CES 2008

Correction 5:35 p.m. PST: This blog gave an incorrect last name for the head of EMI Music's digital business. He is Barney Wragg.

Because I had to leave Las Vegas on Wednesday, I was only able to catch the first two sessions of the one-day Digital Music Live conference, a conference about technology and the music industry co-sponsored by Billboard and the Consumer Electronics Association (who's behind CES). Nonetheless, the morning speakers had some interesting thoughts.

(Credit: CEA/Billboard)

First up was Gregg Latterman, president of Aware Records, whose company manages multimillion-selling artists The Fray (which had already been signed to Epic by the time Latterman began managing them) and John Mayer.

Despite the rejection of traditional promotion and distribution by everybody from the youngest MySpace bands to the most-established rockers, Latterman argued that the old ways--terrestrial radio and major label marketing and distribution--are still necessary for artists to sell more than a million records. He acknowledged that it's harder to create million-sellers from scratch--a few years ago, he claimed, a label could put $1 million into promotion and radio and almost guarantee a million album sales--but he noted that many critically acclaimed independent acts just aren't selling in big numbers, citing Bright Eyes (whose last album sold 189,000 copies, according to Latterman) as an example.

He also pointed out something I noted when Radiohead first revealed its tip-jar pre-release download plan for In Rainbows: without EMI, the band might never have built the huge global audience that allowed it to perform this experiment and sign distribution-only deals for the actual full CD.

My favorite insight, however, came in a discussion of how digital downloads are becoming a larger proportion of sales:"it's not fun to buy a record anymore." He didn't expand, but I imagine he was thinking of big-box stores and $18 retail prices.

The next session was a five-person panel on the current state of the industry. EMI Music's head of digital business, Barney Wragg, claimed that moving to DRM-free downloads revitalized the label's sales of digital full albums, as opposed to singles, contradicting the industry's fear that users would cherry-pick fewer tracks in the iTunes age, leading to less revenue per sale. (He didn't reveal exact numbers, but hinted they were significant enough to change top executives' thinking on the subject.)

He also acknowledged that many executives at the majors have had their heads in the sand regarding digital downloads and combating file trading, but pleaded for some tolerance, noting that a lot of artists and publishers refuse to participate in newer forms of distribution for fear it'll hurt their own bottom lines. I'd be crying crocodile tears if I pretended to be too sympathetic, but it was a good reminder that the majors aren't monolithic corporations, but actually must represent lots of parties with conflicting interests and levels of comfort with digital distribution.

There were a few other interesting points in the panel discussion, although 45 minutes seemed hurried.

Ian Rogers, VP of Video and Media Applications for Yahoo, praised the impending end of DRM, claiming that Yahoo Music had been unable to sign many deals--such as one with home automation company Control 4--because of the expense of supporting DRM-protected audio files.

Matthew DeFilippis of publishing rights clearinghouse ASCAP talked about how the organization was never interested in DRM, but cares much more about tracking usage--watermarking could be a useful technology here--and mentioned a system ASCAP is using to monitor songs playing in public places.

Finally, well-known music lawyer Fred Goldring summed up the problem nicely: empowered consumers with an unlimited supply of music directly contradicts the old industry basis of enforced scarcity. The trick is figuring out how to monetize what consumers are already doing. Unfortunately, there are no jaw-droppingly obvious or brilliant solutions at hand, although he and Nettwerk Music Group CEO Terry McBride seemed to lean toward some sort of blanket license applied on ISP fees.

The Ion Audio LP2CD turntable allows you to record your old records directly to blank CDs.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)

Ion Audio had a slew of new USB turntables on display at CES this year. Of all the new models, the turntable I'm the most interested to get my hands on is the LP2CD, a direct-to-CDR vinyl archiving solution.

The LP2CD includes an all-metal platter, an LCD display, a USB connection, a switchable line/phono audio output, and a front-loading CD player and recorder. At $449, the LP2CD turntable doesn't come cheap. There's something to be said, however, for paying a little extra to take a computer out of the vinyl archiving equation (although the LP2CD can be used with a computer as well).

The Ion Audio LP2PC should be available within the first quarter of this year.

One of our predictions for CES 2008 was that DVD recorders with ATSC tuners would get a couple of key features upgrades that take full advantage of the built-in digital tuner. Well, if Panasonic's new line of DVD recorders is any indication, we were wrong.

Despite some significant clamoring for a DVD recorder with a hard drive, the new Panasonic Diga line of DVD recorders includes only two standard DVD recorders, plus two DVD/VHS recorder combo units. There's also no mention of a few features we were hoping for: true HD output for ATSC programming, an EPG that pulls content data embedded in the ATSC signal, and an IR blaster to control other gear, such as a cable or satellite box.

While that's a lot of doom and gloom about the upcoming units, they'll still work perfectly fine for the standard usage of archiving content to DVD. As usual, all of the Panasonic recorders support all of the recordable DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. Also note that Panasonic is offering two models, the DMR-EA18 and DMR-EA38V, that lack a tuner of any kind--which is a nice option for those who are going to use the units with a cable/satellite box and want to save some money. Additionally, we anticipate that the recorders will include Panasonic's standard array of features, including flexible recording length, an outstanding LP recording mode and chasing playback on DVD-RAM discs.

California-based Eton makes a wide range of radio-related products, but it started off as the exclusive distributor of Grundig shortwave radios in the U.S., and shortwave is still at the company's heart.

Eton: stylish booth, stylish devices.

(Credit: Matt Rosoff)

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company is showing off the Grundig G4 World Recorder, which not only lets you listen to just about every kind of radio broadcast available (including shortwave from 3,000 to 29,999 KHz), but also lets you record those broadcasts to MP3 files. (There's also a built-in mic for voice recording.)

The device comes with 2GB of built-in flash memory, and has a slot for SD memory cards and a mini-USB port for transferring files back and forth from a PC. It's great way to archive radio information from around the world for use in any way you can imagine--and nothing quite says "international dance floor" like a sample of a news broadcast in Farsi. It'll be available in March for $200.

(Credit: Belkin)

Clearly, the Apple iPod offers a reasonable array of attractive features--a slick interface, excellent podcast support, video capability--but recording ability has never made the list. The value of this feature may be questionable for some, but for others, it's a desirable extra. Luckily for audio note takers and aspiring podcasters, several third-party vendors have come to the rescue. The latest is Belkin with its fabulously portable Podcast Studio, which cradles the iPod while turning it into an on-the-go recording machine. The Podcast Studio, which is expected to launch in June 2008 at a price of $99.99, runs off of two AAA batteries for about 2 hours, giving you freedom to record anytime, anywhere. The unit is equipped with a speaker for monitoring recordings, as well as a built-in mic. Alternatively, it offers dual 3.5mm channels and an XLR port for connecting external mics. Each recording is stored separately in the iPod's memory and then automatically uploaded into iTunes when you sync the player. Unfortunately, the Podcast Studio is not compatible with the Touch or the iPhone--use it only with a fifth-gen, Classic, or third-gen Nano.

(Credit: Belkin)