Author Archive | Jared Newman

The Next Online Music Revolution Is … CDs?

Posted by Jared Newman on May 21, 2009 at 5:25 pm

For $31 per year (Update: see the breakdown below), musicians both unknown and legendary will soon be able to get their CDs printed and sold through Amazon, no questions asked.

Following in the footsteps of CDBaby, but with a crucial difference, TuneCore and Amazon will launch an on-demand CD printing service, Wired’s Eliot Van Buskirk reports. The musician pays $31 per year for printing, labeling and delivery of a 10-track CD. Amazon sells the CDs for $8.98 each and keeps 60 percent. The rest goes to the musician.

In terms of keeping a low barrier to entry, CDBaby and TuneCore’s services are fairly similar — I could break down the differences in price and process, but I’m sure things will change once the two companies start competing. The real distinction is the muscle TuneCore brings to the table. Buskirk notes that Trent Reznor, Keith Richards and Joan Jett are already clients of TuneCore for other digitial distribution services, and they’ll likely be itching for yet another way to escape the major labels. With TuneCore, they only have to sell nine CDs each to break a profit, and they keep all the rights to their music.

Not that online printing is without drawbacks for consumers: The immediacy of purchasing a CD in a store is absent, and so is the chance to own something with elaborate packaging, as TuneCore’s liner note options are a fairly standard set of sleeves and inserts. Buskirk also raises the issue of selling CDs at a concert, but I don’t see why the band itself couldn’t order a thousand copies and sell them for a premium at the show.

Paramount to all this nitty-gritty is the not-so-novel idea that the music business as a whole is decentralizing. The cleverest musicians, big and small, are finding ways to advertise and sell products without major labels. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs are capitalizing in spaces where the music industry was too big, dumb and slow to venture.

These monoliths will shrink, and companies like TuneCore will be the catalysts.

Update: So we’re all clear, TuneCore’s Peter Wells, who comments below, breaks the pricing down in an e-mail as 19.98 for a year of maintenance and storage of the physical CD, plus 99 cents per song, plus a flat fee of 99 cents to sell the album through Amazon, totalling roughly $31. An extra dollar distributes the song to iTunes as a digital download.

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Sony May Cut More PSP Middlemen

Posted by Jared Newman on May 21, 2009 at 2:24 pm

At this point, everyone but Sony is talking about a redesigned PSP that ditches physical media in favor of digital downloads. Whether you believe that or not, several reports suggest the PSP will eventually focus more on Web transactions with a download-to-rent service.

The evidence came from Joystiq, which reported on a survey gauging interest in a rental service. The questionnaire says this kind of offering “could be developed” and sought feedback on price points, subscription packages, desire for new releases and the number of titles added per month. From the nature of these questions, it seems like Sony is considering paid subscriptions rather than a la carte rentals.

Today, Develop magazine writes that game developers were briefed on the nature of this service at the Game Developers Conference last March. Several studios were reportedly given information and documents on the service.

Download-to-rent video games are an interesting proposition because they alleviate some of the uncertainty downloaders face, knowing they can’t sell the game back to GameStop once they complete the game. The trade-off, obviously, is no ownership of the real gems. If Sony does implement subscription rentals for the PSP, I hope the company figures out a way to bridge this gap.

I’m thinking some sort of incentive plan for purchasing games would work nicely. Gamefly, for example, lets renters keep the games they really like at used game prices, and adds discounts that get better the longer you’re a member. This is what keeps me subscribing through boring spots on the release calendar.

Sony would be wise to implement something similar. Even better, the company could make like Napster or ZunePass and let subscribers permanently hang on to a game every few months. That would keep customers happily forking their money over to Sony, not the middleman.

