 RAIN 1/6: Net-connected cars, complete with streaming radio, featured at CES ·Jan 6, 12:55 PM FORD TO OFFER MORE DETAILS ABOUT APP-READY SYNC SYSTEM TOMORROWInternet-connected car technology, complete with Internet radio streaming, will be on display at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Ford will announce more details about their coming app-friendly Sync update tomorrow (RAIN coverage here), which has already been shown to be a perfect platform for Internet radio streaming (here). Ford will also reveal a wireless broadband modem for Sync.
Meanwhile, Hughes Telematics will show off a “Connected Car of the Future,” featuring personalized streaming radio. The New York Times notes (here) that this sort of technology is “no longer a novelty,” but is indeed right around the corner. BRIDGE RATINGS SUGGESTS SURVEY SHOWS FATIGUE SETTING IN FOR LONG-TERM PANDORA LISTENERSA recently released survey from Bridge Ratings shows that over time, Pandora’s listeners become less satisfied with the service. Among listeners who have used Pandora for 6 months or less, 88% say they are highly satisfied and 0% say they are very dissatisfied. Among listeners who have used Pandora for over 3 years, however, 48% say they are highly satisfied and 10% say they are very dissatisfied.Bridge Ratings suggests one of the reasons for this apparent disenchantment is Pandora’s offerings of “unknown songs and artists,” which 31% of respondents said made them like Pandora less than other music services. Read more of Bridge Ratings’ findings here. WEBSTER: BRIDGE SURVEY MAY ONLY SHOW A TRANSITION IN PANDORA’S LISTENER BASEEdison Research’s Tom Webster is wary about drawing too many conclusions from Bridge Ratings’ survey of Pandora listeners. For one thing, he writes, there’s no benchmark for these numbers — no similar stats from terrestrial radio stations or fellow webcasters to compare. Additionally, Webster (pictured left) argues, this trend is typical for brands with a “halo” effect, which eventually wears off for users.
Finally, the survey may just show Pandora’s oldest listeners (the folks in that 3+ year range that sound so grumpy with Pandora), are “simply different people than Pandora’s newest fans. Early adopters are also early rejecters…as Pandora becomes more and more mainstream, it’s attracting more middle-of-the-bell-curve listeners, who will accept or reject the service using different criteria than Pandora’s early fans,” Webster writes at The Infinite Dial blog (here). “The only way to really prove [listener dissatisfaction] is to ask the same people the same question over time.” OXENFORD REPORTS ON CRB REQUEST FOR COMMENTS ON MINIMUM FEEThe Copyright Royalty Board is asking for comments on the proposed $50,000 minimum fee cap for Internet radio royalties by January 22, as we reported in RAIN earlier (here). Industry attorney David Oxenford has published detailed information about the proposed rule at his Broadcast Law Blog (here). Oxenford notes that this rule is irrelevant to any webcaster who entered into separate settlements with SoundExchange (find an outline of them here). It only applies to commercial webcasters operating under the statutory license.GOOGLE DEBUTS NEXUS ONE SMARTPHONEYesterday, Google unveiled the hotly anticipated Nexus One smartphone, which runs on the latest version of the company’s Android operating system. Google is notably selling the phone without a cellular contract ($529), but is also offering the device with a 2-year contract with T-Mobile ($179) and revealed Verizon will also support the phone in spring.
From a radio perspective, the Nexus One can tap into the Internet radio apps already available for Android devices (like Pandora, Last.fm and Slacker, just to name a few). Plus, the phone’s 3.5mm headset jack and ability to run multiple apps at the same time make it music-friendly. Inside Radio also notes (here) that though the hardware seems to include an FM receiver, no radio tuner software was mentioned or showcased yesterday. share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
