Has the streaming age quietly emerged?

While enjoying an episode of South Park (it’s hard to believe that show has been going strong for so long) via my iPad while cooking this weekend I had an epiphany. We are on the cusp of a new era of media, but the emergence has been so gradual that no one has noticed even though we have almost left the prior one behind.

The episode referenced The Shining to mock Blockbuster and physical media outlets due to our shift to streaming sources of entertainment. Ironically, I was watching the episode on Netflix (as I have long since ditched my satellite dish), but after finishing up the roasted asparagus, cashew-encrusted pork chops, and aglio y olio pasta it occurred to me that the show was more than just timely entertainment, it was a compelling statement about the slow transition of consumer tastes.

I still remember when the first Blockbuster opened in the small town I was born. For years it was the center of home entertainment and packed with locals that found it more affordable, enjoyable, or practical to catch a movie at home rather than go out. Mom and Pop stores popped up to compete, but it reigned supreme for the time I lived there. Now Blockbuster is struggling in vain to recover from bankruptcy, and most local video rental stores have long since closed.

The iPod marked the beginning of the end for the prior model of media. While there were MP3 players available before the iPod, Apple manage to make the device and format a consumer standard. With the establishment of the iPod Apple then created the next step in the transition away from physical media formats, the iTunes Music Store. Piracy of music remains and likely always will, but iTunes (and later competitors) made high quality music affordable and readily available to anyone with network access. From there all it took was improvement in broadband access and video codecs before the same started happening to movies and television shows. While media companies have steadfastly struggled to maintain some of the same business models, consumer demand has forced them to either adapt or lose out on the revenue they could have captured had they accommodated them.

Slowly, consumers have embraced the next big age of media- a digital era, free of physical formats and local content. The crux of the matter is the second point; we’ve taken to digital content without a moment’s hesitation, but many still cling to keeping the content locally, whether it be on your portable device, a large iTunes music library on your Mac, or an external hard drive full of your favorite movies and television series. I personally have opted for larger capacity iOS devices to accommodate my owned media: a 32 gig iPhone holds my music and podcasts (and took the place of a 120 gig iPod Classic), and a 32 gig iPad holds video, presentations, and documents. My desire for local storage isn’t unusual; Apple recently announced the release of a 128 gigabyte version of the iPad for those road warriors that need to have everything at their fingertips, and the iPod Classic has remained in Apple’s product lineup far longer than anyone would have thought. While more storage has always been a good thing, the South Park episode I had watched struck a chord. Was all that capacity really necessary anymore?

I’ve been an advocate for streaming media services for some time now. I’ve had a paid Pandora account for a couple of years and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Netflix and Hulu were the deciding factor for my household to end paid TV services, and other streaming video and audio services have played a larger and larger role in my regular media consumption. YouTube has always been a staple, but how many of you are aware that they have more than cute cat clips and fail videos- they have full length feature films as well? For those that don’t like iTunes there are options outside of Netflix- Amazon’s Instant Video, Crackle, and the Google Play Store are all viable sources for your entertainment fix. There are plenty of free and paid sources for music downloads, but just as many that offer streaming instead of downloading for those that would rather have their music delivered to them rather than manage it directly. Even Apple is rumored to be on the verge of joining the game via iRadio, a Pandora-like service.

Even the model of purchasing media is slowly changing. Many media retailers offer cloud access to your purchases, be they movies, music, print, or apps. The Apple TV has long since lost its local storage capacity in favor of streaming content from Apple.

On a personal level I’ve noticed that between Stitcher, Pandora, and XM Sirius I haven’t really listened to the stored content on my iPhone in weeks, even though driving without some sort of audio is completely foreign to me. I haven’t loaded a movie from my home library to my iPad or MacBook in quite some time either, yet I watch more TV now than I did when I had cable or DirecTV. My MacBook’s iTunes app isn’t even stored on the dock and its library has no content, yet I’ve watched plenty of video and listen to Pandora daily via the Hermes desktop app.

Quietly, subtly, I’ve found that I have shifted to consuming the majority of my entertainment via my network connection. The move has been both positive and problematic; having access to a much greater library of media is always a good thing, but should that network connection have issues (or worse be interrupted) I’d be left with nothing. There are still times when local storage has been the best solution, but those times are becoming more and more isolated.

Read Full Post »

Streaming iTunes?

The New York Times has disclosed information pointing to an expected change in Apple’s music retail business. For years now Apple’s iTunes Music Store has been one of the industry leaders in digital sales, a rapidly expanding market that has finally overtaken compact disks as the primary source of music for consumers.

Now with the advent of always-connected mobile devices Apple is believed to be expanding it’s iTunes offerings to include a Pandora-like subscription streaming service. The new service would compete with a crowded marketplace, going head to head with popular providers like Pandora and Spotify.

While not confirmed, the move would be a sensible and practical one. Apple has a built-in customer base should they make their streaming service a default iOS and OSX app, and could conceivably expand into other non-Apple mobile devices. Apple’s existing Genius function in iTunes could provide Pandora-like matching to desired tracks, and should Apple gain streaming rights to the content of the iTunes Music Store they could potentially offer a library superior to any competitor’s. The existing purchase model employed by iTunes has been less popular with mobile device owners than streaming services, partially due to the lack of storage space on their devices, and partially due to the culture of instant gratification such devices afford. No matter where you may be, a smartphone can provide a staggering wealth of media and information in moments. Power such as this quickly becomes the norm, and consumers have shown they will embrace streaming music services should the price and quality be right.

