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KPIG is Back - By Subscription Only
We've noted before that KPIG, one of the oldest internet broadcasters, was one of many to shut down their netcasts after the recent CARP ruling on copyright royalties. Well, they're back, but 128kbit mp3 streams have been replaced with with lower-quality Real streams, and free has been replaced with subscription-only. Gotta do what you gotta do, I guess.
If the RIAA charges broadcasters more per listener than the advertisers will pay per listener (this is their end goal, afterall) then this is the only choice left for Internet radio. We can pay for a subscription that allows the small broadcasters to survive, or listen to free stations that play mostly terrible music nobody has ever heard of before. That's just how the world works now - write your senators and representative to change it, otherwise be prepared to pay up.
== Paul Rickard, Editor of The Microsoft Boycott Campaign ====
But not via RealAudio. Real sucks for so many reasons, allow me to list a few:
It likes to spy on users' listening habits
To prevent the spying, one has to tour through several configuration screen, and sub-screens, and buttons that open sub-sub-screens, making sure to select the right options, options which are described so ambiguously as to make me believe that all of this foofarah is designed to make it too onerous to prevent spying, while still claiming the option(s) are there.
Even after all this, even with all privacy options set correctly, you can't stop it from phoning hone once a month anyway.
It loads slowly.
Its interface is obstrusive, clunky and counter-intuitive, the better to provide ad space. (Compare this to winamp's ability to add skins and maximize or minimize different parts of the app.)
Its codecs appear to be inferior to free codecs, like Lame; its sound quality certainly is.
In short, RealAudio is just too slow, ugly, and nosey for me to run it. No mater how compelling the content.
The only thing in Real's favor is that it hired Andrei Alexandrescu, the C++ template guru.
Offer me KPIG at $5/mo via winamp, and I'm in.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Well, if you have access to the bandwidth, try streaming Triple J.
It's an Australian station, free-to-air (but internet streamed as well), and government funded, with a mandate to service the "youth" market. In it's FM, free-to-air form, it generally holds between 5% and 15% of market share in the 15-30 age bracket (depending on location).
Don't let the government funding discourage you - the only notable side effect is the fact that there are no ads (other than station ID's, and the occasional concert/competition promo). There is a reasonable current affairs show that runs 9am-12am (AEDT, GMT+10), and it is often critical of government policy.
It's very indy-centric (you won't _ever_ hear Brittney or N'Sync), so the playlist contains lots of Aussie independent bands with a history of putting on good gigs, and they only rarely step into the 80's, and then only for some Stranglers or Violent Femmes - don't expect to hear any Ultravox.
The DJ's are also very refreshing - very low key, laid back, not afraid to get down, dirty and swear, or get intellectual just for a change. None of that "All top 40 rock, all the time" overproduced, overhyped BS that seems to overflow on commercial stations.
Unfortunately, they only stream RealPlayer or Windows Media Player - but IHMO they're well worth the listen. Or, if you're in Australia, turn on the radio, and pick it up on the old transistor...
Russ %-)
... and never, ever play leapfrog with a unicorn.
If you really care about Internet radio and wish to see it remain free, check out the Internet Radio Fairness Act.
Quoted from Voice of Webcasters (VOW):
"Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA), George Nethercutt (R-WA) and Rick Boucher (D-VA) have stepped up to protect small businesses from being unfairly forced out of business by the performance copyright royalties recently affirmed by the Librarian of Congress. They have introduced a bill in the US House of Representatives (HR 5285) that would SAVE INTERNET RADIO (click here to view a copy of this important legislation). In protecting Internet radio, it will help ensure that artists will have a chance to receive fair compensation for their work and that webcasters will have a chance to survive and grow to provide artists with a place to promote their music."
VOW also has a page where you can send a fax to Congress about this legislation.
DISCLAIMER: I work for Real.
:)
;)
:), and (b) you get to bitch at us and we actually have to listen. It's been pretty helpful so far in getting a lot of stuff fixed.
:)
(figured two sep posts would be easier than one long-winded one
Re: adware: RealPlayer is, next to AOL, the most obnoxious ad experience I've ever seen. And I, and many of my colleagues, have told our execs that. At company meetings. And there's some acknowledgement of that; we reduced the streaming ad frequency down to once per 5 minutes last week. That being said, our ad sales group still managed to get tons of cash from Verizon and whomever sells FreeMem Pro (go figure). So we "monetize the free player experience."
My advice, in all seriousness: buy a subscription. By paying us for a service, this means (a) it's ad-free (and thus pretty useable
Re: spyware: it is, but we're crappy at spying. Legal is also pretty good about making sure we don't keep what we shouldn't. I know it's annoying, but as per above, creating a service that goes through Real (and thus potentially creates a log entry) is often the fastest way to get something to market. My advice: again, buy a subscription. Then ya get to bitch.
PS - you probably may also want to stop using Credit Cards... VISA / MC are much better spies than we are. They sell your purchases to whomever wants 'em. Which means when you want to launch a direct mail campaign to sell your cool subscription service and need names and addresses of people who have purchased similar content before, guess where you get the names and addresses from? Lovely, ain't it?
-e