40Tech » Media

Netflix, Starz Battle Ends with Netflix Down Disney and Sony Content on February 28, 2012

Bobby Travis — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 18:27:56 +0000

Recently, Netflix angered a large amount of its US subscriber-base by announcing changes to its pricing model. It used to be that, if you wanted to do the Neflix videos-by-mail thing and stream content as well, it would only cost you an extra couple of bucks per month. Now (as of two days ago, in fact), if you want both, you need to pay double — $7.99 for each service. While the Netflix move may be understandable, and part of a potentially larger plan to phase out physical delivery altogether, the customer backlash was also unsurprising — and significant.

To make matters worse for Netflix, on the very day that the new pricing came into effect, Starz, the distributor of Sony and Disney content decided not to renew their contract with Netflix. This is probably going to hurt Netflix customer relationships even more, but believe it or not, it happened as a result of Netflix attempting to preserve their pricing model, and, presumably, to keep their customers from imploding.

Netflix has been doing well, business-wise, of late. They opened up content streaming in Canada — which I use all the time, even though we don’t get the coolest content up this way — and they have plans for world internet-streaming domination that could be very viable. Unfortunately, their content and entire business is dependent on their relationship with content license owners. Starz Entertainment apparently insisted that Netflix put their content behind an additional pay-wall, making customers pay more to access it. Netflix offered them in excess of $300 million per year for the content, but that wasn’t good enough for Big Media, who initially asked for more than 10 times what Netflix paid them in 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In a press release, Starz cited the usual spiel regarding “protecting the premium nature” of their brand and “preserving the appropriate pricing” of their “exclusive and valuable content.” The bottom line here, however, is that Starz holds all of the cards here. Disney and Sony content is good content. It is sought after. In a statement to Business Insider, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings maintains that it only marks 8% of their overall audience views, and that the content would have likely gone down to 5-6% of domestic views by Q1 2012 anyway, but as we all know, it takes less than 8% of pissed off people who perceive that they’ve lost something they felt they paid for to make 80%-sized noise about it.

One also has to wonder if other Big Media groups will follow Starz lead. To many of them, Netflix is likely more of an experiment that they tolerate to see if it will pay out big in the long run. Now that the dollars are coming in, naturally, they are going to want a bigger cut — one that makes them feel more like they are returning to their original business model that made them a money hand over fist — you know, before the advent of broadband and the explosion of extremely easy content piracy.

Speaking of piracy… it has been proven that consumers, by and large, are willing to pay a subscription price for content. If they weren’t, Netflix would never work; neither would Hulu Plus, Rdio, Sirius, pay-to-play MMORPGs, or any of the other premium-based multimedia providers out there. However, those prices need to be reflective of the general feel of pricing online — pricing that Apple was the baseline for with iTunes and apps taking over the online world as we know it. That is to say, the pricing needs to be low-ish. If all of the major license holders start clamouring “premium subscriptions for our content or else,” Netflix and their sizeable customer base will be threatened. When a media consuming customer base is threatened, they jump ship — and they have a tendency to land in a submarine that stealths its way into a dialect punctuated with “yo ho ho’s” and the occasional “Aaargh!” Not to beat the pirate metaphor to death or anything…

So what do you think of Starz demands for a Netflix pay-wall for their content? What about their decision to pull out? Should Netflix have given in?

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What Are Your Favorite Podcasts? Here Are Mine.

Evan Kline — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:00:25 +0000

A few months back, we covered Doggcatcher, an excellent Android podcast manager and player. What’s a good player, though, without a good podcast? With that in mind, let’s share out favorite podcasts. I’ll start with a list of the podcasts on Doggcatcher on my Android phone. In the comments, let us know about your favorite podcasts, tech or otherwise.

