishing trust and maintaining a high level of programming integrity. "The quality of the music is important," she said. Addressing the recent Eliot Spitzer payola probe, Hirschman wondered if big terrestrial giants will ever change. "Radio stations are less likely to work with independent promoters, but the net effect is unclear," she said. Pointing to a format that is focused on big advertising, Hirschman noted that mainstream radio "will probably still go with heavily powered major label stuff," mainly because they are fearful of alienating advertisers and listeners with unfamiliar, new sounds».
«Radio Morphs, Next-Generation Listener Emerges», Digital Music News, 15/3/06
«TV Cabo lança serviço de rádio na Powerbox
Andreia Ferreira
O cliente TV Cabo que já possua uma Powerbox terá que desligá-la e voltar a ligar para passar a ter disponíveis 13 das principais estações de rádio portuguesas. Antenas 1,2 e 3, RDP África, Rádio Clube, Rádio Capital, Rádio Comercial, Cidade FM, Best Rock FM, Oxigénio, Marginal, Radar e Rádio Europa Lisboa são as estações parceiras do projecto nesta fase inicial. A tecla amarela do comando da Powerbox dá acesso à opção Rádio numa operação que se quis «simples e funcional» afirmou o director do projecto, Francisco Matos Chaves. «Antes de optarmos pelo serviço de rádio em detrimento da introdução das playlists dos canais de música, quisemos ouvir os clientes», acrescentou. Em Maio de 2005, iniciou-se o processo de troca das TV Box analógicas pelos descodificadores digitais Powerbox junto dos clientes com canais Premium. Este processo de trocas deverá estar concluído até ao final do primeiro semestre deste ano. (Diário Digital, 15-03-2006 12:43:10)
Mais: «Ao DN, Francisco Matos Chaves, director dos canais multimédia da TV Cabo, explica que o sistema "pode vir a permitir a medição das audiências", mas não sabe quando tal será possível.» COMENTÁRIO: Talvez no dia de são nunca à tarde... A audição de rádio via televisão (com a inevitável ausência de portabilidade) será sempre residual, mesmo que se apresente complementar e possa ter alguma utilidade. Mas daí até poder servir para medir audiências?... E já não falo do facto de apenas «500.000 subscritores do serviço digital terão acesso às emissoras»
(informações do Edgard Costa)
«Podcast GavezDois atinge hoje aos 200 episódios
O podcast português GavezDois, encontrado em http://www.gavezdois.com, atinge hoje os 200 episódios. Lançado no dia 16 de Agosto de 2005, o GavezDois é o podcast de música mais ouvido em Portugal e um dos três mais ouvidos entre todos, segundo o principal directório de podcasts de língua portuguesa, o português Lusocast (http://www.lusocast.com/top/10) . É importante ressaltar que todas as músicas ouvidas nos episódios do GavezDois são legalmente autorizadas para este fim, pelos mais de 1.000 selos independentes em todo o mundo que o podcast manteve contactos neste primeiros meses de trabalho. Mais alguns números: 31.652 é o número de descarregamentos de todos os episódios, desde Setembro de 2005, quando começou a contagem e até ontem, 14 de Março de 2006; 221.564 é o numero aproximado de músicas legalmente distribuídas, numa média de sete por episódio; 820 é a média diária de visitantes; 10.000.574 bytes (100 GB) é o recorde de descarregamentos num só dia, correspondendo a mais de 500 episódios descarregados; O episódio de Natal de 2005 foi o que obteve maior número individual de descarregamentos, somando 1.126.
O que estes números significam? Sucesso! Para um podcast independente dos grandes da média portuguesa, estes números dizem por si só a qualidade do GavezDois.»