Another Christmas has come and gone. In my household, we received about four DVDs as presents. It’s probably the first year I received no CDs. I did get an FYE gift card, though. Perhaps my most interesting gift, however, was a new Sprint cell phone. It does everything but my laundry. Do I care? Not really. I just want to make phone calls. But my 14-year-old daughter would very much like to switch phones with me. I didn’t get any CDs, but I can download some music on to my phone. I’m not loving the quality of the sound, just yet, but we all know that’s going to change. Is the mobile phone where Bruce Springsteen's music is headed? Well, maybe in part, but you’ve got to bet the record label for the 18-year-old Chris Brown is more than watching the mobile market as what may become the optimum delivery medium for the demographic he reaches.

In 2007, music delivered to mobile phones via operators' networks represented about 13 percent of global recorded music retail value, according to a new report from Understanding & Solutions. They forecast an almost 30 percent gain in that market by 2011. “Japan, closely followed by the US, has the most efficient mobile music landscape: both countries have a concentrated operator base and a large pool of potential subscribers, providing economies of scale for the music companies,” said U&S Consultant David Sidebottom. The European market is fragmented, and Sidebottom says that some operators have become less aggressive because they can’t make money selling full-track downloads.

I also had the opportunity to speak with Adam Sexton, CMO at Groove Mobile. Groove is a mobile music service providing full track mobile downloads, peer-to-peer sharing, and personalized music recommendations. In addition to other services, Groove also provides mobile music services in the US via Sprint Music Store. I asked Sexton about the effects of the mobile market on online music market: Is there room for mobile phone music, or even a need? He pointed out that the online market is not growing enough to make up for the implosion in the music industry. He puts the whole iTunes phenomenon into perspective. While they are selling 20 or 30 songs per device, those devices can store 10,000 tracks. That doesn’t make up for what the music industry is losing in CD sales and in illegal downloads. The mobile phone is not likely to make up that loss either, but it can help, he said.

The way consumers are getting their music will likely continue to be fragmented with CDs still being the main source of purchased music for a while. "The iPhone has been great for lighting a fire under the handset manufacturers, and as a result there will be a ton of musical handsets coming out," Sexton said. "The hurdle has been not having cards big enough and selling for the right price. That’s about to change with memory chips for phones as big as eight gigabytes shipping." Those prices are likely to go down quickly.

Sidebottom, perhaps a little more conservative than Sexton, does agree that a fragmented music market will continue. “We are in a big transitional period," Sidebottom told me. "A few years ago, the record companies thought declining sales were a blip and they might recover, but that didn’t happen.” He expects the changes in music habits to be gradual until about 2015 when there will be a generational change. “The kids today who aren’t buying CDs are not in the habit of buying them. So, five or 10 years down the line when these kids have money in their pocket, they will be buying content digitally.”

Will the grownups of 2015 be buying music for their phone or their iPod or both? “We are seeing more device convergence," Sexton said. "The music quality on phones will improve. The iPhone has raised the bar on the mobile music experience. The idea of off-portal services that can leverage content across multiple handsets, makes and models is gaining attention." It’s a new experience for phone companies to manage mobile content. So, outsourcing can be a solution.

The iPhone is not really promoting over the air delivery of tracks, according to Sidebottom. "It’s very much promoting the general internet. Rather than accessing tunes through Sprint, for example, consumers can access the internet through Wi-Fi networks or side load them from the PC. This is a big issue. Wi-Fi is essentially a threatening technology. It offers the potential to by-pass the networks."

How these markets play out beyond the U.S., Europe and Japan is also a question. Markets like India and China, where CD piracy has been such a big issue, are showing large revenue gains in mobile subscriber growth, according to Sidebottom. “Mobile has brought a sense of status to many people and has brought a communication device to people which they never had. You have to remember, very few people in India have a landline. Suddenly you have this device that people not only have in the cities, but in rural areas.” As the quality experience gets better, the question is whether they buy full-track downloads. Is there an opportunity there? It’s one of the more interesting markets worldwide, he said.

What does this mean to the replicator? It’s nothing new, except that while all of this technology continues to jump ahead, consumers are trying to understand it all. What will they buy? Do they want to spend more money on content that doesn’t sound as good as what they are listening to already? Or, will they stick with CDs for a bit longer? If it's any consolation, I know I’ll be using my FYE gift card to buy the soundtrack for Sweeney Todd on CD! Debbie Galante Block is a freelance writer based in Mahopac, NY.

