 RAIN 12/3: Yahoo! will give up its Net radio service ·Dec 3, 11:30 AM CBS RADIO TO TAKE OVER YAHOO! LAUNCHCASTYahoo! will hand over the reins of its webcasting pioneer property LAUNCHcast Radio to CBS Radio next year, the companies announced today. The reason, according to Yahoo! Music chief Michael Spiegelman: royalties.
“Because of the unfavorable rates, we didn’t think it made sense to invest in the product,” he told the Associated Press (here). Yahoo’s overall financial woes are well known, and the company has been downsizing in various departments. Yet Spiegelman revealed to the AP “the company was reassessing its commitment to Internet radio well before the cost-cutting campaign began in October.” With the potential for as much as 70% of revenue being sucked away by the record industry for royalties, “Yahoo didn’t want to run the risk of facing higher costs for a service that has never been a big moneymaker,” according to AP. Beginning in February, CBS Radio will stream the 150 Yahoo! Internet radio channels alongside its own David Goodman, president of CBS Radio’s digital media and integrated marketing, told the AP his company’s ability to target streaming ads by ZIP code will give the streams a shot at revenue they didn’t have under Yahoo!. What’s more, the Yahoo! stations will now be accessible to a wider audience, as the CBS player works with the Firefox and Safari Web browsers (LAUNCHcast only worked with Microsoft Internet Explorer). The LAUNCHcast audience shrunk 43% to 2.9 million U.S. listeners in the year ending in October — the result, most observers agree, of decisions to not promote a property the company couldn’t monetize, and only cost them huge royalties. Launch Media was founded in 1994 by former record executive Dave Goldberg. Yahoo! acquired the company, including its LAUNCHcast streaming service, in 2001. CBS Radio also owns interactive streaming property Last.fm. Read more on this from CNNMoney (here), the Washington Post (here), CBS Marketwatch (here), Crain’s New York (here) and Billboard (here). WI-FI NET RADIO DEVICES APPEARING ON LOTS OF CHRISTMAS LISTSCBS MarketWatch columnist Jeffry Bartash offers his pick of electronic goodies for each of the 12 days of Christmas (a list that does not include, by the way, any Apple iPod products), and the Logitech’s Squeezebox line of home wireless music systems made the cut. Squeezebox products (that’s the Squeezebox Duet in the photo) enable users to tune in to Internet radio and podcasts, and they’ll even read RSS news feeds. Bartash says Logitech is “one firm to keep in mind” for its “well-reviewed tech gadgets at all price points.” Read the column here.
Internet radio expert Jennifer Lane, meanwhile, offers her list of recommended Wi-Fi radios in her Audio4Cast blog here. In addition to the Logitech’s Squeezebox Classic, Lane recommends the Roku Soundbridge, the Tangent Quattro, and (her favorite), the Chumby. Finally, London’s Daily Telegraph writes, “Wi-Fi Internet radios… are set to become one of the Christmas must-have presents, with sales doubling in the last three months.” While UK consumers bought 17,000 Wi-Fi radios, “the industry expects about 110,000 to be sold this year. This will still make them a relatively niche product compared to Digital Audio Broadcasting Radios, but experts believe they will ultimately overtake DAB radios.” DAB is Europe’s digital radio counterpart to HD Radio here in the U.S. Read more from the Telegraph, and see a video review of the Pure Evoke Flow radio (available in the UK), here. NOKIA’S FIRST DESKTOP NET RADIO PLAYER BRINGS FRESH LOOK TO OLD DESIGNNokia’s Home Music Wi-Fi desktop Internet radio player is the
company’s first such device. Featuring a design similar to other desktop players, with a small display off-set by a single speaker, the Home Music player has a sleek and smooth look — quite different from those wood-paneled models.
In addition to streaming Internet radio and accessing podcasts, the device can play stored music via a home network. And with SPDIF and RCA outputs, you can connect the device to a home stereo or home theater set-up. Read more at Engadget here. share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
Comment Other stories RAIN 7/2: UK's Telegraph says DAB's been a problem; Internet radio "the solution" RAIN 7/1: Obama approves Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 News Flash: President signs Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 RAIN 6/30: New York Times picks 7 stand-out mobile radio apps, including FlyCast and Sirius XM RAIN 6/29: Autonet selling in-car Wi-Fi directly to consumers RAIN 6/26: Nielsen study shows radio down, but not out, among teens RAIN 6/25: Google selling ads in mobile apps; FlyCast creates unique WEEI app NPD: "Tweeters" almost twice as likely to listen to Net radio as others online RAIN 6/23: Stern blames rights issues for iPhone snag RAIN 6/22: Dahl to return to radio will daily podcast |
combination of the 150 online simulcasts of its AM and FM properties and the over 200 
Wow! Congratulations RIAA and SoundExchange! Your plan is working! High royalty rates driving companies to sell out to the big guys. Brilliant!
— Matt · Dec 3, 12:12 PM · #