iLounge

1

Nice idea except the technology doesn’t work yet. GPRS sucks and 3G isn’t working properly yet.

More importantly why would anyone buy one? I certainly wouldn’t.

Posted by loGan on September 24, 2003 at 6:49 AM (PST)

2

Portions of it do exist—it’s called XM Radio. If you have the XMPCR—a PCR XM player—you can already see what’s playing on the 100 channels (by artist and song title), mark your favorites, and instruct the PC player to listen for certain artists. Obviously, you have zero control over the playlists—and are (of course) prohibited by your XM agreement to record the radio.

But, yes, you’re right—what the author is suggesting doesn’t really exist—and there’s no good technology that would make it feasible. But certainly satellite radio proves that some interesting technology is out there—and because XM doesn’t need a big dish or anything and is easily “scooped up” by microantennas and land-based repeaters, it *is* a pretty darn good option for getting tiny devices lots of one-way bandwidth.

I have a car-based XM player—the new “Roady”—and I don’t even need the antenna on the car or on the dash. I just throw it in my glove compartment and close the compartment door and it picks up everything just fine.

So there are a lot of interesting possibilites—just nothing that really gives consumers *choice* (which is, I think, pretty much what the original article is getting at.)

Posted by Dunfee on September 24, 2003 at 7:11 AM (PST)

3

When will these idiots understand that most people won’t rent music?

Posted by Jerm on September 24, 2003 at 7:25 AM (PST)

4

So, “everything”?  Including that recording my chorus did last year, but was only distributed within the group?  And those outtakes of Casey Kasem swearing?  And the remix of Spice Girls “Wannabe” and Nine Inch Nails “Closer”?  Sure, that’ll happen.

Posted by Michael on September 24, 2003 at 7:35 AM (PST)

5

Hmmm digital expiration date…

That shouldn’t take long to hack

....

Not that I would condone that sort of activity, Oh no

Lol

Posted by GuyVer on September 24, 2003 at 7:38 AM (PST)

6

I already have this working, and with video as well.

I use Media Center’s Scheduler to record audio and video streams from the cable, FM/AM/SW, and XM. With it’s Media Server, I can download or stream my selected media from any Internet location.

http://www.musicex.com/mediacenter/

Then I do a morning sync with my ArchosAV with 80GB. Any stuff I want to demo I either pipe directly into a projector or VCR, or sync back onto PCs. During the day, I resync with Media Scheduler using the Internet to bring the ArchosAV up to date with the recorded audio streams.

http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2003/archosav320review.html

Then I have all the media I might want to monitor during the day (I work in politics, it’s a godsend!). While the Archos can hold several hundred hours, I usually only get to scan a few hours a day - some I keep, most I delete.

I couldn’t do this easily with either iTunes or the iPod, because the built-in DRM and lack of recording technologies and easy syncing would be too restrictive. Believe me, I’ve tried! But it’s too much work.

Posted by FutureNow on September 24, 2003 at 8:49 AM (PST)

7

“When will these idiots understand that most people won’t rent music? “
So true… the only people that would want this is people that like pop and rap because they do not care about having songs that will last a long time… They just want somthing that is “cool” right now and half a year from now it will just be old news.

Posted by knarf135 on September 24, 2003 at 12:42 PM (PST)

8

I’d love to see Jobs at the next Macworld unveiling this… “Sure, we said iTunes Music Store was better than the rest of the online music services because you actually own your music rather than rent it. Well… we… um… kinda changed our mind.”

I mean really, why would you want to rent music? Expiration date? Music doesn’t expire. And think about the cost of this. It just doesn’t add up.

Posted by cozzie on September 25, 2003 at 12:23 AM (PST)

9

Understand, though, that renting—as weird as it may be—may pave the way toward more *availability*.

If I’m forced to choose, say, between owning 500 songs or *renting* 1,000,000 songs—from all different albums, all different genres—then I’m all for renting.

Personally, I want to *listen* to music. I could care less if I have an MP3 or something stashed away on a harddrive. I want to listen to what I want, when I want. So if that means I have to rent, say, 100 songs at a time, well, that’s fine.

But the flip side of that is this: that if I’m renting, if I’m not owning, then I want bucketloads of music. I don’t want partial albums or 30 second snippets. I want everything available at my fingertips at *any* time of my choosing.

Posted by Dunfee on September 26, 2003 at 5:05 AM (PST)