In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

“Warner Bros.’ move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want,” said Meyer. “The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers.”

Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.

“Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices,” said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. “Today’s decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner.”

“A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry,” said Tsujihara. “Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future.”

www.warnervideo.com

The companies of the HD DVD Promotional Group today issued a statement in response to the decision by Warner Home Video to exclusively back the Blu-ray format: "While Warner's decision is a setback for HD DVD, the consumer has benefited from HD DVD's commitment to quality and affordability -- a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format. We believe widespread adoption of a next generation format will ultimately be determined by the consumer."
www.TheLookAndSoundOfPerfect.com.

Advanced Media, Inc., manufacturer and marketer of the popular RIDATA brand of recordable CD and DVD media, electronic storage products, and digital media accessories, is introducing a 16x DVD+R Double Layer optical disc to its large DVD product line. With an amazing 8.5GB of storage capacity, the advanced, single-sided disc is ideal for virtually any business or household application.

"The RIDATA 16X DVD+R Double-Layer discs feature a dramatically increased 16X speed. Users will enjoy fast recording times and reliable storage with a wide range of playback options," stated Harvey Liu, Advanced Media president. "The DVD+R double layer market is growing, it more than doubled in size last year and demand continues to be strong. We are pleased to be the first offer this competitively priced product to the retail industry for 2008."

The faster 16X speed greatly shortens the recording time of virtually any audio, video, or data file. A convenient double-layer configuration allows users to read, write, or view nearly twice the amount of data than with single-layer 4.7GB DVD discs without having to flip sides or change discs. The RIDATA dual-layer product stores up to four hours of DVD-quality video, 16 hours of VHS-quality video, or over 120 hours of MP3 audio.

Advanced Media developed technology that allows material to be either read or recorded on one layer without affecting the other layer. When data is being recorded or read, it does so continuously from the first layer to the second without interruption. Its high quality, dependable organic-dye recording material is more than capable of handling the 16X rate.

Making use of the various focuses of a laser beam, the RIDATA 16X DVD+R DL makes double layers on the same side of the disc. The write power on the two layers is the same (<30mW) as is the reflectivity rate (18%~30%). When data is duplicated, it is continuously recorded from the first to the second layer without interruption. When read, the data flow is constant through the second layer.

The Advanced Media double-layer disc has been certified to be in compliance with the DVD+R Alliance, which parent company RITEK is a member of. Additionally, the new storage medium has been quality tested by a variety of burner manufacturers and software developers, all of whom have given it their stamp of approval.

The new RIDATA 16X dual-layer disc offers excellent compatibility with popular DVD-based video players, game consoles, and DVD-ROM drives as well as DVD+R DL drives.

The RIDATA 16X DVD+R DL optical medium is competitively priced. Along with this new 16X DVD+R version, the RIDATA brand also includes 4X and 8X regular and printable double-layer optical discs.

www.ritekusa.com

Microboards announces offering of flash media and duplicators In a surprising move in the optical industry today, duplication leader Microboards Technology announced an offering of hardware and supplies for duplicating on Flash media. Known for its broad range of DVD, CD, and Blu-ray duplicators and printers, Microboards has expanded its offering to include the write-many media that is taking the data world by storm.

Flash Media has taken off largely because of its portability and non-volatility. Increasing capacity and near-instantaneous access speed makes it more popular every day, especially in mobile applications. “Flash media is more than the memory stick for your camera or your USB thumbdrive – it is everywhere”, says Microboards CTO John Westrum. “It is in cellphones, the iPod, GPS devices, and cars."

Despite the groundbreaking news from Microboards, no indication was given that Microboards is moving away from their CD/DVD mainstay business. “Optical media still has a growing place in the content world”, says Aaron Pratt, Microboards Director of Marketing. “CD/DVD still has a much better cost-per-distributed-unit. It has a great printable surface for labeling, a process Microboards is well-known for in the optical market. And the optical disc is the only solution when write-once permanence is important. Even though the cost-per-megabyte is dropping rapidly with flash, and obviously people are moving a lot of their content onto flash, widespread distribution of data, video, and audio is still being done on CD and DVD.”

