2008 CES

Okay, so it's been long time....nevertheless, here is a nice piece I found that gives a synopsis of some observed trends at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Facebook Music

Coming soon to a profile near you....

Hulu Beta - 1st Major Initiative By Content Owners

"News Corp. and NBC Universal Monday debuted their joint-venture online video service Hulu.com with a private beta, adding a new rival to Apple’s iTunes and Google’s YouTube services."

Daily Show Makes (Archived) History

For fans who may have not heard the news, Jon Stewart extended his contract to 2011, and Comedy Central now offers archived access to past episodes of The Daily Show.....Another example of how creative content is making its way to consumers for less and less cost. TBS is another example of a station that allows users to watch past episodes of sitcoms.

NBC Live & DIRECT

So, the pricing dispute between Apple and NBC has finally led to this. It may seem like a great solution to the issue for NBC, but the capabilities of the new program seem limited. In related news, Virgin has dropped its downloading service. One big reason was that their service was not compatible with iPods and its Digital Rights Management configurations. Are these signs from consumers that the iTunes store is preferred over other mediums? Will NBC suffer the same fate in a few years since their new system has comparable limitations? For more in this area, check out the similar BBC media player, which was released about a month ago. -G.

Intonation/MCA: Rock/Art

What: The MCA and Intonation Music Festival present a string of daylong performances on the MCA Plaza. Performances include:

Califone
The 1900s
Flosstradamus/Cool Kids
The Eternals
Poster Children
Headache City

When: October 7, 1-6 pm

Where: MCA Plaza (across from the school, just west of the tennis courts)

Why: A great chance to meet others in the group and sample some of Chicago's independent music scene. This event is in conjunction with an art exhibition, entitled Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967, which examines the relationship between rock music and contemporary visual art.

My Name is Prince / and I am funky.

"Music industry icon Prince is picking a fight with YouTube over unauthorized use of video content on the video-sharing Web site." I found this recent article about a possible lawsuit coming down regarding copyrighted material being posted to YouTube. If it goes forward, it should be telling toward setting obligations for similar sites. We'll stay posted...