A geração iPod quer rádios diferentes

O iPod é um fenómeno de tal maneira expressivo que já aglutina outro tipo de expressões. Uma delas é "geração iPod", expressão que retrata os jovens que estão a aderir em massa a este LAD da Apple, mas também a leitores de outras marcas (mais baratos e por vezes com maior capacidade, mas sem aquela "griffe"...). Mas geração iPod retrata de uma forma mais ampla a ligação aos telemóveis, uma geração tech (computadores e internet), que parece estar menos disposta a ouvir rádio (e a ler jornais...).

Na Europa e nos Estados Unidos começa a perceber-se que há gente preocupada com isso.

Neste texto sistematizei algumas informações que me foram chegando (é um texto em construção). Duas ideias:

- os aparelhos de rádio têm de mudar, integrando mais funcionalidades (da mesma forma que a rádio tem de convergir com outros aparelhos);

- a música está mais ameaçada;

Isto ainda é rádio?

http://www.pandora.com/ é um projecto de rádio on line (apenas nos EUA) - pretende criar canais personalizados em função dos gostos (aproximados) dos que o consultam (por artistas ou géneros), a que chamam rádios. "Just tell uson of your favorite songs or artists and we’ll launch a streaming station (...)". Existe a versão gratis, com pub, e a paga (livre de anúncios).

Mas será isto rádio?

O que é que é preciso para que seja rádio? A voz? Não estamos, antes, a falar de canais de distribuição de música?

Ou o paradigma actual da rádio está mesmo a mudar e no futuro este microcasting (rádio a la carte, com serviço personalizado) será a marca distintiva da rádio? 

ACT com o contributo de Edgard Costa: "Se aceitarmos que rádio é: " ... um sistema de comunicação usando ondas electro magnéticas que se propagam pelo espaço", e que as redes wifi, cada vez mais distribuidas pelas grandes cidades, também utilizam estas ondas para transmissão de dados, e que estes dados hoje podem ser programas de rádio (enquando emissora) então isso também é rádio, bem como a rádio é digitalizável. Uma vez que se completar o processo de digitalização de todo o tipo de informação, (Livros, TVs, Rádios, etc) tudo será uma coisa só. O que distringuirá uns de outros será mesmo só a linguagem pois o meio será um só.

Sim, indiscutivelmente as fronteiras do meio "físico" se diluem. Eu quero é estar aqui para ver e fazer este "admirável mundo novo"."

A internet vai obrigar a mudar a forma de escrever na rádio?

A escrita analógica e a escuta em hiperligação

Estou a preparar, em conjunto com Edgard Costa, um programa que pretende ser didáctico sobre a escuta de podcasts (o que fazer para...), a emitir numa das próximas semanas. Edgard escreveu a primeira versão do texto a pensar em ouvintes que o ouviriam no computador e encheu-o de referências visuais, como se o programa fosse o guião para um trabalho em conjunto; quando mo enviou, eu cortei essas referências visuais e ele atirou: ainda pensas na rádio tradicional, não encarnaste a rádio do futuro.
O que o Edgard quer dizer é que eu penso a escrita do programa em função de ouvintes que o escutem da forma tradicional, analógica; ele, em contrapartida, já incorpora a possibilidade da escuta funcionar em hiperligação.
Ou seja, estamos perante duas realidades diferentes e - penso - incompatíveis: o texto que ele me enviou é pesado, muito técnico, cheio de pormenores (a pensar na tal fusão com o computador); a versão que lhe devolvi é mais leve, independente, com menos "ruído".

(excerto de um postal publicado aqui)

O que é preciso saber sobre os leitores de audio digital

está aqui.

Os LAD não gostam da rádio?

O Sunday Times de 20/11/05 analisou 10  leitores de audio digital e apenas refere a presença de receptores FM em três.

iRiver H10 5GB

Sony Walkman 6GB NW-A1000 

Toshiba Gigabeat F20

Apple iPod Video 30GB

Archos AV500 DVR 30GB

Apple iPod Nano 4GB

Sony Bean 1GB

MobiBlu DAH-1500 1GB SIM

Creative Zen Nano Plus 1GB SIM

Oregon Scientific MP120 128MB SIM

(dica: Chão de Papel)

Neste texto há mais informações sobre o assunto.

Também a Proteste (nº 265; edição de Janeiro 2006)  fez um teste a 16 modelos de Mp3 e 9 incluiam receptor de FM (dois deles são iPods, que parece divorciada da recepção FM); curiosamente, dos 16 modelos, 9 têm memória interna (e menor capacidade) e sete com disco rígido integrado (a partir dos dois gigas). Dos primeiros 9, sete têm rádio (Thomson PDP2762X; Samsung YP-T7X/Z; Sony NW-E505/E507; Creative Zen Nano Plus; Philips GoGear SA178; Denver MP1014 e Supratech Jazz Classic 1024 SE); da lista dos restantes sete apenas dois (o iRiver H10 e o Creative Zen Micro); Ou seja os modelos mais baratos têm este extra, os mais potentes não...