Instead, Microboards acknowledges that there are emerging applications and needs that Flash works well for. “Flash has a unique and rapidly growing place in the market, and we are positioned to help organizations benefit from it” says Pratt. Microboards’ channel of professional A/V resellers, for example, has expertise in helping content owners distribute digital video and audio, and the added offering gives them another tool to use to benefit their customers.

Microboards offering includes a multi-drive standalone duplicator (operating without a computer) that automatically erases, formats, or copies thumb drives asynchronously. “Keeping with our tradition of high-speed and ease-of-use, our flash duplicators are designed to enable flawlessly copying from master to target without intensive setup or operator training”, says Westrum. Microboards will also offer a complete line of blank flash drives.

“We anticipate a broader offering in the very near future, as we continue to gather feedback around the types of media that our users would like us to support, as well as the way they are using the new media” says Westrum. “As always, we design our products for our users – making them simple to use so that they can focus on their business.”

More information is available at www.microboards.com.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) , the world's largest online movie rental service, and LG Electronics, a global consumer electronics leader, today announced they are joining forces to develop a set-top box for consumers to stream movies and other programming from the Internet to HDTVs -- bypassing the need to use a personal computer.

The collaboration is expected to deliver a compelling new online home entertainment service via technology embedded in an LG networked player planned for the second half of 2008. Today's announcement sets the stage for next week's 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES(R)), which will emphasize digital content as well as hardware solutions.

"Consumers crave compelling and immediate content, and the Netflix online streaming movie feature can provide instant gratification. This alliance underscores LG's goal of developing smart technologies that deliver flexibility, convenience and control to consumers," said KI Kwon, President of the Consumer Electronics Division of LG Electronics USA, Inc.

The technology collaboration supports the Netflix core strategy of offering a multi-dimensional, or "hybrid," service that gives its more than 7 million members a variety of ways to receive movies and TV series for one, low monthly fee.

With the availability of the networked LG product planned for later this year, Netflix subscribers can watch movies streamed from the Netflix Web site on their large-screen home theater HDTVs, in addition to the current capability to watch movies instantly on their PCs.

On top of its rich catalog of more than 90,000 titles on DVD delivered fast through the mail, a growing selection of more than 6,000 familiar movies and TV episodes delivered instantly over the Internet to Netflix members' personal computers or TVs will even more strongly position Netflix in online movie rentals, which it pioneered in 1997.

"Internet to the TV is a huge opportunity," said Netflix Founder, Chairman and CEO Reed Hastings. "Netflix explored also offering its own Netflix-branded set-top boxes but we concluded that familiar consumer electronics devices from industry leaders like LG Electronics are a better consumer solution for getting the Internet to the TV."

In all, today's announcement enhances LG Electronics' position as a top-tier player in the U.S. digital television marketplace and advances the Netflix goal of making electronic delivery -- including future high definition content -- a meaningful addition to its existing DVD delivery platform and a valued enhancement to the Netflix subscriber experience. Netflix took its first step in that direction in 2007 when it enabled members to instantly watch movies and TV series on their personal computers.

www.netflix.com

www.lgusa.com

CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a world leader in digital home solutions, announced today that CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra has been certified by the Blu-ray Disc Association to support playback of BD-Video Profile 1.1 specification. CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra featuring support for BD-Video Profile 1.1 format allows the playback of high-definition movie content with multiple video streams, providing users with real-time Picture-in-Picture viewing experience such as watching the movie and video commentaries simultaneously.

"CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra has been acknowledged for various standards for high-definition video support including BD-ROM Profile 1.0, BD+, AVCHD, and HD DVD," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. "Now with PowerDVD Ultra certified for BD-Video Profile 1.1, we ensure users the best Blu-ray movie experience on PCs."

PowerDVD Ultra offers the following key features:
* Playback of high-definition Blu-ray Disc, and HD DVD movies
* Support for next-generation disc features, like Picture-in-Picture movie mode, networking, interactive BD-J and iHD, bookmarks, and advanced disc navigation
* New audio technologies with support for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD technologies
* Optimized performance for playing high-definition video content using graphics cards featuring NVIDIA PureVideo, ATI Avivo, and Intel Clear Video technology

CyberLink offers a complete line of software for the Blu-ray Disc format, ranging from high-definition video playback, high-definition video editing and authoring, and burning data onto Blu-ray Disc. For more information about CyberLink’s high-definition disc solutions, please visit: www.cyberlink.com.

CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra with certified for BD-Video Profile 1.1 will be available for $99.95 online in 9 languages from early 2008 at CyberLink website.

www.cyberlink.com

Gracenote® and Philips today announced they have deepened their existing relationship by combining their respective content fingerprinting technologies to provide extremely advanced solutions for video and audio content filtering and monetization. The technology partnership combines Philips' video fingerprinting and Gracenote's audio fingerprinting technologies, and results in a comprehensive and viable system for content owners and service providers looking to control the use of and monetize copyrighted content across multiple platforms.

The industry's need for a best-of-breed approach to audio and video fingerprinting is tremendous. According to researchers, 36 percent of U.S. Internet users watched a TV show or other video streaming online at the end of 2006, up from 28 percent at the end of 2005, which shows online video is replacing music as the driver of digital media's growth. One of the side effects of this growth is the need to identify copyrighted content making its way across computers and mobile phones around the world.

The expanded relationship between Gracenote and Philips deepens the ongoing partnership between the two companies started in 2004, whereby Philips audio fingerprinting technology was successfully joined with Gracenote's global database and network services to create today's largest and most comprehensive audio fingerprinting solutions deployed around the world. Examples currently in the market include Sony Ericsson's TrackID service for mobile consumers, Nielsen's Broadcast Data Service music monitoring solution, and Snocap's digital music licensing and copyright management platform.

Now both Gracenote's and Philips' customers can benefit from the combined video and audio fingerprinting technologies to power digital media services and protect and monetize all forms of digital content. "It is no secret that fingerprinting technologies that characterize both the video image and the audio soundtrack, such as the Gracenote-Philips combination, are more effective and reliable," said Brad Hunt, former CTO of the MPAA and now a digital media industry consultant.

"By combining the Philips' video fingerprinting system with Gracenote's market leading technology, network services capabilities and global customer base, we're developing a complete solution for video identification, enrichment, and discovery for consumer applications, along with tracking, filtering and monetization solutions for content owners," said Craig Palmer, CEO, Gracenote. "This comprehensive system and our database expertise in the market will be essential for any customer wanting to capitalize on the vast opportunities posed by digital video."

"This announcement is a logical next step in our successful cooperation with Gracenote over the past years," said Alex Terpstra, CEO, Philips Content Identification. "Our media customers are now able to enjoy the world's first complete and reputable offering of audio and video, fingerprinting and watermarking technologies, four major corner stones under our MediaHedge content tracking, filtering and monetization service platform."

www.gracenote.com

www.philips.com

Advanced Media, Inc., is a manufacturer and marketer of the popular RIDATA brand of recordable CD and DVD media, electronic storage products, and digital media accessories. The company is introducing the first Smart Compact Flash TM Cards at CES 2008. Featuring high-speed access to reading and writing and up to 16GB of storage capacity, the self-monitoring CF card is ideal for virtually any flash media storage application.

"We are pleased to introduce the RIDATA SMART CompactFlash Card, which is the first of its kind in the industry," stated Harvey Liu, Advanced Media president. "The flash memory market is growing quickly due to the number of new applications that use flash media for storage. As capacity continues to increase, RIDATA saw the need for an internal data monitoring system to ensure the safety of your data."

The new rugged, reliable, RIDATA memory cards are available in two series of "Supreme 150X (up to 8GB capacity-SLC format)" and "Lightning (up to 16GB MLC format)". It features innovative functionalities such as Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology so users can easily monitor the CF card's status. The card is capable of providing notification to users in real time to protect vital information and data.

The new Smart Card offers long-term reliability and endurance with a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) of 5,000,000 powered-on hours. It also offers maximum endurance of 100,000 times of program/erase cycles. Its embedded Error Correction Code (ECC) supports two random bits of a sector on-the-fly ECC corrections.

Ridata's Smart Card conforms to the CompactFlash Association Standard, the PC Card standard and is PC Card ATA and true IDE Mode compatible. It is also host ATA disk I/O BIOS DOS/Windows file system, utilities and application software compatible. The controller supports Ultra DMA Mode to Mode 4. Also supported is CIS implemented with 256 bytes of attributed memory. Lastly it supports 8 or 16 bit host transfers with any host speed using Input/Output channel ReaDY (IORDY).

