Qtrax: Can Advertising Save the Music Industry?

   It seems like music industry has finally thrown in the towel in the online file-sharing war... or is it just the opposite? A new service called Qtrax will offer 25 million songs for legal download. What is more, users can burn the songs to a cd or upload them to their mp3 player (probably not compatible with ipods) with no limit to an individual's number of downloads. The catch: the program will feature "limited amounts of advertising". 

   Over the past decade, consumers have come to expect free downloadable music. With cd sales down, Qutrax certainly seems like the recording industry's last ditch effort to hold onto what money is left to be made in the sale of recorded music. There have been countless devices and services that have emerged and subsequently flopped in the the past decade that promised to save the music industry, but Qtrax seems to be the real deal. Microsoft is an investor, and a program like Qtrax could provide the platform needed for Microsoft to finally take on the ipod. There is a big difference between free unlimited downloads and 99 cent per song.

   With a virtually unlimited selection of legal downloadable songs (Qtrax will include bootlegs and live versions) users will no longer have a reason to risk using programs such as Limewire and Morpheus. Despite their wide use, contemporary and past peer-to-peer sharing programs have many shortcomings that would potentially be solved by a legally regulated service: there is the ever-present danger of viruses, corrupt files, long waits, questionable quality, as well as legal trouble.

   As long as the advertising is not overly intrusive, I believe Qutrax could be the compromise the Napster generation and the Record Industry have been looking for. However, I'll have to see it in action to believe it.

   

Why Blu-Ray (and HD DVD) will change the way movies are made

   Why will the next generation of high definition video formats change the way movies are made?... Because they just look too good.

  

  I had my first exposure to Blu-Ray video's 'full' potential the other day while I was walking through a Best Buy. In the television section, the latest Pirates of the Caribbean was playing. As I watched a bit of the movie, I was stunned at how clear the image was. Every detail was visible; much more so then when I saw the film in the theatre. While I'm sure the future will bring about unimaginable advancements in video technology, I can't see how the picture can get any clearer.

   

   The longer I watched, the more I noticed: the individual hairs on Kiera Knightley's arms, the grains of sand on Johnny Depp's face, the stitching of the clothing. In watching for only a minute or two, it became impossible to imagine these characters as pirates in story. It was quite obvious they were actors caked in makeup, stomping around freshly designed sets, under artificial three-key lighting. Now maybe other people might have a more forgiving imagination, but to me, the clarity of the image blinded me from the fantasy that the story attempted to crate.

   

   I remember the first time I saw regular HD, and I was very impressed with its quality. Now I watch shows in HD all the time and I don't have that same attention to the visual element that I once had. Perhaps, the same will happen as I have more exposure to Blu-Ray. However, I anticipate that filmmakers will find it necessary to tone down makeup, utilize more natural lighting, and pay more attention to set and costume design now that everything is so strikingly visible. There is simply less room for traditional movie magic. There is no doubt that the industry will find new tricks to 'make movies more real', but for now we can see it all; for better or for worse.

    

The Dark Side of Mobile Media

   It is the question that no one really wants to ask: What exactly is the physiological effect of all those electromagnetic messages whizzing through our brains, twenty four hours a day, at every imaginable frequency? Few people would likely assume that all those cell phone calls, wifi networks, and everything in between could be having a positive effect on our bodies, but then again, mobile media has such a positive impact on our day to day lives that it couldn't possible be hurting our bodies in the long run, could it?

 

   A new study shows that radiation from cell phones can cause headaches, confusion, stress, and loss of sleep. The study shows that mobile phone use before sleep can significantly impair the bodies ability to repair damage suffered during the day. This study, while the most comprehensive of its kind, is labeled "inconclusive" by critics. However, other studies around the world indicate that cell phone use most likely has a measurable effect on the brain.

   

   I anticipate this subject to be a 'hot button'  issue in the not so distant future. In our lifetime will we see low radiation cellphones, cell phone bans, fines for second-hand radiation? Only time will tell.

   

Advertising on XBOX 360

   Product placement in video games in nothing new, but just recently I saw something I thought was pretty innovative. 

   

   I was playing Madden 2008 with a friend on his XBOX 360. As we were playing, I noticed that the "jumbotron" in the arena had an advertisement for the movie Walk Hard. I thought it was strange that a studio would take the trouble to advertise a movie on a video game. At this point Madden 2008 was several months old and I figured they must have spent a fortune to grab that ad space in the game as well as have planned the ad placement way in advance. What is more, the advertisement will virtually be worthless in a few weeks, once the movie has gone in and out of theaters, and a new version of the game would not come out for almost a year.

   

   When I realized what was going on,  I really had to applaud XBOX.  Even though we were not playing online, the ads in the arena we being automatically being updated through the XBOX live connection. I assume that XBOX does this for all sports games as well as for some other genres. I am sure companies jump at the chance to advertise to the demographics who play XBOX 360 with an online connection. Additionally, the ads do not seem intrusive to the gamer because the updated ads only ad to the realism of the arena. 

Way to go XBOX.