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Calif. Game Sales Law Goes to the Supreme Court

Posted by Jared Newman on May 20, 2009 at 4:19 pm

Not content with a state appeals court decision and a trail of failed legislation in other states, California state Sen. Leland Yee is getting his wish: His fight for government regulation of violent video game sales to minors will go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The irony is beautiful when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he’s heard the “loud and clear” message to reduce deficits through budget cuts and on the same day endorses a legal pursuit that will waste taxpayer money. But here we are once more, chasing the spectre of evil, killer video games, trying to hide them with censorship so they don’t corrupt California’s precious children.

To recap, the law would ban the sale of violent video games to anyone under the age of 18. Any game that contains “especially heinous, cruel, or depraved” violence would include a 2-inch by 2-inch sticker with the number “18” on it. If a store owner is caught selling these games to minors, the retailer is fined $1,000. Upon hearing a complaint from the games industry, a judge blocked the law, and an appeals judge agreed with the decision. Yee still isn’t giving up.

Because the state would essentially be throwing the Entertainment Software Ratings Board out the window — it’s a voluntary system by the video game industry, after all — a new, government-run system would need to be put into place. I doubt the costs of running such a system would be covered entirely by fines, especially if store owners start taking drastic measures to keep violent games out of the wrong hands, such as putting certain games behind closed doors or not selling them entirely.

So now we get to the point I’ve argued previously: Game fans of a mature age may find their favorite games behind the glass, so to speak, regardless of the games’ artistic or cultural merits. Why don’t movies and music receive the same scrutiny, even though minors are having more success buying them? Because, Yee and the state of California argue, they’re not interactive. This issue of how games affect players will likely be the focus of the debate if the Supreme moves the case forward.

There’s a sentiment among readers of GamePolitics, where I first read this story, that the Supreme Court needs to hear this case. Presumably, our top justices have nothing to gain politically from these laws, and will therefore put them to bed for good because they’re unconstitutional.

I agree with that notion. We may never be able to save the children — there are far too many other factors playing into that — but at least no more tax dollars will go to waste.

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So, Is Napster Worth Anything? Sure!

Posted by Jared Newman on May 19, 2009 at 5:44 pm

Yesterday, Harry wrote about Napster’s new price plan of $5 a month for unlimited online streaming and five MP3 downloads. I was intrigued, so I signed up.

The service isn’t new, but the updated price calls for a fresh evaluation. Consider this a mini review after an afternoon of tinkering.

Rock On:

Software or Cloud: The Web version of Napster is almost as fully-featured as the software, with a sleek pop-out window that acts as the player. The software lets you integrate your existing MP3 library and adds some much-needed right-click functionality.
The Interface: Napster’s interface looks a lot like iTunes, and that’s a good thing. On the left are your navigation headings along with any playlists you create, while the library and artist information resides in the middle. There are also radio stations and an “Automix” feature that throws together familiar and new music based on your tastes.
MP3 Downloads: Every month, you can download five songs. Along with the unlimited streaming, you’re getting far more value than you would from five iTunes tracks.

Boo:

30 Second Tracks: Leave it to some record labels to dip only a toe into the 21st century. Some labels aren’t cool with offering full tracks, which isn’t cool with me.
$5 Per Month? While Napster cheerily announced the price point in its press release, it conveniently didn’t say that this a limited time offer. The real price is $7 per month, to be reinstated at an unknown date. By spilling the beans yesterday, before the new site and disclaimer were available, we had no reason to assume the price would someday go up when covering the news. That’s underhanded.
No Online Access to Downloaded Music: I imagine this would be technically daunting, but I wish the browser version of Napster would let you play local MP3s. It should at least sync up with your library and add streaming versions of songs you already own.
Minor Gripes: No party shuffle, no importing playlists from iTunes, limited format support (.WMA and .MP3 only) and local MP3s won’t link up to the artist’s online section.

The Verdict: Even if my list of greivances outweighs the positives in number, I’m pretty happy with my investment. Sure, Napster has its share of nuisances tht prevent me from dropping WinAmp and iTunes altogether, and I’m worried that some day the subscription price will creep upwards. But as a tool for listening to and discovering lots of music? You could do a lot worse for five bucks a month.

