BY PAUL MALONEY
IM Networks founder, president, and CTO David Frerichs (pictured left), along with RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter publisher Kurt Hanson (bottom right) will keynote the first ConXis (pronounced "kahn-ICKS-iss") conference March 1-3 in Chicago.

Frerichs' keynote, "The Third Antenna," will take place on Friday, March 1; Hanson's discussion, "Why Internet Radio will replace AM & FM," will be the following day.

ConXis a not-for-profit conference aimed at helping independent broadcasters in Internet streaming. ConXis founder Chris Popp (one of the organizers of the CasterCon industry event in 2000) told RAIN, "We want to do it for the good of the independent broadcasting community, to share ideas, and to bring people the information they need on stream hosting, hardware, and software."

Other highlights of the event include the ConXis Gong Show, a takeoff on the popular game show in which webcasters can put their stream or site up for judging by the industry community. Plus, BRS Media presents the Friday Night Dance Party. Both events will be streamed live on the Internet.

In fact, one of the panels, "What Should I Plugin and Where?," will be moderated by two gentlemen that won't even be there! AudioRealm's Louie Louw and SqrSoft's Mariano Lopez will host the panel entirely via streaming.

Attendees can take advantage of a special early rate by signing up by February 27th. Registration is also available at the door during the event.

For schedule information or sponsorship opportunities, click here. RAIN readers get a special deal on registration -- click here.

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From StreamingMedia.com: "On Thursday [Feb. 7], Apple put out a release saying that it had surpassed RealNetworks in the number of new users added in 2001. But a closer look at the numbers in Apple’s announcement and a recent release by RealNetworks show that Apple was comparing, well, apples to oranges.

"Apple claims that its QuickTime player [right] added 80 million new users, in 2001, 'exceeding RealNetworks' addition of 75 million new RealOne [below] and RealPlayer users combined.' Apple said QuickTime 5, released in April 2001, will reach 100 million downloads by April 2002. But Apple failed to note that RealNetworks is counting registered users, since it requires people to fill out some demographic information before downloading their software. Apple does not require registration, so it counts downloads.

"In a statement, RealNetworks answered back calling Apple’s press release 'misleading.'

"'RealNetworks RealOne Player and RealPlayer have 250 million unique registered users,' read the statement. 'This number counts users with a relationship with RealNetworks, not downloads as the 80 million Apple is touting.'

"RealNetworks also pointed to third party data, available from Nielson//NetRatings showing that there were '32.0 million US home users of RealNetworks content in December and 7.4 million users of QT that same month.'"

Read the story here.




The British Broadcasting Corporation will make history next month when they launch their first new national music station in 32 years.

The new channel promises to "set the tone for the way we listen to and interact with radio in a digital world." "6 Music" will launch March 11 via Europe's DAB digital radio, digital satellite television, and online.

The station will stream online (as are the other BBC Radio channels), and the site will feature webcams, chatrooms run by presenters (which is what we Yanks call DJs), message boards, and live chats with guest artists. The format will be similar to the "Adult Album Alternative" genre here in America, possibly with a slight "pop" edge.

From CNet News.com: "WebSideStory, a San Diego, Calif.-based company that measures Internet audiences, said that as of Feb. 6, nearly 52 percent of Web surfers arrived at sites by direct navigation and bookmarks, compared with about 46 percent during the same period last year.

"The results underscore how branding on the Web is gaining momentum and having a household name is becoming key to driving traffic to a company's site, WebSideStory said. The study showed that sites with branded names, such as Amazon.com, receive more direct traffic than those sites that aren't branded because people are familiar with them and only need to type in the Web address rather than fish around on a search engine...as a result of the advances in technology, particularly browsers, people are going directly to sites by typing in the Web address or a bookmark faster."

Read the complete article here.

...

... Perhaps the increased importance of branding might show advertisers that the time is now to establish their brand through online advertising. Moreover, for webcasters who drive audience through search engine entries, maybe now's the time to pay more attention to establishing a brand, if they hope to compete with those who already have brands (MSN, AOL, etc.). ...