As a Pandora One subscriber, I can attest to how pleasant a good streaming service can be. The frequency that I refresh the music library on my iPhone and iPad as dwindled to a fraction of what it once was as a direct result of the ease of access Pandora provides. While I haven’t used it yet, I have friends that swear by Spotify’s service, and these are just two of a host of options mobile users have at their fingertips. Should Apple offer a streaming service I for one would definitely be interested.

Read Full Post »

Media for the Gigabyte Challenged, Part 1

While I like to think of myself as an early adopter, I tend to be a touch pragmatic about it. When it came to buying my first iPod, I opted for a model that fit my needs (and budget) perfectly- a first gen iPod Nano 4 gig. At the time I needed a way to carry my music while biking and jogging, and didn’t have a huge library. My first iPad was a 16 gig because I couldn’t justify paying more for memory I just knew I’d never use.

Now, my 16 gig iPhone and 32 gig iPad routinely have little memory to spare. Hordes of apps and an avalanche of media of all types have feasted on what I once thought was a surplus of storage. Even older apps take up more space thanks to the higher resolution of the new iPad. What’s an iOS addict to do for media when their device is already close to capacity? The answer is easy, my friends- rely on the Cloud.

There are numerous resources to tap when you’d like to hear your favorite tunes but don’t have much space on your device to carry them. Some are free, some are subscription; the best choice depends entirely on your personal needs and tastes. Here are a few:

The answer Apple provides is iTunes Match. This $24.99 per year service isn’t a streaming provider per se; it checks your music library for music Apple currently has in the iTunes Music Store. Those that you have purchased from Apple or files that can be positively identified as tracks they have in the store will be available for re-download on any Apple device: Mac or handheld. Files that Apple can’t positively identified are uploaded to Apple for storage, available for re-download just as officially recognized tracks are. The advantages are twofold- first, no syncing your iOS device is needed for access to your music library- just download what you’d like (or delete from your device if you need the space) and you’re ready to go. Second, the files that are recognized by iTunes, whether purchased from Apple or not, will be high bit rate AAC files with no DRM (Digital Rights Management, the pesky software protection that puts limits on how many devices your music can be played on). The biggest disadvantages are also twofold; first, you still need some space on your device to hold tracks. Secondly, you’re limited to whatever music you have in your library.

Pandora, my current personal favorite, is an elegant and clever solution. It is essentially intelligent streaming radio- enter a song title, artist or band name, or genre and Pandra will use the power of the Music Genome Project to devise a personalized radio station reflecting music similar to your request. The service is uncannily good at selecting music with a similar ‘feel’ to what you’ve chosen, often linking artists or songs that you wouldn’t have thought were similar. Pandora offers some control over your music stream; you can skip over a currently playing song or give the track a thumbs up (allowing it to further hone what you’d like to hear) or thumbs down (removing the track from play). If you can’t live without a particular song links are available to purchase it, or you can save it as a favorite and/or create a new station out of it. Pandora is available free but ad-supported (and limited to 36 hours of listening per month) and an unlimited $36/yearly service without ads or limitations.

Spotify is another hugely popular streaming audio service for a variety of devices. Spotify offers access to a large library of several major music labels: Sony, EMI, Warner, and Universal. Music can be browsed for by artist, album, record label, genre, or title search. Just as with Pandora, a free but limited version is available, and a Facebook account is required to gain free but ad-supported access. After a six month introductory period you will be limited to ten hours a month. A paid Premium account provides unlimited access and offline listening to downloaded content. Spotify stresses the social aspect of music, allowing you to see what your Facebook friends are listening to and allowing you to share your favorites with others. The Premium account allowing for unlimited mobile access is $9.99 per month (a less expensive Unlimited account is available for $4.99 per month, but only allows access via a computer). Spotify is considerably more expensive that Pandora, but it provides control over what you hear where Pandora is more like traditional radio; you have some control but an outside party picks the tracks you hear.

Of course, you can always just listen to actual radio- the iTunes App Store has several streaming radio apps available. My current favorite is TuneIn Radio Pro, allowing access to a tremendous number of streaming stations around the globe. The app supports recording or pausing streams, timed recording, new station suggestions based on your likes, a wake/sleep timer, AirPlay compatibility, and the ability to run in the background while you do other tasks on your device. Searching for stations is simple and powerful; for instance I’ve been able to find streams of college football games not available in my area in a matter of seconds.

For more specific streaming needs just search the App Store. Several of the radio stations in my area have dedicated apps, as well as larger entities like NPR- they have dedicated apps for music and news.

Lastly, don’t overlook Apple’s primary competitor in the mobile device market, Google. They provide an under appreciated streaming service named Google Play, allowing you to upload up to 20,000 songs (along with a variety of other media) that Google will host for you. Just install an app like GoMusic or GMusic or use Google’s web access at music.google.com and you’re ready to stream your library.

These are just a sampling of what’s available to you. Don’t be afraid to have fun exploring- there are over half a million apps available and counting. I’ve focused on some solutions that work well for me, but they are tailored to my needs and your mileage may vary.

When the first iPad came out, a common complaint/condemnation from pundits was “Yeah, but what is it for? What does it do?” I hope my musings have led you to my conclusion- iOS devices do pretty much anything you need them to.

Read Full Post »