My list is dominated by two types of podcasts: podcasts on the TWiT network, and Mac podcasts. I’ve been listening to the TWiT network for years, and I currently gobble up everything Mac, since I’m fairly new to the platform. You’ll see I don’t stray away from tech in my listening choices. So, here you go:

This Week in Tech. The headline TWiT podcast consists of a panel of guests, along with Leo Laporte, that discusses the top tech stories each week. Some people complain about the irrelevant banter that can take place on the show, but I’ve listened long enough that I’ve gotten to know the various guests. As a result, I actually enjoy it when the conversation veers off topic.
Leo Laporte – The Tech Guy. This podcast is a rebroadcast of a radio show, by the head honcho of the TWiT network. The subject matter is often a bit more basic than what’s covered on other TWiT shows.
The Social Hour. Formerly Net@Night, this one focuses on social media. Amber MacArthur and Sarah Lane are the hosts.
This Week In Google. This one focuses on Google, but also covers cloud computing in general. Android comes up with some frequency.
Evernote Podcast. If you’ve followed 40Tech for any length of time, you didn’t think we’d miss the official Evernote podcast, did you?
MacBreak Weekly. Another TWiT podcast, MacBreak Weekly covers all things Apple.
MacCast. The MacCast bills itself as “for Mac Geeks, by Mac Geeks,” and might be the longest running Mac podcast out there. Despite the name, the host covers all Apple news, and not just the Mac.
Typical Mac User Podcast. This Mac podcast comes from the angle of an ordinary user, and covers news, tips, tricks, and basic Mac instruction.
Mac Power Users. Don’t let the title put you off if you’re new to Macs. I started listening to this after getting my first Mac (when I certainly wasn’t a power user), and still found the shows to be helpful and entertaining. The show covers tips, problems, instructions, and workflows.
The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab. This one is largely a question and answer show, where the hosts read or play an audio file of listener questions, and then answer them. The questions and answers typically have a wider relevance than just to the people who asked them. The hosts cover other Mac tips as well.

In weeks where I’m not traveling or driving somewhere, I don’t have time to get through all of the podcasts on the list. I normally start with This Week in Tech, and then hit the Mac podcasts, since I’m currently soaking up as much Mac info as I can.

How about you? What podcasts are on your list?

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Get an Invitation to the Google Music Beta

Evan Kline — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 01:00:36 +0000

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

NOTE: AS ONE OF OUR READERS HAS POINTED OUT, GOOGLE MUSIC IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE IN THE U.S. ONLY

While Spotify is the music service that is getting all of the press these days, Google’s own music service is up and running. In typical Google fashion, Google Music is currently in beta. Google Music is not a subscription service, and doesn’t offer a catalog of music. Instead, it is a free service to which you upload the songs that you already own. You can then stream them to a web browser, or to the free Android app. The app also caches music, to support offline play. We’ve got 4 invitations to give away. Read on for details on how to score one.

To submit your name to get one of the four invites, take these two steps:

1. Follow 40Tech on Twitter, or Like 40Tech on Facebook; AND

2. Post a comment in this thread, telling us that you want an invite, and confirming that you followed us on Twitter or Facebook.

You can skip step 1 if you’re already following us. When you enter, make sure you enter your email address in the comment form (the address won’t get posted publicly), so that we can contact you if you win. On Sunday (Clarification: August 21), I’ll randomly select four entries, and send out the invitations.

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Free Stuff! Review, Giveaway of ScreenDr & SkipDr Products by Digital Innovations

Bobby Travis — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:00:09 +0000

Every once in a while, we get the opportunity to offer you guys something for free. We don’t always do it, mind you — we get a lot of solicitations, and only care to post about the products we think will be most useful to you. Well, a few weeks ago I was contacted by a representative of Digital Innovations. They make products for cleaning LCD screens, repairing discs, that sort of thing. I’ve seen their products before, or others like them, but honestly never considered buying them. I tend to roll on the cheap, as you know, and didn’t want to spend money on things that I wasn’t sure would even work.

The email came at a good time, though. I happened to be in the middle of transferring my CD and movie collection to digital, and there were a few discs that I couldn’t even put into my machine without the read-difficulty locking everything up. So when he offered to send me a few of their products to test in return for a fair review, and maybe a giveaway for our readers, I said “Sure. But you realize I’m in Canada, right?” A few weeks of shipping and customs errors later, the box arrived.

Here’s what I found:

When I opened up the box, I was surprised to see that I had been sent $97 worth of product (see the shipping receipt below the list). I received:

5oz ScreenDr – LCD Cleaner
SkipDr for DVDs & CDs – Disc repair kit
SkipDr for Blu-ray – Disc repair kit
CleanDr Lens Cleaner for DVD & CD
CleanDr Lens Cleaner for Blu-ray

Note: CleanDr has been re-branded to ScreenDr.

