BY PAUL MALONEY
Thanks
to Christina Aguilera, Carlos Santana, and Ricky Martin, Latin-influenced
pop is enjoying unprecedented success at mainstream radio. Thanks
to Batanga.com,
fans of Latin sounds can get a taste of the "real" Latin
music from which conservative radio programmers allegedly shy
away. And thanks to Batanga's Music News section, we're now troubled
by the unsettling knowledge that boxer Oscar de la Hoya's album
has been nominated for a Latin Grammy (shiver).
Batanga offers streaming music 24 hours a day over 16 channels.
The selection ranges from the "expected" traditional
genres like Tango, Latin Jazz, Salsa, and Merengue -- contemporary
formats like Rock, Indie, and Hip-Hop -- to fresh and unique mixes
like this week's "Station of the Week," Norteno; or
Cubanisimo, which was inspired by The Buena Vista Social Club
movie and albums.
The site launched in November of '99, founded by Troy McConnell,
a webcasting software programmer, and former BMG music marketing
manager Luis Brandwayn. The firm is based in Yanceyville, NC,
and employees a staff of only eleven people.
If you want nothing to get in the way of your music, this
is the spot for you. No show hosts. No commercials, PSAs, promos,
or any other production elements.
There are no liner notes, nor a "skip" button
-- but there's also no special player to download and install
(the channels stream in low-bandwidth stereo Windows Media or
Real). Thumbs up there!
There is, however, a pop-up screen for each channel, which
you can see above. The current and three
previous selections are shown with artist and album title information,
a chance to rate the selection, and buy it. The CD artwork for
the current song appears in the lower right, and from this pop
up you can change channels, enter the free CD contest, and access
other areas of the site. Finally, there are a few banner ad's
on the site.
In putting together RAIN Radio (see our latest report
here),
we gained insight into the different compatibility issues the
design team had to take into account (Internet Explorer vs. Netscape
vs. Macintosh, Windows vs. Real, etc.). Suffice it to say that
after all this -- regardless of where in the world you are when
you visit us -- RAIN Radio
will remain hopelessly limited to one language: the President's
English. Batanga, on the other hand, is completely bilingual (that'd
be English and Spanish...not Latin!). Too bad our "Espanol"
is not "bueno" enough to fully enjoy this.
The homepage has a pretty neat scrolling "Now Playing"
feature, which shows the current selection on each station (Batanga
is a random "jukebox" type player, but this operation
takes place on the server side, which means everyone tuned to
the same channel at the same time will hear
the same thing -- like live radio. RAIN Radio, on the other
hand, works from a database on the "client" side --
meaning the player on the listener's computer is actually choosing
the songs!)
The homepage offers more opportunity for visitors to interact
with the site. Listeners can place song requests for the daily
request hour on each station. A few of the day's requests are
posted beforehand -- though not the time or even the order in
which they'll be played (as Batanga minds it's D's and M's and
C's and A's). And, there is third-party content like Music News
and an online resource to add value, and hopefully increase visits,
to the site.
Some new sounds to our ears, a RAIN-approved color
and design scheme, and it works with the media player already
on your system! And we haven't heard Oscar de la Hoya yet!
From the press release: "Lightningcast
today announced its second round of funding from Nokia Venture
Partners,
Redleaf Group Inc., and Birchmere Ventures. This second round
of funding totals $15.5 million and follows an initial round of
financing from Redleaf Group Inc., and Birchmere Ventures, of
$4.7 million, in March of 2000...
"The streaming media market is experiencing explosive
growth. Nokia predicts that there will be more web-connected mobile
handsets than PCs in the world as early as 2002."
Read the release here.
|
Have
an opinion on this article? Share it! Simply click
the headline at left to bring up a convenient "Submit"
form. |
From Businesswire.com: "Media Metrix reports that media
players now are installed on 99 percent of U.S.
home
PCs, enabling these computers to deliver both online and offline
digital-audio and video to consumers. Streaming-media players, the
subset of media players that enable real-time access of digital-audio
and video over the Internet, also are now installed on 99 percent
of U.S. home PCs.
"In November 2000, 47 percent of U.S. home computer
users (both PC and Mac) used a media player, while 40 percent used
a streaming-media player...
"In the streaming-media category, RealNetworks' RealPlayer
maintains the largest share of users. In November 2000, 28 percent
of all U.S. home computer users used
RealPlayer, 22 percent used Windows Media Player (versions 6 and
7) and four percent used Quicktime (version 4).
"In contrast, 22 percent of these same users used RealPlayer
in January 2000, 17 percent used Windows Media Player (versions
6 and 7) and three percent used Quicktime (version 4).
Media Metrix Usage Reach of Leading Streaming Media Players Percentage
of U.S. Home Computer Users (Both PC and Mac), January-November
2000
|
Jan-00 |
Feb-00 |
Mar-00 |
Apr-00 |
May-00 |
Jun-00 |
Jul-00 |
Aug-00 |
Sep-00 |
Oct-00 |
Nov-00 |
| RealPlayer |
22% |
24% |
28% |
29% |
31% |
31% |
32% |
32% |
30% |
29% |
28% |
| Windows Media Player |
17% |
18% |
17% |
18% |
18% |
17% |
18% |
19% |
20% |
22% |
22% |
| QuickTime |
3% |
3% |
3% |
3% |
3% |
4% |
4% |
4% |
4% |
4% |
4% |
Read this release here.
|
|
Simply
click the headline at left to bring up a convenient pop-up
form -- or click here
to use your own e-mail software. |
From ZDNet.com: "
IBM
will release a new version of its anti-music piracy technology Monday
that it says could
help
block song traders who use services such as Napster or Gnutella...
"IBM's new tack is to allow a song to be copied and
sent from person to person as often as consumers want. But built-in
restrictions would be triggered by the copies, permitting the next
person in line on Napster or an e-mail chain to play the song only
once,
hear 30 seconds or hear nothing at all...
"Even IBM admits that its technology stands some chance
of being hacked, although (business development executive for IBM
Global Media and Entertainment Scott) Burnett called his company's
model 'among the most secure, if not the most secure' versions on
the market. But he, along with many analysts, predict that only
a small proportion of consumers will try to break through copy protection
once it's used."
Read this story
here.
| xxx |
 |
|
Try
it out! Explore the wide world of
Internet audio by clicking the screenshot above.
