BY KURT HANSON
As foreshadowed in Saturday's edition of RAIN, Cupertino-based startup Kerbango will debut the first-ever stand-alone Internet radio appliance this morning at the Demo 2000 new products showcase in Palm Springs, CA. According to its developers, the radio will be commercially available this spring.

As predicted, the device is a gorgeous, futuristic-looking, and yet at the same time vaguely retro appliance, with design characteristics that allude to an old-fashioned desktop radio -- especially the two big tuning knobs and centered horizontal sets of "preset" buttons.

To use Kerbango's Internet Radio, one simply conects it to a home phone line or home network and presses the 'On' button; no PC is required. (For households with a cable modem or DSL or ISDN line, the radio can always be connected to the Internet. For others, the radio includes a 56K modem and an RJ-11 phone pass-through.)

"In seconds," Kerbango's promotional material explains, "you are connected to the Internet, and the available stations are displayed by category: Rock & Roll, Classical, Talk Radio, Country, Jazz, and dozens more. By using the tuning knob in much in the way you use a regular radio, you select a category. Individual stations or streams are then displayed. Tune to the one you want to hear, and press 'Select'. The Kerbango radio connects you to the stream and your broadcast begins. It's that simple." Kerbango intends to sell premium positions within each format category to stations.

Kerbango has also constructed an elaborate database (see Saturday's article here or website screenshot at left) which is accessed by the radio to allow it to "dial" into stations.

"Every time you turn your radio on it communicates with the Kerbango Tuning Service (KTS). KTS is a sophisticated database that stores information about all the stations that Kerbango finds on the Internet...

"Once [an audio stream is] added to the available stations, special automated programs, called StreamBots, continually check the station's transmission quality and reliability. The combination of this information is available via the exclusive Kerbango Q-Meter. The Q-Meter displays a station's expected signal quality before you tune it in."

The initial product release will apparently support all stations streamed in RealAudio-supported formats (G2, Real Audio, and MP3) but not Windows Media Player, although its software will be remote upgrade capable. Besides its phone jacks, other ports include an Ethernet port and two USB ports. The device also includes an internal AM/FM antenna for receiving local broadcasts.

The radio's integrated 320x240-pixel LCD screen allows users the interactivity that Internet-delivered radio is capable of. ("Need more information on the song you are listening to? Just ask for it. Want to buy concert tickets for the artist that's on now? Just press the information button to find out how. Can't remember the phone number of the company whose ad you just heard? It's just a click away.")

Is this the device that will finally begin to increase audience sizes for Webcasts? Contribute your thoughts about the product's appeal and viability here. More on the Kerbango radio later this week in RAIN.

Supplemental material on Kerbango:
"Founded in 1998 by former Apple Computer and Power Computing executives, and joined by radio veterans from OnRadio, Kerbango, Inc. is a privately held Cupertino, California company formed to provide Internet audio services and Internet radio devices."

Dean Sakai, broadcaster and co-author (with Peggy Miles) of "Internet Age Broadcaster" (see RAIN's "Who's Who" here) is a member of Kerbango's Advisory Board. He noted, "The Kerbango radio is absolutely exciting! It's the first true Internet radio in the world -- and it will bring thousands of streaming audio stations to many new people with a simple "on" switch and a turn of a dial. Companies like Kerbango will provide the outlet for the best 'radio,' be it Internet-only stations or traditional radio broadcasters streaming their signals. The spoils will go to those with the best audio content who get in early."

The Kerbango Internet Radio is expected to be available beginning this spring for under $300. A view of the back of the radio is shown above right.)

Part Two:

More to follow. (Suggest possible additions here.)



From CNNFN (as noted in CMBE Radio News): "The U.S. market for Internet appliances is entering a period of rapid takeoff, and the new devices are expected to surpass consumer personal computer shipments in 2002, a leading technology market research firm said on Monday. Internet appliances are easy-to-use, lower cost devices designed solely for accessing the Internet. They do not typically have hard-disk drives or some of the functions of more costly but harder to use personal computers..."

"'There will be two ways it will evolve,' said Kevin Hause, an analyst with IDC and one of the authors of a new IDC report on the Internet appliance market. 'One group will be people who don't have PCs and who are intimidated or for whatever reason, don't want a PC. This is where many companies are targeting today, i.e., "Let's get this for our grandparents, who don't have a PC but want to get on the Web."'

"The other group, Hause said, is techno-savvy individuals, who already have a PC in their home, but would like to have Internet access in their kitchen for recipes, or other parts of the house for many uses. He said these customers might pay a few extra dollars a month, in addition to their current monthly Internet service charge, to have an appliance in another room.

Kerbango (see lead story above) is a perfect example of the type of Internet appliance this article is talking about. Read the full story on the CNNFN website here.




From ZDNet News: "New research suggests the long-predicted shakeout among dotcom firms is finally beginning. As Net advertisers discover size isn't everything, major portals are set for a fall...

"The Web, it turns out, is an...environment where the smaller guys can prevail -- at least in the fight for online ad dollars. The key to survival in that world is specialization...

"Advertisers, eager for visibility, [previously] spent the greatest share of their online ad budgets for space on the biggest and best-known sites. More specialized (but less trafficked) sites foraged for scraps. Or starved. The pecking order just flipped. More and more, retailers want to advertise on targeted sites -- for instance, vertical portals aimed at specific audiences -- because they believe they get a better return on their investment..."

I believe that this would be good news for local websites like radio stations'. Read the full piece in ZDNet News here.

SpikeRadio hires L.A. music industry execs
From BusinessWire: "SpikeRadio, the world's pioneering 24-hour live Internet radio station, has appointed two well-known Los Angeles-based music industry executives to help accelerate promotion of its global music programming: Chris Monaco as head of marketing and Dave Sanford as head of music programming. As president of Los Angeles-based PGW Promotions Group and later as national promotions/media manager for Premier Marketing, Monaco developed targeted marketing and cross-media planning strategies for the likes of Universal Studios, DreamWorks, MGM, Paramount and David E. Kelley Productions. As president of Los Angeles-based marketing firm Spectre, Sanford worked with The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim and Portishead among others, helping to re-introduce electronic music to the USA."

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Lots of Internet sessions planned for RAB 2000 later this month
Follow-up story on the Hiwire audio tuner/player

Also, more on this story.

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