The Screen Cleaner

I was really only expecting the SkipDr, but was pretty stoked about the LCD/Plasma screen cleaner. I live in the often-rainy Pacific Northwest and own two dogs. No matter how well I dry them, they still manage to shake and spray mud all over my bloody LCD TV. Between that and my half-pint, me and my wife would get tired of cleaning it and things would sometimes build up to the point of needing to be scratched off. If you have kids and dogs, you can probably relate.

So I tried the ScreenDr — which now comes in a larger, 9oz bottle for HDTV — and was pleasantly surprised with how easy it and the microfiber cloth that it comes with cut the grime away. I have no idea what the solution is comprised of — the bottle says fancy things like “deionized water and proprietary polymers” — but just a little bit of it cleaned the dickens out of my TV screen, with nary a streak to be seen. That was one item down with a good experience to report — except for the bottle splitting a bit along one of the seams and causing a leak that needed to be taped shut, that is.

BEFORE

AFTER

Disc Cleaning & Repair Kits

The next item I tried was the SkipDr for DVDs & CDs. I tested it on two things: my CD of The Best of Sting and The Police — which was scratched all to hell and consistently tried to kill my computer and various CD players on track 13 (cue eerie music here) — and a home movie DVD of my mother’s that always played like it was in the shadows and under water. I followed the instructions, and, after about a minute of grinding noise while the disc was in the little machine, and another minute of buffing with the little microfiber cloth that comes with it, I found myself listening to “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” while watching a DVD that was as clear as an old home movie can get. I’ve tried several other discs since, and as long as there was no serious damage that reached the data layer, I continually had great results. Another “as advertised” experience.

Note: Be sure to follow the instructions and spray the disc before using the repair machine. If the disc isn’t wet, it could be damaged.

Things to Watch For

I didn’t have a need to test the lens cleaners or Blu-ray version of the SpinDr, but the fact that there were two machines got me wondering. I popped onto the Digital Innovations website and did a bit of poking around, only to find that there were SkipDr machines for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii, as well. Each had it’s own particular branding and its own particular price (though they generally cost the same). There were even different models and brand names within the set, some older, some current. This seemed a bit suspect to me. I’m in marketing and I get the concept of brand differentiation and hitting specific target markets for maximum impact, but a disc is a disc right? How much difference could there possibly be?

I emailed the rep and asked him point-blank. His reply was straightforward: CDs and DVDs are CDs and DVDs. Blu-rays are a bit different, as the data is much closer to the surface and the disc itself is much harder and thinner. This means that they need a machine that has a different abrasive and uses a different amount of pressure than the CD/DVD version to be effective. When it comes to all of the other variations though, that’s just marketing. A Blu-ray SkipDr will have exactly the same effect as the one branded for PS3. Xbox and Wii versions? They’re no different than a DVD. So the bottom line here is, if you ever do decide to buy these products, buy the one that suits your disc and happens to be the cheapest or currently on sale.

One other point in regard to things to watch for: if you aren’t doing like me and going all digital, and you plan to keep your discs over the long term, take care of them. While you can repair the same disc multiple times, the Flexiwheel grinding band only has so many uses (approximately 25 according to the site). If you keep having to repair your discs, you will also have to keep buying replacement kits — which cost $9 a pop.

Would I Buy It Now?

Overall, I would have to say, yes, I would purchase these products if I had need for them — unless I could find something similar at a better price that worked just as well, of course. I haven’t had the opportunity to test anything else, so I can’t say what those alternatives would be. The Digital Innovations products definitely performed well, though — and I have absolutely no problem giving them away to you for free.

So, On to the Free Stuff Already!

Be the first to contact us (you can comment, email, tweet, or Facebook) about why you want, need, or could use any of these products, and Digital Innovations will send you the exact same $97 package they sent me. The only catch is you have to live in the continental US or Canada — shipping would be a nightmare, otherwise. Please make sure you provide a valid email address for contacting you, as we will need to forward that to Digital Innovations so they can chat with you about your shipping details. Do not give us your shipping details, please!

Want the free stuff? Have at it! And leave us comments about any experience you might have with these products already, too.