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Defend Your (Tech) Geek Age

Posted by Jared Newman on May 18, 2009 at 3:23 pm

Growing up, how did technology treat your generation? Did your maturation sync perfectly with the world’s technological advances, or did you arrive too late (or too early) for the best and biggest developments?

I’m stealing this idea from Raph Koster, designer of the classic PC game Ultima Online, who ponders whether his birth year of 1971 made for the perfect “geek age.” For example, he saw Star Wars in theaters 13 times, played pinball machines in real arcades and “got an 8-bit computer at exactly the age when boys get obsessive about details.”

Koster wrote that he feels sorry for people born 10 years earlier or later than he, but falling into the latter category, I disagree. While his points about comics, science fiction and Dungeons and Dragons are beyond the scope of Technologizer, I’m prepared to argue the merits of my birth year, 1983, as a great time to enter the world of technology and subsequently geek out:

I was born early enough to learn a little DOS and appreciate why it became obsolete.
Seeing Mario on a scrolling screen blew my mind. When he turned 3D, the magic hadn’t yet faded.
I made friends in arcades by cooperating on games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-Men — our idols, by the way.
At 10, Jurassic Park’s animatronic dinosaurs genuinely terrified me. At 16, I felt so cool sneaking into The Matrix.
Peer-to-peer file-sharing, legal and otherwise, took off when I was in high school and college, the perfect age to inhale mass quantities of music.
In college, I used AOL Instant Messenger to ping friends down the dormitory hall or across campus.
By graduation, Facebook had taken off and staying in touch was made easy.
Being 26 and computer-savvy has become more cool than geeky anyway. Not everyone is frightened to hear that I write about video games and tech for a living.

Now, let’s hear about your geek age. Was it better than mine or Raph Koster’s?

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Wal-Mart Wants Your Used Games

Posted by Jared Newman on May 18, 2009 at 2:06 pm

If you need to unload some old video games and don’t care to interact with GameStop employees, consider machines as an alternative.

Wal-Mart is testing standalone buy back kiosks at 77 stores in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, Video Business reports. The kiosks will scan the bar codes of used games and separately swallow the disc and casing in exchange for money transferred to a credit card.

The kiosks will also rent video games and DVDs, but the DVD rental function will be switched off in stores that already have a Redbox kiosk. Games and DVDs will cost $1 per night, and Blu-ray rentals will costs $2 for the first night and $1 per night after that.

As with GameStop and, more recently Amazon, the buy back price is a point of discontent. Wal-Mart’s kiosks will spit out the usual range of offers, from $25 for high-demand games to 50 cents for undesirables. Generally, you can expect used games at those trade-in prices to sell back for double. I’m surprised none of the competition wants to tinker with that formula and see how it affects market share.

It’s not clear what will happen to the used games. Instead of operating the kiosks directly, Wal-Mart is leasing space in the vestibule area, just outside the stores themselves, to a company called E-Play. That company has a “couple different methods” for resale, marketing VP and business development executive Kristen Fox told Gamasutra, but declined to be more specific.

Meanwhile, a writer for Neocrisis has already spotted one of the kiosks (seen above). It lacks Wal-Mart branding, except for the slogan “Save Money. Live Better.” Notably, Neocrisis reported some serious bugs in these early boxes. Most of the games offered didn’t scan, and the only one that did — the fairly high profile Mirror’s Edge — wasn’t in the kiosk’s database. The writer walked away without trading anything.

Maybe humans have some merit after all.

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Microsoft’s Handheld Entertainment Intentions, xYzposed!

Posted by Jared Newman on May 15, 2009 at 6:44 pm

As if two rumored Microsoft handhelds weren’t enough, the latest chatter from Redmond holds that the company is designing a new “digital entertainment handheld” to take on Apple’s iPod Touch and Sony’s PSP.

The news comes from Team Xbox’s César A. Berardini, who says he waited months to corroborate and clear his report with sources in Redmond and Santa Clara. One source referred to the device as “xYz,” alluding to a hybrid of the Xbox and Zune, but said the actual name hadn’t been decided on, to the source’s knowledge.

