Digital Streets

Finally got my invite for the VeohTV beta.  VeohTV is a free video browser that accesses video from various websites including Fox, CBS, NBC, YouTube, Google Video, plus a buttload more.  The interface looks like your basic DVR software interface and while it is still definitely a beta product, it works surprisingly well.  Here’s some screenshots:

Figure 1: Main Screen	Figure 2: Channels
Figure 3: Video Selection	Figure 4: Video Playing

The video browser makes it easy to find the videos by either browsing the Channels or by using the Search functionality.  You can add Channels and/or Videos to My Favorites for even easier viewing.  I’ll be playing with VeohTV for a while, it looks to be pretty cool.

SkreemR is an awesome audio search engine that crawls the internet for audio files.  It gives information on the file such as ID3 tag info, where it was found, where to get more info on the artist, a button to share the song on your Facebook profile, and even a player to listen to the song from your browser.

Since SkreemR can return a lot of results, it is better to use the Advanced Search.  Simply go to the homepage and click the Advanced Search link.

 The Advanced Search allows you to specify the number of results to display per page, the title, artist, album, and/or genre, along with the bitrate.  Once you have entered the search criteria, click the SkreemR Search button.  When the result set appears, find the desired file.  Go to the first line and mouseover the link to see the MP3 tag info for the file.

Clicking the Facebook icon will allow you to link the music file to your Facebook profile.  Once clicked, a Facebook window will appear, requesting your login information.

To listen to the song, click the Play button.

After the player finishes buffering the stream, the song will play.

Finally, to download the file, right-click the link and select  Save Link As (Firefox) or  Save Target As (Internet Explorer), browse to the location you want to save the file to, and click Save.

The MySpaceTV beta has finally launched.  If you saw yesterday’s post on getting YouTube videos on your Zune by using RealPlayer 11 and WM Converter then you’ll know what to do when you see something like this:

If not, then go check it out.  RealPlayer 11 makes it dead simple to get internet video downloaded onto your computer.

As far as the MySpaceTV site goes, it is definitely still in beta.  I saw more of this than I did actual videos:

CDex - CD Ripper - Download
Convert tracks from an audio CD to MP3 files and WAV. Easy to use interface, CDDB support, and M3U playlist creation are a few of the features of this helpful application.

Orb - Multimedia Streaming - Download
Stream your live TV, photos, music and videos to any Web-enabled device. Simple to install and easy to access. Great for sharing home videos and photos with others.

The RIAA is become notorious for its lawsuits and hunting down all the illegal downloading and ripping of music on the internet.  Instead of combating piracy using fear tactics and lawsuits, the music industry should reexamine its strategies for distributing music in the first place.  The music industry has set itself up to be “victims� of piracy due to continually overcharging consumers for CD’s.  They even admitted to the practice but cleared their “consciences� by giving consumers $20 to make up for it in exchange for never being bothered by it again.  Yet they still continue the practice.  So the consumer gets to pay too much for a disc of music with no frills.  I remember back in the days of LP’s, where the consumer got posters, special inserts, information about the band, etc.  You got more than just the music, you were rewarded in a way for purchasing the item.  Today’s CD’s are blandly packaged with little to offer the consumer.  You could download the music and have the same thing.  If that is the way the music industry wants to package their product, that’s fine.  But if they are going to do that, why not embrace today’s technology and start a massive distribution through music downloads.  Charge the music lovers less for the product and thereby relieve the need to pirate music because one is tired of being ripped off.  Better yet utilize the internet but also revamp the packaging of CD’s and offer the consumer a little more for their money.  Give them a reason to be proud of the purchase they made.  Every other business in America has had to change its way of attracting consumers.  The music industry needs to do this as well.  They are spending a lot of money and time in their quest to stop music piracy, however the marketing nightmare that they are creating is causing a great deal of damage to the customer base.  It is a proven fact that businesses that fail to change with the times will surely die.  If the RIAA doesn’t alter its course, an opportunity will be taken by someone at sometime and the music industry as we know it will be gone.