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New York Times Paywall – WAY More Expensive Than the Competition

Evan Kline — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 01:00:29 +0000

The New York Times erected its paywall on March 28 in the U.S. While it is a fairly permeable wall (links from various sources will provide you with free access, and your first 20 visits each month are free), the Times’ subscription model is way out of whack with the rest of the industry. Head on over to The Understatement to see a chart showing just how much more expensive the Times will be than any other online source.

The Understatement looked at annual digital subscription prices for cross-platform services. The price of the Times is $455 for the all digital plan (which gives you access to the website, and on all your devices), while the closest competitor is the Wall Street Journal at $207. The author points out that the Times’ pricing model seems designed to discourage existing subscribers from cancelling their print subscriptions, rather than getting people to subscribe digitally.

If that’s the case, it really illustrates one of the problems faced by old media. Specifically, old media has a hard time fully embracing online content, for fear that they’ll cannibalize their traditional platforms (print). As a result, they get involved in new media in a half-assed manner like this. This contrast with new media publications that are online only, and don’t have the shackles of a dying form of business to tie them down.

Would you pay $455 each year to read your favorite newspaper online? Do you think we’ll see the day where publications such as the Times will be available only online?

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So Much For New Media: Study Shows That Mainstream Media Drives Twitter Trends

Evan Kline — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 01:00:35 +0000

For all the talk about “new media,” it appears that old media still powers the online trends of today. Last month, HP released the results of a study that showed that user activity and number of followers on Twitter do not contribute strongly to trend creation and its propagation. Instead, mainstream media play a role in most trending topics, and act as a feeder of these trends.

HP’s director in charge of the study noted “Twitter users . . . seem to be acting more as filter and amplifier of traditional media in most cases.” The study involved an analysis of 40 days worth of Twitter data. Of the resulting 16.32 million tweets, HP identified 22 users who were the source of the most retweets when a topic was “trending.” Of those 22, 72% were Twitter streams run by mainstream media outfits such as CNN and the New York Times.

Why do you think traditional media sources still reign on Twitter? Is it because traditional media still are the source of most stories? Or is the power of new media diluted by pop stars, Hollywood actors, and other users who might post more trivial material? Or could you argue that the “powerful” Twitter users really are driving the trends, because the mainstream media source would never get the attention that it does without the power users? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

HP research shows mainstream media drive Twitter ‘trends’ to a surprising degree [The Official HP Corporate Blog]

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Slingbox Player For iPad is Almost Here, At Last

Evan Kline — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 02:00:57 +0000

If you’re a regular visitor to 40Tech, you may remember that we’re fans of the Slingbox. SlingPlayer for the iPhone works surprisingly well, allowing you to watch content from your home TV wherever you have a 3G or WiFi connection on your iPhone. You can also watch via the web, and there are apps for many other mobile clients. Unfortunately, the only option on the iPad was to run the iPhone app in compatible mode, so you didn’t get the benefit of the iPad’s higher resolution. That’s about to change.

Last week, Sling Media announced that the iPad app is about to launch. The app will cost $30, like the other mobile Slingbox apps. The important fact to note (and one that was actually announced in October), is that the app will only work with the Slingox PRO-HD and the Slingbox Solo. According to Sling, legacy Slingboxes don’t have the hardware capability to stream at the iPad’s higher resolution.

Are you like me, and pretty psyched about this news?

iPad Slingbox Player “Almost Here” [Zatz Not Funny!]

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Relive Your Childhood With YouTube Time Machine

Evan Kline — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 01:00:20 +0000

Hot tubs aren’t the only things that can double as time machines. Your computer can, too, with a bit of help. YouTube Time Machine is a website that allows you to pick a year, and watch video content from that year.

The site is pretty simple. A slider across the top allows you to pick a year (currently from 1860 through 2010). The content is pre-selected by the folks who run the site, and is fed to you randomly for the year that you select. You can filter content by type, allowing or disallowing certain categories of content. The current categories are Video Games, Television, Commercials, Current Events, Sports, Movies, and Music.

As an example of what you might get, when I selected 1986, I was presented with a video montage of television commercials that aired in 1986, the music video for Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On a Prayer, a trailer for Short Circuit 1, a montage of television show openings, and Marv Albert’s best sports bloopers of 1986.