Before we go any further, let’s get all the Microsoft handheld device rumors out on the table. We know that Microsoft is working on a Zune HD, complete with a touch screen and due in the fall. There’s also talk of an iPhone rival, codenamed “Pink,” that involves collaboration with Verizon. This third device seems to fit in the former category simply because it’s entertainment-related, but Berardini writes that newly reported Pink specs “coincide with the scoop I got.” This suggests in a roundabout way that Pink and this gaming device are one and the same.

Except for one thing: One source said the device doesn’t have and “doesn’t need” access to a phone network. Berardini was also explicitly told that the device is not a “Zune Phone.” He speculates that the device will include WiMax, but who knows.

As for other hardware, the “xYz” reportedly has a WVGA touch screen and “features not found on any handheld on the market,” one source says, but the real kicker is in the software. The story says this device will blur the lines between the Zune, Xbox Live and the “Sky” market — supposedly the code name for a cloud-based mobile App store that Microsoft also hasn’t announced yet. It’ll also apparently compete with Google by integrating Live Search services.

Also interesting is the idea of content that’s transferable between each device, including video games. That’s where I get excited.

There’s obviously a technical disparity between handhelds and home consoles, but the simpler games found on Xbox Live Arcade — Braid and Marble Blast Ultra, for example, or classic ports such as Doom and Sonic the Hedgehog — could easily coexist on both platforms. That idea hasn’t been done since the Sega Nomad, a portable Genesis console that was ahead of its time.

The article gives off a vibe that this is all part of a carefully-planned strategy to pull several of Microsoft’s entertainment services under one umbrella. As an Xbox 360 owner, I see the potential in adding a handheld to the mix, but as always, execution is crucial. So now, we wait and see.

(Oh, and before you get too up in arms, please know that the image above is pure fakery.)

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Sony Hints of PS3 Price Cuts

Posted by Jared Newman on May 15, 2009 at 8:27 am

The last time everyone got excited for a Playstation 3 price cut, only to be disappointed, I swore off reporting on the matter, but only on the word of analysts, retailers, game publishers or other blogs. Here’s my loophole:

The whispers are now coming directly from Sony. In a conference call with overseas investors, the company said it plans to sell 30 percent more consoles this year than in 2008, CNBC reports. Asked specifically by an analyst about price cuts, corporate executive officer Nobuyuki Oneda said Sony had nothing to announce at the moment, indicating that he couldn’t discuss pricing strategies because it would affect inventory.

But then, another analyst asked how, exactly, Sony planned to reach 13 million PS3 sales this year. “Well, I think you have to guess what will be our pricing strategy,” Oneda said.

I would have liked to hear the tone of Oneda’s voice. It was probably straightforward, but I’m imagining a “that’s for me to know and you to find out” kind of coyness. Anyhow, there’s more reason than ever to speculate when, rather than if, the PS3’s price will come down.

E3 would be the obvious time to make grand announcement, but there’s also a feeling Sony will wait until August to squeeze out some more higher-priced sales before entering the holiday season. As CNBC points out, though, even a little sign like this is a warning to consumers. That’s why Sony has been so adamant in denying every previous rumor. Now it’s creating one, so why wait to seal the deal?

It’s worth mentioning that Nintendo projects flat sales figures for the current fiscal year, meaning it’ll sell roughly the same 26 million Wiis and 30 million Nintendo DSs this year as it did last year. Granted, Sony and Nintendo are in different boats, but we’ve had two months in a row of US sales declines for the PS3 compared to 2008, and two months of overall losses for the industry. The recession may finally be taking its toll.

For Sony to battle declining sales, it’ll have to do something drastic. I think we’ll have to guess what that will be.

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What Happens On The Internet Stays On The Internet (Duh)

Posted by Jared Newman on May 14, 2009 at 4:35 pm

To preface, on a whim I searched the above phrase in Google and was surprised by how many results came up, verbatim (minus the “duh”). There’s even a T-shirt. I guess it can never be said enough.