Another feature of the RIDATA Smart CompactFlashTM Card is its low power consumption. In standby mode with an automatic power management function, users acquire longer battery life from a digital camera or other device. The non-volatile card requires no power to store data, but requires a 3.3V/5V single power supply to read and write data.

Regarding the 4GB, 8GB and 16GB CF cards, users should use the cards on devices that support a FAT32 file system. Some older devices only support FAT16 file system and these systems have a maximum capacity of a 2GB CF card. Please refer to the owner's manual for the device's file system compatibility.

www.ritekusa.com

XLNT Idea Inc., a leading US Based Manufacturer of DVD and CD Printing, and Publishing Systems, is exhibiting its new Nexis Pro DVD / CD burn and print publishing system at CES 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 07 – 10, 2008. Featuring a two drive configuration, vastly improved print engine, and true six color printing capability, the Nexis Pro system represents XLNT Idea’s ongoing cutting edge design and engineering capability. Nexis Pro will also include a new and improved version of XLNT Idea’s Disc Studio software, providing users with the most intuitive and user friendly label editing application available today. The Nexis Pro will be released at an MSRP of $ 2795.00 and can be purchased from an authorized XLNT Idea VAR or Dealer Partner.

Dale K., VP of Engineering commented, "Nexis Pro is designed to dramatically increase disc throughput from approximately 20 CD’s per hour to over 50 CD’s per hour, and will more than double throughput for DVD’s as well. In addition, the improved printer core integrated into Nexis Pro allows users to achieve 4800 dpi 'best' print quality at under two and a half minutes per disc, the astest in the industry."

Chuck Alcon Jr, Director of Sales and Marketing added, "Nexis Pro is an exciting new addition to our product line, and gives users a more robust DVD / CD automated disc creation systems at an aggressive price point. We remain committed to providing our channel partners with a complete suite of solutions that meet the widest variety of applications and environments. And, we continue our focus on offering our systems with the lowest cost of ownership in the industry."

www.xlntidea.com

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high performance computer and flash memory products, announced today that it is expanding its Flash Voyager and Flash Survivor USB family lines with new 32GB capacity offerings. The new Corsair 32GB Flash Voyager and Flash Survivor USB drives will be debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show 2008 (CES) next week in Las Vegas in the Corsair Suite at the Wynn Hotel and at Showstoppers CES 2008.

Users now have the ultimate solution for storing, transporting and backing up large amounts of personal and professional data. Whether using the Corsair proprietary all-rubber Flash Voyager or the aluminum-encased water-proof Flash Survivor, the large amounts of data on the drive will be safeguarded for users with an active lifestyle. Corsair USB drives provide the added ruggedness and performance not found in other storage drives utilizing rotating media.

Corsair 32GB drives provide the storage capacity necessary to hold over 16 full-length, high-definition movies or even an entire season of your favorite TV series. These large density drives can also be used as portable back-up devices for critical or sensitive information. In addition, Corsair 32GB USB 2.0 drives are bootable, which means users can actually store full versions of operating systems and applications in order to quickly “re-create” the necessary software environments to troubleshoot system problems.

Corsair 32GB USB drives are immediately available:
• Flash Voyager 32GB ~ $229.99 USD MSRP
• Flash Survivor 32GB ~ $249.99 USD MSRP

“Whether with innovative designs, like the Flash Voyager and Flash Survivor, or industry leading large-density drives in convenient portable form-factors, Corsair is always pushing the limit of what USB portable storage has to offer,” said Jack Peterson, VP of Marketing at Corsair. “Our newest USB additions will allow a whole new set of users – multimedia, technical and data conscious – to take advantage of rugged, high-performance solid-state storage,” added Peterson.

Corsair 32GB USB drives are available through Corsair’s authorized distributors and resellers world-wide. Each drive is bundled with a lanyard, security software/driver preloaded, and USB extension cable. Corsair flash products are backed by a 10-year Limited Warranty. Complete customer support via telephone, email, forum and TS Xpress is also available. For more information on Corsair USB drives, please visit http://www.corsair.com.