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BY PAUL MALONEY
America Online plans to announce later this week that they
will partner with Dolby
to stream their Radio@AOL Internet
radio
using a new "compression / decompression" (codec) technology
called AAC (for Advanced Audio Coding). The new streaming technology
will take the place of the RealNetworks'
technology Radio@AOL currently uses.
According to a Dolby press statement, the new technology
will improve the online radio experience for both dial-up and broadband
audiences. The statement also indicates that Dolby and AOL will
be working together on future digital music projects, and that "several
other companies...will be announcing use of Dolby AAC in the near
future."
AOL's launch of their Radio@AOL Broadband service in November
(see RAIN coverage here)
using their proprietary Ultravox
streaming backbone may have been an indication that the "days
were numbered" for at least some of the company's uses of the
Real technology.
An article in ZDNet (here)
suggests that the move is part of AOL's effort to attract and maintain
subscribers by enhancing content, especially for high-speed connections.
Next week will see the arrival of of AOL 8.0 Plus, with special
features for broadband users.
The AAC technology, according to information on the Apple.com
web site, was designed to replace the popular MP3 format,
now over ten years old. The tech is touted as taking advantage of
advances in perceptual audio coding and compression to produce higher-quality
sound content using a smaller amount of data (which improves streaming
and storage efficiency). The AAC codec is built around signal processing
technology developed by Dolby Labs.
AOL rebranded its popular Spinner
Internet radio product as Radio@AOL and Radio@Netscape.
Read more about the AAC technology here.
Listen to samples of AAC-encoded music here.
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In
anticipation of NAB 2003, which will take place in Las Vegas
on April 5-10 (here),
we'll be publishing a special issue of RAIN on April
2nd that includes our quarterly look at products and services
currently available to radio broadcasters and webcasters.
If you're a vendor and you'd like to be included in this
special issue, call Kurt Hanson at 1-312-527-3879
for rates and availabilities. Thanks! |
| Sponsors
of past RAIN Vendor Guides have included...
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| For
YOUR firm to be included, call RAIN at 1-312-527-3869
or e-mail kurt@kurthanson.com |
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| RAIN is brought to you
today by: |
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Limelight Networks
is a leading provider of outsourced media delivery
solutions. With multiple Edge distribution locations around the Internet,
Limelight Networks enables some of the Industry's top broadcasters like
Radio Free Virgin and Musicmatch to reduce the cost and complexity of
delivery while ensuring unmatched performance.
Limelight Networks technology has been
proven to dramatically cut the costs associated with live or on-demand
media delivery. For more information please contact us at www.limelightnetworks.com.
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 From
CBS MarketWatch: "ABC has become an online behemoth. The
unit's just-launched subscription all-news channel, along with the
massive ABCNews.com
Web site and Webcasts of its news-and-talk-formatted
radio stations are making ABC a triple threat online...
"ABCNews.com said traffic to its site was 50 percent
greater than normal, while broadband showed a 700 percent increase.
A spokeswoman for RealNetworks said the company had to call up additional
server capacity to meet the demand for ABC streaming content...
 "ABC's
radio stations on the Web also combined to make it the one of
the top 10 Internet broadcast networks for the week ending March
3, according to Arbitron
Measurecast Ratings. The increase in listening was due in part to
a strong showing by the company's WLS-AM
news-talk radio outlet in Chicago, which was the sixth
most popular Internet radio station."
This entire story is available on the CBS Marketwatch web
site here
(free registration required).
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From a SkyWaves Research Report press release: "SkyWaves
Research Report, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based research
publication covering the burgeoning satellite radio industry, estimates
XM Satellite Radio's
total subscriptions at the end of the first quarter 2003 at 490,000
to 500,000 and year-end 2003 subscriber totals of 1.24
million...
 "The
Report also forecasts XM's fourth quarter 2002 revenue at $9.3
million, full-year 2002 revenue at $20.5 million, and first quarter
2003 revenue at $14.4 million.
"In addition, SkyWaves Research Report forecasts significantly
lower XM subscriber acquisition costs (SACs) throughout 2003, beginning
in the first quarter. SkyWaves Research Report expects Sacs, which
averaged around
$130 per XM subscriber in 2002, to fall to $100-$110 for first quarter
2003...
"SkyWaves Research Report expects Sirius
Satellite Radio to report a total of 45,000
to 50,000 regular subscribers at the end of the first quarter."
Read this entire press release on PRNewswire here. |
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Here's more feedback on Bob Bellin's Guest Essay from Monday (in
RAIN here)...
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"'Yep,
that's what I saw'.."
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 Enjoyed
(the commentary on) the Internet 10 study.
And nope...you haven't changed my perception...you just reinforced
it.
I rarely watch "commercial" television. And I rarely
listen to "commercial" radio either.
There are way too many commercials. Plus they are mainly too
stupid for words, or they assume you are.
When Crocodile Dundee saw television for the first time in
a very long time...he simply said, "Yep, that's what I saw." And he
switched the television back off.
I couldn't have said it better.
And this is regarding AARP's decision to advertise on the KaZaA
desktop app (in RAIN here)...
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"Target
audience is the kiddies trading files..."
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Um, also AARP is no longer "American Ass'n of Retired Persons,"
just AARP. Probably a nod to the future of AARP as
a medical/insurance/SocialSecurity lobbying force for all people,
not just seniors. You can't really save Social Security if the people
who will be paying for it in 30 years don't care if it's saved.
That's why AARP's target audience is, in fact, the kiddies
trading files, not their grandparents.
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