Company allows users to sell used MP3s
by Abigail Prendergast (Guest contributor/Digital Journalist)
Pawning off your old tunes is now in the realm of the digital. A company known as ReDigi has made a bold move into the future by literally allowing users to buy and sell “used” music files.
It seems the business of buying and selling your old and unwanted music albums has made an effort to cross the threshold into the realm of the digital. What once consisted of dusting off old records and CDs in order to pawn them off at your local exchange has now taken a bold step into the future.
A company called ReDigi claims they are able to literally buy and sell users’ unwanted NP3 files and even give them credit in exchange for their tunes. A lot of skepticism has been aroused regarding such an endeavor. One of the main issues when concerning such a concept is whether such a thing as selling your “used” mp3s is even possible.
As ReadWriteWeb reported back in February, forking over the ownership of that no-longer-desired track is quite a complicated process. But apparently ReDigi is up for such a challenge.Another thing critics were skeptical about was, of course, the legality of selling undesired mp3s in the company’s online marketplace.
“I can’t imagine how,” wrote Rob Falk, a Boston-based music attorney. “A legal music download is generally issued as ‘personal license to use,’ and I believe that by its terms, is non-transferable.”
A spokesperson from ReDigi did respond to HypeBot’s questions about legal issues, saying: “To answer your question about the legality, the distinction is that ReDigi is the marketplace that makes it possible for buyers and sellers to interact with each other directly.”
Sellers exercise their legal rights under US copyright law and first sale doctrine in the legal transfer of music. This has never been done, because their hasn’t been the technology to do this and to do it legally.
“The spokesperson added that every artist and label will get royalties from all of the sales. It would seem ReDigi is doing what it can to make sure all of its legal bases are covered.
Now how exactly does this new service work? By utilizing the free downloadable “music manager,” users can drag their legally downloaded audio files into the said software, get the estimated total value for them and sell them to ReDigi. Marketplace users can receive up to 32 cents for each of their unwanted music files according to the official website.This is a very interesting concept as well as tempting to look into for a credit to get some new tunes.
Perhaps ReDigi will be able to accomplish what companies like Bopaboo couldn’t: they might actually be successful at running a digital used-music marketplace.
This article was originally published on Digital Journal [Link]
Photo courtesy of Flickr user William Brawley
Cellphone companies are going too far with ringtones
Ringtones can be fun, but a feature called ringbacks are often imposed on cellphone users who don’t want music to replace the ringing sound when friends call them. What’s the point of this immature add-on?
I’m not 15. I don’t want a silly cellphone feature Rogers Wireless (my Canadian carrier) calls ringbacks. Also known as caller tunes for Verizon customers, this “personalization service” replaces the ringing you hear when you call someone with a clip of music. It’s often prefaced with, “Enjoy this ringback while we connect your call.”
Recently, I got this feature but I had no clue it was on my phone. I received a text message after getting a new “value pack” saying I am now a member of ringbacks and I should click a link to get a free tone. I didn’t click the link, but I later found out that when a friend called me, he heard music and that preface message instead of a ringing sound. I never asked for this feature, I never wanted it but Rogers Wireless opted me into this pointless ringback program.
For several years, Rogers Wireless offered ringbacks free to any customer who got a new plan. Costing $1 monthly, ringbacks was something you had automatically instead of managing the ringback to turn it on. By forcing us to take action to turn off a feature, Rogers Wireless was upsetting countless customers who may have never even heard of this add-on in the first place.
“It’s annoying but it seems like more of a pain to remove it,” says Aria Tesolin, 18, a Toronto resident who was automatically susbcribed to ringbacks three years ago and hasn’t bothered to cancel it. “What if the song offended me?” she wonders. “It’s not fair to add a service without telling me.”
Rogers Wireless senior manager of media relations Leigh-Anne Popek tells me in an interview the company currently has 200,000 subscribers using ringbacks. But it’s unclear how many have opted in to use the service or whether they were like me, unknowingly being subscribed to ringbacks.
She adds, “So many Rogers customers enjoy the ringback service we’ve recently taken steps to make it even more customer-friendly.”
