Now That's News

Buried about 7 pages back in this morning's NY Times business section, behind stores about Woodward, Google (i guess there's a rule that there has to be at least one google story per day), American Idol, and Lime (a new tv/web convergence play), there is a little story that is way more important than all of them combined.

Laurie Flynn writes that Tivo To Go is going to support PSPs and video iPods.

The audio iPod is way more than a listening device. It's a place shifting device.  I have one iPod, I use to play music in the gym, on my bike, in my car, in my office, walking to work, etc.  The same will be true of the PSP and the video iPod.

All we need is a way to get content off the closed networks and on to open networks.  Tivo To Go is one way, but an important way, that this is going to happen.

And as usual, kids will lead the way.

Comments

[dean]

did you ever figure out how to synch your video ipod with tivo?

[charlie crystle]

Fred, go here:

http://rvb.roosterteeth.com/home.php

They make short "films" using Halo II and voiceovers. Why is this relevant?

Any kid can make their own music, own films, own books, own content of any kind with just a little imagination and basic tools for under $500. PCs are cheap. Storage is cheap. Editing tools are available and cheap or free. I'd say that kids with tools (anyone with the tools) produce more interesting, more entertaining stuff than the studios do.

Here's where we've been in the past 20 years:

I've made 8 records, produced several, and am working on my 9th. My first album was on vinyl back in 1986. We recorded at a 24-track studio with 2" tape and paid something like $3,000. It sounds great because it was all analog, but here's the thing: we did it in 2 days and accepted what came out. We had rehearsed for 2 days prior, went in and nailed it. Mostly.

After that, I went through recording joy and hell working on EPs, albums, etc at various studios; whenever I could scrape money together I'd hit the studio, but I always wanted my own. When I got a record deal I spent a week in the studio. But when I didn't like the sound at the end of the session, I was stuck with it. The next year I recorded at a great studio with the guys from Garbage; 1 week, 3 songs, all analog, great sound, etc. $10,000. And the masters were destroyed during a flood a few years later.

So access to studio time was the limiting factor for musicians. We wanted studio-quality recordings. Now we have them (and have had since 2001; prior to that the digital cards and plugins were pretty lousy but at 24/96 it's pretty great, though I'd take 2" tape any day for sound quality).

I'd always wanted my own studio. When we sold ChiliSoft I started buying equipment. Funny thing about that--I bought digital. Now I record when I want, what I want, and try everything. Because I can. I have 5 hard drives full of trying everything.

The down side? I've been working on the same album for 4 years, and it's something like 23 songs. The freedom is incredible, and incredibly binding in a sense.

Give people the tools, give audiences the access, storage, etc, ability to share, and it will change everything. But Tivo isn't the thing, so much, because it pulls from TV. We don't need cable, we don't need TV. The best content will come from people with the tools and inclination.

[Ewan Grantham]

Personally the main thing "I" have gotten from TivoToGo hasn't been the ability to pull programs off the TV (although that is helpful for putting content on my middle daughter's VuGo), it has been the ability to push video to our TiVo from my computer.

So we have the nice TiVo interface for pulling up photos, music, home video, and the like. My wife, who is still a bit intimidated by our computers, is not at all bothered about using the TiVo to playback our home movies. It also makes it easier for the same middle daughter who is handicapped to have some control of what she watches when.

That, to me, has been much more useful than being able to carry the latest episode of "Desperate Housewives".

[Devin Reams]

If it makes you feel any better Fred, I recall seeing this on the front page of the 'Entertainment' or whatever section of the WSJ last week when it was announced...