Streaming Media - October 2008 - (Page 69)

“There’s certainly a segment that loves Howard Stern, there are certainly people who like to listen to MP3s, CDs, and iPods where they, in essence, play their own DJ,” he says. “But I think there also is a large and important segment of people who are very interested in the music, who want someone else to play DJ because when someone else plays DJ, it’s not just less effort, it involves discovery. It brings serendipity into the experience.” “I think you’ll see winners from all sides,” Stoddard says. “You’ll see satellite moving in there, and you’ll see terrestrial there just like you already do. And then there will be some big internet-only players, too. So, I think you’ll see all of them on there. It’s just when the dust settles, who’s going to be around still?” We may not all have a Jules Verne-like clairvoyance to imagine up radio a century from now, but we can bet on a few things just over the horizon. “Looking out to 10 years, I see radio towers being converted into WiMAX towers, turning our world into a highly connected digital environment where we can access our favorite radio station through any device, anywhere in the world,” says Lewis. And that “anywhere in the world” may just be our own backyards. Whether through the magic of WiMAX or femtocells or some other marginal or yet-to-come technology, King pictures it this way: “You can imagine someday you’ll be sitting with your grandmother in the yard with a little box that is wirelessly playing music for you, right? But of course, everybody is like, ‘Duh, we’ve had transistor radios forever, there’s nothing new about that.’ But the difference will be that box then will also play TV, and it will answer your phone calls, and you’ll be able to surf the internet on it and buy things directly from it. It is a future of radio to a wireless device, but it will be transmitted over IP allowing that , box to be multifunction.” If there’s one thing clear about the future of internet radio, music aficionados will make sure of this: No matter the technology that delivers the music of the bands they love, there will always be some virtual hub to play the part of yet another music industry relic: “The record store. Where true fandom begins,” as Cameron Crowe once wrote. “It’s the soul of discovery, and the place where you can always return for that mighty buzz.” With fingers crossed, let’s hope that the music industry and broadcasters will come together to ensure that internet radio is not one day eulogized with a similar sentiment in the annals of history too. Elizabeth Welsh (www.lizwelsh.com) is a freelance writer living in Madison, Wis. Comments? Email us at letters@streamingmedia.com, or check the masthead for other ways to contact us. WWW.STREAMINGMEDIA.COM 69 http://www.lizwelsh.com http://www.viewcast.com http://www.best-tv.com http://www.biemedia.com http://www.buydrm.com http://www.digimeld.com http://www.digital-rapids.com http://www.tvworldwide.com http://WWW.STREAMINGMEDIA.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Streaming Media - October 2008

Streaming Media - October 2008 Table of Contents Standard Time Technology and Business Trends by the Numbers Encoding for Screencams Meeting the Enterprise Video Distribution Challenge Pulling Back the Curtain on Level 3 The 2008 Streaming Media Readers’ Choice Award Winners The Ultimate Guide to Creating Online Video Content That Works, Part 1 Brave New Platforms Video From the Democratic National Convention—Both Official and Unofficial—Made Clear That It’s No Longer Politics as Usual Creative Suite Turns 4 The Future of Internet Radio Decoding the Truth About Hi-Def Video Production Educating the Next Generation of Online Media Makers ViewCast Niagara GoStream SURF The Past and Future of Online Video: I’m Not Dead Yet!

Streaming Media - October 2008

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