The site isn’t perfect, but it is still in alpha status. Often, videos that I skipped kept returning as I skipped through content, and there is no way to list all of the selected videos for a year. Still, YouTube Time Machine offers a nice journey down memory lane. Does it bring back memories for you like it does for me?

YouTube Time Machine

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Netflix Streaming Comes to Canada (Mostly)

Bobby Travis — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:00:55 +0000

After a (very) long wait, Netflix has finally opened up in Canada. Well, mostly, anyway. For starters, the Canadian arm of the service is streaming only, no delivery, so that that immediately cuts down the amount of possible content available to Canadians. That was just the first content cut, however… Canadian usage rights for entertainment content have always been an added difficulty with any mainstream media service, and Netflix proves to be no different. Even though the service has finally found its way to Canada, when Hulu, Pandora, and even YouTube content is still restricted, the selection of movies and television episodes have been met with groans of disappointment by many.

It’s not all bad — Netflix loads what it does have fast, and with great quality — but for those hoping to watch as many of the newer/popular TV shows and movies that unlimited for $7.99 per month will get them, Netflix Canada will be found wanting. It’s still one step closer to killing off your cable bill, though.

Netflix launches in Canada with limited selection [Vancouver Sun]

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Three Online Radio Sites That Make Music Easy (and Radio Kind of Good Again)

Bobby Travis — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 04:23:39 +0000

Do you hate your local radio stations with a blinding passion? If not, you’re probably at least a little bit tired of hearing the same pop princess on the airwaves over and over and over and… well, you get the idea. Don’t despair! You’ve probably heard there are at least a few sites out there that do their best to provide you with alternatives to your local stations, and make it easy to find and lock into what you need. These are sites that will bring you real radio from around the world, as opposed to the often licence-restricted Last.FM or Pandora — and three of the best out there are RadioTuna, RadioTime, and Tun3r. Each have their good points — read on to see which will work best for you.

RadioTuna

RadioTuna is by far one of the easiest ways to find radio stations that are playing the kind of music that you want to hear right now. No need to set up an account, log in or jump through any other hoops unless you want to bookmark stations; and the interface is built for easy search play. Unless you have extremely obscure tastes, it’s likely you will be able to find something that appeals to you within a few minutes, if not seconds. It will also keep track of your tastes and throw the occasional Recommendation at you — and the Facebook and Twitter connect options are nice for those of you who like to share what you listen to.

Best Used For

Quick find and play of music by genre
Music discovery
Sharing favourite radio stations with friends

Downsides

No mobile streaming without Flash

RadioTime

RadioTime is a bit more complex than RadioTuna, but it offers one of the best ways to find local and worldwide radio stations for easy streaming. Particularly useful is the way it keeps track of radio show schedules, making it fantastically simple to find more obscure things like podcasts and old time radio plays.You can set up presets, browse by location, separate by music, talk, and sports radio. One of the best features of RadioTime is the downloadable, TiVo-like Red Button — where you can record and schedule what you want to listen to.

The mobile site works well, there is an Android app available, and RadioTime is also the power behind TuneIn Radio, an excellent streaming radio app for iPhone. TuneIn Radio costs $1.99.

Best Used For

Tuning in to local or alternative stations
Finding old radio plays
Easily finding talk and sports radio stations and shows
Streaming radio on the go
Recording and scheduling shows via RedButton

Downsides

Red Button features cost $29 — though the TiVo-like features could be worth it for power users
Information on Red Button is not readily available
Red Button requires download

*You can also record radio for later playback (and can skip back a track or two) with TuneIn Radio for iPhone.

Tun3r

Tun3r takes a unique approach to aggregating radio stations on the web. Users are presented with "the Dial" which is a grid of logos for over 2000 radio stations. Just grab the crosshairs and drag over a logo for a look at what the station offers. You can lock in what you like as a preset. If you have flash, you can get a preview of what they’ve been playing — or you can just tune in live (live mode requires a media player). You can also filter by genre and language.

There is an iPhone app available for $2.99.

Best Used For

Music discovery
A bit of curious fun

Downsides

The Dial can be a bit overwhelming at first glance
The mobile site works without flash, but it is not easy to navigate
Connecting to a preview in discovery mode often fails
Live Mode requires a download for your media player, generally taking you out of the browser

All three of these apps are great! Choose the one that best suits you and let us know what you think!