In fact, as of Nov. 8 Rogers Wireless users will now have to send an SMS to use ringbacks, an about-face from the previous policy of automatic opt-in. Was this in relation to customer complaints of being forced to have this service slapped on their cellphones? A further interview request with Rogers Wireless was not answered by time of publication.
So at least Rogers is now listening to customers and realizing no one wants to deal with a service they never requested in the first place. Baby steps, right?But I fail to see the motive behind even throwing ringback’s $1 monthly fee into cellphone packages. Who else other than pre-teens want music instead of inbound ringtones?
First, it’s unprofessional. When a friend calls me, do I really want him listening to music instead of standard ringing? It screams immaturity. I don’t mind ringtones when a cellphone rings, an outbound ringtone, but this service just doesn’t vibe with the over-15 set, in my opinion. More than one of my friends has told me how foolish this service has become.
Second, ringbacks can be confusing. When I first called someone with a ringback, I thought I reached some strange voicemail feature. I wrongly thought I didn’t reach the individual, and I hung up. But I hung up in mid-ring, all thanks to the lame music masquerading as some feature Rogers trumpets as a way “to express your music style.”
Third, managing rinbacks is frustrating, and that’s an under-statement. It took me several minutes to find the right menu item to turn off ringbacks when I texted “ringback” to 555. I’m quite tech savvy and it still took me too long; imagine Aunt Judy who got her first cellphone trying to sort through the link’s options and poorly placed Settings page to switch off ringbacks. It’s as if Rogers didn’t want anyone to easily turn off ringbacks.
Is this a sneaky cash grab? Rogers customer service reps say no (see comments), it’s part of their value packs, so you’re not paying extra, per se. Oh really? What if ringbacks weren’t automatically included in these packs? We would save $1 month, $12 a year. Of course, that would mean Rogers would be out $12 a year from those 200,000 subscribers, totalling $240,000 in revenue for Canada’s largest wireless carrier.
As more players enter the wireless market, it would be smart if the entrenched giants began reacting to customers in order to better polish their brand. Rogers Wireless started doing so by turning off the automatic opt-in feature for ringbacks earlier this month; but why did it take them this long? And why did they bury this news on their website and public communications?
I’m all for cellphone add-ons, and I’m not naive to think no one wants features such as ringbacks. But I’d like to see exemplary customer service from a company raking in thousands of dollars from me for the past seven years; and sometimes, one mistake can be a bruise that doesn’t heal too quickly.
This article originally appeared on Digital Journal [Link]
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Pulpolux !!!
Android accounts for half of all smartphone sales
by Leigh Goessl (Guest contributor/Digital Journalist)
The success of Android continues to grow, and according to third quarter data in 2011, its rise soared. New figures published by Gartner found more than half of all smartphone sales are running the Android OS platform.
Gartner reported global sales of mobile devices equated to 440.5 million units in the third quarter of 2011, which is an increase of 5.6 percent from the third quarter of 2010.
The organization said, “Non-smartphone devices performed well, driven by demand in emerging markets for low-cost devices from white-box manufacturers, and for dual-subscriber identity module (SIM) devices.”
Gartner also said, “Smartphone sales to end users reached 115 million units in the third quarter of 2011 [globally], up 42 percent from the third quarter of 2010.”Of those devices Android seems to currently be the clear market leader (60,490.4 units during 3Q 2011). Google’s OS has jumped to its current 52 percent market share, which is up from 25.3 percent of Android sales a year ago. This growth has come at the expense of competitors, all other platforms have declined in this market over the course of the last year.
Android is effectively “outstripping the growth of the overall smartphone market,” according to PaidContent.org. Bloomberg Business Week reported, “Android benefited from more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment, and the lack of exciting new products on alternative operating systems,” Roberta Cozza, an analyst in Gartner’s European unit based in Egham, England, said in the report.
“The entry-level Android smartphones are getting better and better,” Cozza said. “This lower end is really what will be driving more growth next year.”
Microsoft’s Symbian saw a significant tumble in its command of the market, but remains in the number two place in terms of actual sales, however its market share saw a distinctive drop. While Apple’s iOS grew in actual units sold, their market share decreased. Last year the technology giant owned 16.6 percent for 3Q, but this year dropped slightly to 15 percent.