Um bilião de LAD em 2009?

"Digital Music Player Sales Seen Up Sharply by 2009", Friday, October 14, 2005

Global sales of digital music players are expected to jump to nearly l billion units a year in 2009, driven by consumers' desire for the pocket-sized devices and falling costs for flash memory components, research firm IDC said on Thursday.

IDC predicted that annual sales of compressed audio players will reach 945.5 million units worth $145.4 billion in 2009, up from 224.9 units worth $46.7 billion in 2004. IDC defines these devices as everything from portable MP3 players to DVD devices and phones that can play music compressed by software.

The portable flash player category, which includes products such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod Nano and Dell Inc.'s DJ Ditty, is expected to grow to some 124 million units in 2009 from 26.4 million in 2004.

"The portable MP3 player category has seen the most growth in popularity and Apple has been a very important driver of that," said IDC analyst Susan Kevorkian.

Stronger demand for players that use flash memory chips is expected to be fueled by cheaper flash prices, the expansion of services that sell songs and other media and growing consumer awareness of portable MP3 players.

IDC anticipates that the maximum capacity of flash players will grow to 16 gigabytes in 2007 from 1 gigabyte in 2004. By current compression standards, that's about 4,000 songs packed onto a player in 2007, up from about 250 songs last year.

What's more, music video playback on these devices is expected to drive demand for portable flash players and hard drive-based portable jukeboxes, IDC said, a feature that will be complemented by music video downloads from paid online media services.

In fact, Apple on Wednesday introduced a version of its market-leading iPod that also plays videos. It also unveiled a deal with Walt Disney Co. to sell television shows like "Desperate Housewives."

"We see Apple positioning the iPod with video as primarily being a music device, and video enhances that by offering the possibility of downloading music videos and other video," Kevorkian said. "It is quite possible that a next generation video-enabled iPod may have not only a larger display, but Apple may also have more content available by that point."

Ser passivo ou activo

"Right now the radio conglomerates are not asking listeners what they need. They’re asking what they can get people to listen to. And that’s a very different question. If you really care about radio, if you really care about what this medium can offer the world then you should ask yourself: “What need can I answer with this medium? What can I do today to actually make someone else’s life better? What unmet needs are there, and how can radio fulfill those unmet needs for community, for civic reality, for music education, for development of new music talent, etc?”

Rather than asking listeners which of our shows you like the best so we can do more of that for you, ask what role could radio play in your life - and that’s not something that you can get from a focus group."

A opinião de Douglas Rushkoff, especialista em previsões mediáticas...

A realidade da internet e a juventude (EUA)

"A new Pew study reports that more than half of online teens have created content for the internet. They do it as a means of expression, and they gravitate towards those sites which showcase that expression and reward them in a meaningful way.

What is your station doing to invite meaningful listener collaboration?"

Do relatório:

"American teenagers today are utilizing the interactive capabilities of the internet as they create and share their own media creations. Fully half of all teens and 57% of teens who use the internet could be considered Content Creators. They have created a blog or webpage, posted original artwork, photography, stories or videos online or remixed online content into their own new creations.

Teens are often much more enthusiastic authors and readers of blogs than their adult counterparts. Teen bloggers, led by older girls, are a major part of this tech-savvy cohort. Teen bloggers are more fervent internet users than non-bloggers and have more experience with almost every online activity in the survey.

Teens continue to actively download music and video from the internet and have used multiple sources to get their files. Those who get music files online believe it is unrealistic to expect people to self-regulate and avoid free downloading and file-sharing altogether. "

Sirius (diz que) tem três milhões de assinantes

"The company, which recently launched a Martha Stewart channel and agreed to a multimillion deal with Howard Stern, didn’t provide additional information about its subscriber count or expectations for the year in its statement Tuesday. Rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. has more than 5 million U.S. subscribers."

Aqui há actualizações da notícia.

Um LAD revolucionário (via wi-fi)

"NYC-based MusicGremlin Inc. unveiled plans Wednesday to debut its own wireless digital audio player with integrated, interactive music service at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show, slated to go down in Las Vegas in early January 2006.

MusicGremlin's handheld Wi-Fi player with incorporated service offers direct-to-device content delivery, optimized for use over 802.11b networks, according to company officials.

 

MusicGremlin designed its latest device with an embedded "music store" that allows users to download and share audio files, directly through their player.

