Digital Distribution: The Beatles

The Beatles have come to iTunes. In one of the most insignificant events of the year, Apple hit newlines everywhere. Why is it insignificant? The Beatles were one of the most popular bands in history, but every fan already owns a CD. They can use iTunes to rip their CD for free. Even so, people are making a big deal over the new offering. Why? It's symbolic. Now that the Beatles have adopted online sales, the transition to online delivery is solidified. However, the transition won't stop with music, and it shouldn't.

Over the years, entertainment groups (TV, Movies, Music, Books) have struggled with online. How do you protect your Intellectual Property in a digital world? How do you incorporate advertising (and make money) online? How do you keep online from cannibalizing your traditional markets with higher margins? 

The IT world has been back and forth on DRM issues. After the disastrous Sony DRM debacle and iTunes' more successful (but equally frustrating) 5 copy limit, online music has moved away from DRM. Ironically, music downloads have decreased: showing that the best way to combat digital piracy is universal availability and low costs. 

Hulu has revolutionized online TV. It offers large selection of high-quality shows, many the day after it airs. Most surprisingly though, is that it has done this while using traditional advertising methods. Just like over-the-air broadcast, the viewer's program is interrupted 2-3 times in a 30 minute period to show advertisements. The introduction of Google TV is likely going to use and increase viewers in this online distribution. 

Oddly, most groups don't like the idea of going online. While most companies have learned that if they don't put their material online, others will (in a less legitimate way), they put it online with a delay. Ten years ago, you had presented an almost free way to create a second channel for a television station, the executives would have jumped on the opportunity. Today they are hesitant to adopt, but the problem is one of perspective. Executives need to think about getting their material to the viewers in as many ways as possible- the money making opportunities will follow.

Will social networking replace email?

On the one hand, Social networking goes hand in hand with email. In many ways, it's email 2.0. It facilitates communication, helps you keep track of your contacts, helps you connect with new people that you could benefit from corresponding with, and easily fits into a cloud-based file sharing/knowledge sharing/collaboration solution. Lately, social networking platforms have become bloated with advertising, games, music, etc. Business social networking platforms would be to facilitate communication, not to turn a profit, and therefore would not have these complications.

On the other hand, there are many social networking platforms and none of them work together, while email is truly universal and cross-platform. Writing an email is simple and mimics the physical process of sending someone mail, while a new system redesigns the communication process. If we think of it in terms of a business process redesign, we can see it being very risky. The new system would require a learning curve on one of the most basic processes, and might make a firm less competitive in the short run. 

We could definitely see not only the possibility of such a transition, we can see the benefits. However, the technology needs to advance a little more (towards standardization) before making any serious attempt to transition away from email. Even with a more advanced social networking platform that allows communication with other company's systems, this transition would be a difficult and expensive one.

iPhone Alarm Clock Bug

It sometimes seems silly for us to worry about becoming overly dependent on technology. You'd think "worst case scenario, I can always go back to the way things used to work." Today's revelation of the iPhone alarm bug prompts us "what do you do when a technology you rely on stops working?" 

For those unfamiliar, Apple has announced that the iPhone's alarm program does not recognize the daylight savings time change on repeating alarms. What this means is that as people with iPhones wake up on Monday morning all across the world, they'll do so one hour late. Read the story here.

After hearing this, I thought "OK, as long as I know about it, I can set a different alarm." Then a weird thought hit me, I don't have another alarm clock. For years, I've relied upon my cell phone as my morning alarm: it's always with me, I don't have to remember to set it, and the wakeup sound doesn't make me want to hurt someone. Sure I have other clocks, but none of them have alarms. What to do?

An alarm clock. It seems so simple until you don't have one. It's easy to become overly dependent on a technology. Assuming you're acting rationally, that technology will make your life better, but you should always have a backup plan. It's why I'm headed to the store to buy a cheap alarm clock.