Research in Motion (RIM) also experienced a dip, losing four percent of its market share, despite the fact it sold an additional 200,000 devices when contrasted with last year’s 3Q.Growth of smartphones in the U.S., Western Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, has slowed, while China and Russia are seeing a significant boost, Gartner reported.
Experts say the slowdown can be partially due to economic uncertainty, but also could be attributed to the fact many consumers wait until the fourth quarter to purchase their devices during holiday promotions and/or as newer models become available towards the end of the year.
Last month Digital Journal reported Google TV updates coming that would integrate the Android interface.
This article originally appeared on Digital Journal [Link]
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Paul Jacobson
Pew study: Most Americans use social media to connect with friends, family
The most important reason why Americans clamour to social media sites is the ability to stay in touch with friends and family, a new study found.
The report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project wrote around two-thirds of Americans who use social media “say that staying in touch with current friends and family members is a major reason they use these sites,” the study’s release writes.
Another major reason to use social media is to keep acquainted with out-of-touch old friends (50 percent), while the next most popular major reason relates to connecting with others who have shared hobbies/interests.
The study found some demographic shifts in social media use. “Women are slightly more likely than men to say that staying in touch with current friends is a major reason for using online social tools (70% vs. 63%) while parents are more likely than non-parents to say that connecting with old friends is a major reason behind their use of these sites (56% vs. 47%),” the report states.
Many celebrities have taken to sites such as Twitter and Facebook to connect with fans, but an overwhelming majority of survey respondents said they don’t get on social media services to reach out to celebs. Even here, nationality and background matters. “And while connecting with public figures has a relatively modest impact on users across a range of groups, both African Americans and Latinos show more interest in this activity than white users.”
The report said two-thirds of online adults in the U.S. use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Michigan Municipal League
Journalist proposes to girlfriend via newspaper column
by Armando Tamayo (Guest contributor/Digital Journalist)
South Carolina newspaper reporter Nick McCormac asked his girlfriend to read his column on Tuesday morning. He decided to ask for the hand of his girlfriend in a non-traditional way: through a blog post.
McCormac, who wrote for the SC’s The Item, didn’t cover state or political news for the said column he simply titled, “A story of boy meets girl“. He instead wrote about his own tale with a girl he met a year and a half ago. McCormac wrote on his post: “No matter what I do or what I say, no words could ever justifiably describe how I feel about you. But there are six words that come awfully close. Whitney Bragg, will you marry me?”
Bragg read his column on her computer while McCormac looked nervously for her reaction. The couple was getting ready to leave for their respective work. In an interview with Daily News, McCormac said, “My stomach begin to drop as she took a few seconds to respond…finally, she started flapping her arms and turned around and had tears in her eyes.”
McCormac said he thought of the marriage proposal idea through his column a month ago while coming home from a military reporting conference. The column he said would be something he can keep for a very long time and something he can show his friends and family.
“I’m a lot better at writing than I am at speaking. Ever since I’ve become a professional writer, I’ve looked at it as something really unique,” he said on the interview. “Me being the sentimental sap I am, I wanted something that I could hold onto.”
In The Item column, McCormac described how he met Bragg, who just happen to came along with his long-lost-friend’s girlfriend in a bar. He described how he then saw Bragg as “…a sweet girl with a slight smile and blonde hair who resembled a young Meryl Streep.”McCormac described himself as a hopeless romantic “Like John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler inSay Anything (1989) boombox blasting Peter Gabriel and all.” He writes, “Words are my profession. They’re my living. My job is to take the most complex, complicated and confusing situations and describe them in a concise and simplistic manner.”
McCormac said that the response to his column was overwhelming from friends, families and readers. He said he celebrated the occasion by going to work and then answering messages from his future in-laws. “My battery on my phone is about to run out with people tweeting, emailing and calling” he said.
The column of McCormac was linked into a post by Steve Myers, a managing editor at Poynter.org, a journalism site. Myers playfully wrote “She said yes! …. (Alternate universe: McCormac asks Bragg if she read his column, and she says … No, why?) ”
This article was originally published on Digital Journal