 

The MusicGremlin product can link wirelessly to other MusicGremlin-enabled devices, either locally or via Internet. "(origem: "Portable Wi-Fi Player Offers Direct-to-Device Music Downloads", Bary Alyssa Johnson - PC Magazine Thu Dec 15,11:41 AM ET; via Future of Radio)

Ou seja, a música vem pelo ar!

A desvalorização do iPod

Um excerto deste artigo "Free Radio Biz Tunes Out Sat Gains", Dec. 22, 2005, By Alex Woodson and Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter:

"Smulyan also invoked an old rule in the media industry that says newer forms of media rarely fully replace older ones. "The iPod of today was the CD five years ago and the cassette 15 years ago and the A-track 20 years ago and the citizen's band radio 30 years ago," he said. "The reality is people have fragmentation, but we haven't seen anything replace this particular radio experience."

Ainda há quem não perceba o segundo choque (e tenha a cabeça na areia)...

Um excerto deste artigo "Free Radio Biz Tunes Out Sat Gains", Dec. 22, 2005, By Alex Woodson and Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter
 

"Smulyan also invoked an old rule in the media industry that says newer forms of media rarely fully replace older ones. "The iPod of today was the CD five years ago and the cassette 15 years ago and the A-track 20 years ago and the citizen’s band radio 30 years ago," he said. "The reality is people have fragmentation, but we haven’t seen anything replace this particular radio experience."

Dickey also suggested that despite good marketing, satellite radio has little to differentiate itself from terrestrial radio. "We’re in the content business, and the only real content that they have is Howard Stern," he said. "They don’t have any real exclusive content."

Despite all the defense talk, Smulyan did agree that traditional radio players have room to improve performance in various areas. They particularly must focus more on providing compelling content, he argued. "We have done some things, as an industry, that have not been productive," he said. "I don’t think we’ve marketed the industry too well. I think our product’s been more stale. ... I think that we’ve over-researched ourselves."

O comentário de harry Helms: "Terrestrial radio executives are increasingly acting like American auto executives in the 1970s (and in the 1980s, 1990s, and still today, come to think of it): their industry problems are due to  flawed customer perceptions, negative press coverage, unfavorable government regulations, or anything/everything ad infinitum except the possibility their product isn't what customers want. "

Uma previsão (pessimista) sobre o satélite (e a rádio paga)

"No one has ever made a penny, anywhere in the world, on subscription-based radio," Smulyan said. "This doesn’t mean that Sirius (Satellite Radio) and XM won’t make it. ... But even if you take the most wildly enthusiastic estimations of their penetration, they will reach 30 million Americans in the next five years, 40 million. Radio ... will probably still reach 275 million people a week"."

Free Radio Biz Tunes Out Sat Gains
Dec. 22, 2005
By Alex Woodson and Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter

aqui há as inevitáveis reacções da indústria do satélite.

A publicidade está em perda em 2005

"Numa análise ao investimento verificado entre Janeiro e Novembro, os mesmos cinco meios registaram uma evolução de 21,5%, face ao período homólogo de 2004, atingindo 3,3 mil milhões de euros de investimento.

Também aqui, a televisão foi o meio que mais cresceu (31,4%), alcançando os 2,2 mil milhões de euros. A segunda melhor marca foi registada pelo outdoor (11,5%), que totalizou uma facturação publicitária de 226,4 milhões de euros.

Com uma evolução mais modesta esteve a imprensa (3,6%), tendo registado 63,8 milhões de euros entre Janeiro e Novembro deste ano. O cinema, que em Novembro caiu, vê-se no acumulado a crescer 8,4%, face ao mesmo período de 2004.

A única perda registada neste meio foi protagonizada pela rádio." Menos 0,5% (171 752 contra 172 685 de 2004)

Um bom ponto da situação sobre o HD (e a rádio hertziana)

A partir deste texto "HD Radio: Could it Ever Supplant FM?" (de Anders Madsen, 01.04.06, rwonline.com), e destas interrogações "Will HD Radio someday overtake analog FM in the United States? If so, how long until most commercial FM broadcast is at least accompanied by an IBOC modulated signal? Will stations ever really start turning off their analog entirely, as originally envisioned under the "hybrid" approach to a digital radio transition?", alguns destaques:

- O PREÇO DOS RECEPTORES: "Tim Eby, manager of Ohio State University station WOSU(FM), agrees. "Nobody’s going to run out and buy a radio if it costs $350." For him, $100 is the target price point required for mass appeal." [a própósito: HD tuner for $110)

- O RISCO DE INVESTIMENTO DOS PROPRIETÁRIOS: "According to Bob Struble, president and CEO of the company, some owners are pursuing aggressive installation and implementation, others are waiting to see what happens. But he is certain HD Radio will someday replace analog FM broadcast in the United States."