In an article that hits close to home, the Chronicle of Higher Education notes how former writers for their college newspapers are shocked and chagrined to see their past words coming back to haunt them. The most telling anecdotes come from an education reporter whose old essay on college hookup culture was used against her by white supremacists and a Marine who feared his comrades would discover his essays on war, politics and economic policy.

In both cases, the editors refused to take down the old articles. They also would not “hide” the essays from search engines.

Coincidentally, The Business Insider’s Dan Frommer writes that a fellow Medill alumnus is circulating a petition to “darken” offending stories.

This is not the same situation as, say, when someone posts pictures of you without your knowledge or when you get arrested and turn up in the police blotter for all to see. These people wrote for an outlet which they knew appeared online, but failed to realize that their writing would stick around forever.

I’m not totally unsympathetic. Elementary school parents reading an education reporter probably don’t want to hear her opinions on sex. Having never served in the military, I can’t comment on the culture there, but I take the Marine’s word that he potentially faces some awkward situations.

In the end, though, the Internet is far too vast for people to demand retractions for everything that doesn’t sit well in retrospect. If someone really wants to dig up dirt on you, they’ll find it anyway.

Bottom line? Whether you’re a professional writer, commenter or occasional forum poster who doesn’t use an alias, be willing to stand by your writing for as long as the Internet exists, or be ready to explain why those words are no longer relevant. Otherwise, don’t write.

10 comments

Rumor: Microsoft Can Kill Xbox 360s Remotely

Posted by Jared Newman on May 14, 2009 at 2:45 pm

Imagine if Microsoft could order a Red Ring of Death on an Xbox 360 if the company didn’t approve of the user’s actions, such as piracy or cheating.

One former software and hardware tester said this is possible. Speaking to 8BitJoystick, this recently laid off employee said Microsoft can activate a trigger that tells the Xbox 360 to fry itself, though it likely hasn’t done so out of lab testing. Upon receiving a broken console for repair, Microsoft could reportedly recognize the problem and decline to honor the warranty.

The source revealed several other tidbits, such as the possible release of Metal Gear Solid 4 for the Xbox 360 and the opinion that testers are overworked and underpaid, but neither of those are as shocking as the story’s other major revelation.

A bit of qualification: I follow 8BitJoystick’s Jake Metcalf on Twitter and he seems like a responsible writer. More importantly, he has a track record of digging up credible inside sources. He famously broke the news that Halo developer Bungie was leaving Microsoft (it was actually amusing to see bigger outlets laugh at him, then eat their words), and has posted a couple other juicy reports as well.

So when Metcalf says the source was “well vetted,” I believe him, even if the source’s information leaves me skeptical simply because it’s so unbelievable.

If the report is accurate, the obvious question remains: Does Microsoft have the legal right to do this? Yes, Metcalf argues, because hacking an Xbox 360 is a violation of the console’s terms of service, as well as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

I was hesitant to agree at first, because Microsoft would then have to reserve the right, in its agreement with the user, to disable the console. However, the proof’s in the pudding. The pertinent section of Xbox Live’s terms says Microsoft may, among other things (emphasis mine ahead):

“(c) upgrade, modify, withdraw, suspend, or discontinue any functionality or feature of the Service, any game or other content available or accessible through the Service, or any hardware or software associated with the Service or with an original Xbox or Xbox 360 console, or personal computer, from time to time without notice, which may involve the automatic download of related software directly to your original Xbox, Xbox 360 console, or personal computer, including software that prevents you from accessing the Service, playing pirated games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices.”

Presumably, such a software update could brick the console, and Microsoft could argue that doing so was necessary to prevent piracy. It boils down to the idea that when you’re playing on Microsoft’s console, you’re playing by Microsoft’s rules, and they reserve the right to handle the console any way they choose. Break the rules, and you’re on your own. That’s no rumor.

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