Jupiter Communications' Plug.In
'98 was a contentious, encouraging and altogether eye-opening event this year. Aside from a breakthrough announcement by
Spinner.com regarding the option to use
collaborative filtering to create a custom channel for music programming
from their 100,000-song catalog, there were a number of competitors who
made themselves known in various areas important to the marketing of
music online.
In the area of digital watermarking of music files (included in the
Liquid Music(tm) System announced last year when it was used for the
first music purchase/download system launched by Music Boulvard, called "e-mod"
for "electronic music on demand"), Aris
Technologies introduced its MusiCode(tm) audio watermarking system,
demonstrating real-time recognition in the exhibit area using a 2" speaker and
miniature microphone in analog
mode. In addition, Cognicity presented
their own "data embedding" technology called AudioKey(tm). These watermarking
systems come with free
readers, and can be used unbundled from a more comprehensive system such
as the Liquid Music(tm) System.
Audiosoft was back in high profile after its
initial presence two years ago, with their system competing with Liquid
Music(tm), and InterTrust Technologies
Corporation chimed in with their Commerce 1.0 Digital Commerce
Solution addressing security with their DigiBox data container. Meanwhile,
RealNetworks announced the release of
RealSystem G2 for streaming media as "the first open, extensible
standards-based streaming media system" stepping beyond their initial
proprietary efforts with RealAudio and RealVideo. (An independent
announcement several days prior to Plug.In came from PlayMedia Systems regarding their
Maestro system for online downloading of music.)
New (or newly prominent) players in the music online distribution market
including AT&T's a2b music with an
email attachment system for clip promotion, and Total E announcing a new online music
store backed by Columbia House, including "eDNA, an affinity engine that will provide the customer with
targeted product recommendations" though not digital downloads at the
present time.
Add a few more odds and ends, such as the MY-CD service for manufacturing
personalized compilation CDs according to consumer specifications
collected online -- a turnkey "burn-on-demand" service, and you have an
encouraging mix of new developments in online music that supports an
optimistic view of the future.
- Dan Krimm, 7/98