- A MANUTENÇÃO DO FM (até porque existem 800 milhões de rádios analógicos nos EUA, com a respectiva inércia): ""One of the great things about HD is that it operates in tandem with analog, so that if you have an HD radio, it also picks up analog stations. There won’t be a cutoff point, (as if) that’s the end of this, and we’re starting something new ... It’s a planned transition. We’re not taking any analog stations off the air ... what we’re doing is putting HD transmitters right next to the analog transmitters." 

- A VENDA DE EMISSORES: "Matthew Straeb, director of business development for Continental Electronics, said, "We’re selling a lot more HD transmitters than we are analog"."

A COBERTURA NACIONAL DIGITAL: "Will HD Radio signals ever be everywhere in the U.S.? "Not in my lifetime," Jensen said."

 

O podcast e a voz humana

As perplexidades do Luís Santos têm razão de ser mas este era um desenvolvimento inevitável: a partir do momento em que há uma forma de distribuir conteúdos áudio de uma forma explosiva, por que não aproveitar aqueles programas de computador que transformam texto em voz? É o que está a fazer a Reuters.

Mas não te preocupes, Luís: a voz humana nunca será substituída enquanto for sinónimo de inteligência. O que as gravações/podcasts da Reuters estão a fazer é apurar o sentido e o grão da voz – é como ter uma maquina em casa que nos lava a louça, libertando-nos de ter de o fazer e permitindo-nos ocupar o tempo com uma outra coisa bem mais interessante, em alternativa.

As principais dificuldades do multicasting: quem ouve?

Aqui conta-se a experiência da "Gretchen 99.9", uma rádio lançada de acordo com a tecnologia HD pela rádio hertziana Kiss Country, em Miami.

A Gretchen 99.9 é um canal digital nascido da possibilidade que a HD gera de criar canais paralelos (dedicado ao cantor de country Gretchen Wilson).

A questão das audiências é fundamental: além de haver poucos rádios preparados para ouvir (também) estes canais digitais, diz Harry Helms, muitos ouvintes sintonizam a Kiss Country na internet, não em rádios HD; quem ouve? 

A propósito dos novos canais criados pelo HD: "A new study conducted by some radio analysts says consumers prefer to have the 'extended band' of radio, instead of a 'layered approach.'"

A NPR continua a dinamizar o futuro da rádio

Mais um exemplo: contratou James Brown para um concerto em exclusivo na internet! E depois estará em mp3 e em podcast

Pormenores: "National Public Radio (NPR) has just tapped the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, for a special live streaming event. The radio network, which has already streamed exclusive performances from a long list of well-known groups, will deliver the Brown performance on npr.org on Wednesday, December 28th. The Godfather will perform from the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, a longtime host to countless superstars and breaking acts. The James Brown performance will be available as a downloadable MP3 on Thursday, and select songs will be included in the "All Songs Considered" podcast. Previously, NPR has offered streams and on-demand content from the White Stripes, Sigur Ros, Sinead O’Connor, Death Cab for Cutie and David Gray.

The James Brown webcast and on-demand offering are part of an ever-widening media footprint for NPR, which now stretches far beyond the core terrestrial radio audience. The group is certainly not alone in its ambitions, though NPR has been quite successful leveraging its brand equity online and across new formats like satellite radio. Meanwhile, NPR has made an impressive move into podcasting, and the “All Songs Considered” podcast consistently ranks highly on aggregators like iTunes and Yahoo. Overall, the public radio network has an enviable following among higher-end, educated listeners, many of whom are glued to a member station during commutes or at the office."

Ensinar a mexer com o mp3

É uma loja norte-americana que promove uma campanha didáctica:

"outlets like Circuit City are now hoping to hammer home the value proposition to maximize sales. The electronics chain just announced their "MP3s Made Simple" initiative, which aims to help consumers through concepts like device selection, downloading music, ripping CDs, and managing playlists. The store already has tutorials and information online, and is planning to position associates throughout its stores to demystify the buying process. Circuit City is selling a wide range of MP3 players, including iPods."

Mais uma loja virtual de música via telemóvel

Agora é o gigante norte-americano Verizon:

"Verizon Wireless will deliver a mobile music store in early January, according to various leads. The company has already sent invitations to key press outlets, including Digital Music News, to attend a CES-based unveiling in Las Vegas. The event will usher in "the next generation of V Cast," which already offers streaming video clips from outlets like CNN, Comedy Central, VH1, and The Weather Channel. A representative of Verizon was light on details, though a top-level major label executive recently confirmed to Digital Music News that the carrier is preparing a full-fledged mobile music store. According to the source, that service will be backed by all four major labels."