Welcome to 'Transmitting to Earth'. I'm Charssun and I'll be your host. This blog and podcast is a byproduct of VoyagerRadio.com and is intended to provide the most timely information about this Internet radio station. It is also intended to be a fun and accessible electronic journal with commentary focusing on Internet radio, podcasting and webcasting issues and technologies, music, and some of my other interests. I also offer personal perspective about being an Internet radio broadcaster (and podcaster).
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Harvard Researchers Find No Effect Between Downloading and SalesResearchers from Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina have released a study that found "no effect between downloading and sales". This seems to fly in the face of what many record executives have been telling us, and as expected, the RIAA's Amy Weiss disagrees with the study's findings. Read more here. Congress Members Seek Prison Terms for File SharersIt's getting really hazardous for file sharers. Congress is attempting to criminalize P2P (peer-to-peer) technology with the introduction of a bill dubbed the Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation Act of 2004, or soon to be known as the Pirate Act. The bill seeks prison time of up to ten years for file sharing.
Meanwhile, is it rumored that legitimate music downloading service BuyMusic.com will be folding its operation soon. If true, let's hope this doesn't start a trend. If more digital music stores close, there will obviously be less stores to buy from, and where else will consumers go but back to the P2P networks? With more file sharing along with harsher penalties, this could turn into a really interesting political climate. How many people are really going to want to see their friends go to jail for downloading one song? Was that latest Outkast track really worth the jailtime? This could be the beginning of the age of the independent artist, many of whom offer their music for free online. Surf's Up, Or At Least It Once Was, On MarsNASA scientists today announced that the Opportunity rover's landing site appears to have once been an ocean. With gravity on Mars being just 1/3 of that of Earth's, there must have been some pretty light surf there. (Snicker, snicker.) Speaking of Accessibility...Apple Computer just unveiled a spoken interface for Mac OS X, built-in to the next major release of the operating system. It will assist the blind in using the Mac by reading content, describing the workplace and activities taking place on the computer, and by offering a rich set of keyboard commands. Apple stresses that the feature is "built-in, not bolted-on"--in other words, it's completely integrated into the OS, rather than being added-on as an afterthought.
Often overlooked, accessibility is being paid more attention to these days, due in part to recent changes in the law requiring accessible websites and such--and the law is a great catalyst where there's a lack of altruism. This is not to say that Apple is driven by the law, for it makes perfect business sense for Apple to open up its consumer base to a significant and growing population of consumers. With more people living longer, there are more computer users than ever with failing eyesight; fortunately, Steve Jobs' vision continues to prevail in his ongoing attention to consumers' needs. Dive Into Mark has an insider's look at Apple's latest development, as well as a list of resources regarding this issue. Even if you have perfect vision, you should really pay attention to this stuff, for who knows what kind of damage years of staring into a monitor will bring--even you may go blind someday. Isn't it nice to know that you'll still be able to use your Mac? Live365 Tops 20,000 Mark for Streaming Radio ChannelsLive365 Tops 20,000 Mark for Streaming Radio Channels to Set New Industry Milestone; Live365 Touts Most Loyal Users on the Web.
With the five year-old company--a survivor of the dot-com implosion--close to turning a profit, Live365 is still the solution for anyone looking to stream audio legally. VoyagerRadio Nominated in 2004 Best of Live365 AwardsVoyagerRadio has been nominated as Best New Station in the 2004 Best of Live365 Awards! If you're a Live365 Preferred Member or Broadcaster, please take a moment to vote for VoyagerRadio. Help us win this honor so that this cash-strapped station will gain the publicity we couldn't afford to purchase!
Free trials are available for both Preferred and Broadcaster memberships. A Preferred Member receives certain benefits that enhance the Live365 listening experience. A Broadcaster membership allows you to webcast your own Internet radio station. Try these services today and you'll be able to vote for VoyagerRadio as Best New Station in the 2004 Best of Live365 Awards! A Brief History of the MP3Here's a brief history of the MP3 codec, including mp3PRO and AAC, for all you digital music geeks. Most Distant Object in Solar System DiscoveredA planet-like object has been discovered in the farthest reaches of our solar system. The object is three times farther from Earth than our farthest planet, Pluto, and is only three-fourths the size of that body. Amazingly, it was first sighted from an observatory in San Diego, California! So far it's being called a planetoid, but will be soon be referring to it as our tenth planet? The infamous Planet X? Stay tuned... Mr. Lessig sums up the Grey Album matter, asserting that artists "should at least have the right to free their content to mash or remix", an opinion I wholeheartedly agree with. This should be a fundamental right of artists, even if some recording companies prefer to view their artists as indentured servants. The only problem is, we haven't heard from the Beatles yet, so we don't know how they feel about the whole Gray Album deal. Do they mind DJ Danger Mouse's remix of their seminal self-titled album? Or would they prefer to restrict creative use of their music to cover bands?
My first hunch would be that the Beatles wouldn't mind artistic exploration of their music, which itself was influenced by previous generations of Blues, Rock and Roll, and a variety of other musical genres. I'm sure the Beatles would have understood the artistic merits of sampling, even in the 60's, though I'm not certain they've undergone the exercise themselves. (Does anyone know if any Beatles songs have samples in them? Revolution #9?) Yet the Beatles are a wild card; on a few occasions they've shown us how narrow-minded they can be. Take their most recent skirmish with Apple Computer, for example. Apple's Steve Jobs continues to remind us of the beauty of the Beatles' music throughout his Macworld Expo keynote presentations; nevertheless, the Beatles families slap his tiny computer company with a lawsuit once the Mac vendor decides to begin selling music using the Apple name. All because the Beatles have a company of their own called Apple Corps., which is also in the music industry, and they believe they own the rights to any musical Apple. The Beatles should instead be acknowledging that Apple Computer can help expose and distribute their music to an entire new generation, and provide their music to the iTunes Music Store so that people can download it, legally. We'll see who wins that case; as for the Gray matter, until we hear a really great remix of Beatles samples, such as the Beastie Boys 1989 album Paul's Boutique, I don't think we're going to hear too much more about this issue. Not to say that DJ Danger Mouse's remix wasn't interesting and innovative, and certainly creative--it just wasn't great. And the people need something really great to debate. Otherwise, they just don't care. Besides this blog, a narrative blog called something that happened, and various other projects, I also moderate a discussion forum: Please consider subscribing to engage in a dialogue about all things having to do with Internet radio! |
Send Us Your Music
Artists! Want to be heard on this station? Email your MP3 audio, one file at a time, to our Program Director or mail your CD promo(s) to the following address:
Harold J. JohnsonVoyagerRadio
547 Gayley Avenue #1
Los Angeles, CA 90024 Make certain to let use know whether we may use the audio in our podcast, too!
Download the Podcast
We are officially podcasters now that we have revitalized and reintroduced our downtempo show Tempo of the Down, this time around as a podcast. Now showcasing independent downtempo we've been granted permission to offer for download, Tempo of the Down is our entry into the future of Internet radio.
Head over to our new Podcast area to download the latest session!
