Think new media and social networking are just for young people?

Think again.

Market Research firm The NPD Group reports that online activities once mainly popular with teens and young adults are now getting active participation by baby boomers, too:

• 61 percent of baby boomer Internet users (age 44 to 61) had visited sites that offer streaming or downloadable video (e.g., YouTube and TV network Web sites
• 41 percent had visited social networks (e.g., Linked-In, Facebook, and MySpace)
• Although young Web users (13- to 34-year-olds) are significantly more likely to visit social networking sites, baby boomers who visited social networking Web sites did so an average of 8 times over the previous three months.
• Baby boomers who engage in activities, like social networking or video streaming, are also more likely to buy DVDs, CDs and go out to the movies.
• Baby boomers who stream video are also 15 percent more likely than their non-streaming counterparts to buy a CD, DVD, or movie tickets.

 

Boomers’ Attention Moving Online

“There’s an ongoing misperception that certain Web activities are the exclusive domain of young people,”said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for The NPD Group. “That misperception could cost the entertainment industry, in terms of lost opportunities to target valuable consumers.”

“As more consumers of all ages spend more time online, there’s potentially going to be less time for them to consume entertainment content in traditional ways,” Crupnick said. “These findings underscore the growing need for entertainment companies to promote and distribute digital entertainment content online, in order to keep pace with the changing needs and desires of consumers of all ages.”

Image: LexnGer

 

Students at the University of Western Sydney are circulating a petition asking for cuts in their fees, as the university uses podcasts to extend it “virtual classroom”.

Some students, though, like Tammy Lawlor, are not impressed with the University’s podcasts. 

“The isolated learning experience is not satisfying for me,” says Ms Lawlor. Lawlor said that in the first week of the semester, she learned that six of the 13 lectures in one key unit, Texts and Traditions, would come as podcasts. 

“As a third-year student I’ve seen my time in class and lectures diminish,” adds a third-year student. “I’m just catching the beginning of podcast lectures and I’ll be glad not to pay for it any longer, as I’ll be graduating this year.” 

Lawlor welcomes podcasts as a complement to, but not as a substitute for, traditional interaction. 

“I think a podcast is an inadequate replacement,” she said. “A lecture is better for the atmosphere involved. I can go and ask the lecturers questions afterwards. The university is not properly equipped for distance education and that’s what they’re trying to do.” 

Image: tanakawho

Music Marketing is now shipping the Professional C6 and C6x computers, compact Windows audio workstations.

The C6 with 2GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM powered by an Intel 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, and the C6x with 4GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM powered by an Intel 2.5 GHz Core 2 Quad processor both offer two internal hard drives totaling 1,250GB of SATA 3.0 GB/s 7,200 RPM hard drive storage per machine.

“The C6x with its Core 2 Quad processor suits the Pro Tools user very well, and the C6x is the best choice for audio producers who use studio software that is not currently optimized for Quad processing,” says Music Marketing President Ray Williams. 

The Professional C6 features a 3.0 GHz processor, with 6MB of L2 cache, a 1,333 MHz front-side-bus, 2GB of DDR2 800 MHz RAM, 20X DVD RW DL SATA optical drive, GMA 3100 dual view video graphics using up to 256 MB RAM, and runs Windows XP Pro. The machine features 6 USB ports and 2 FireWire ports along with separate PCI and PCI-E x16 slots enabling compatibility with a wide variety of audio interfaces and other types of expansion. The Professional C6x shares many of the same specifications adding an Intel 2.5 GHz Core 2 Quad processor, 4GB of DDR2 800 MHz RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce 256 MB graphics card.

The Professional C6 and C6x machine come with a one year warranty and are available at $1,699 and $1,999 at music retailers across North America. The Professional C6 and C6x are shipping now.

Apple’s Let’s Rock event today offered anticipated updates to the iTunes and Apple’s iPod lines, but failed to do two things that many were hoping for: eliminate concerns over Steve Jobs’ health and offer “one more thing” – an unexpected introduction with some “wow”. 

Jobs noted wryly that “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” but he looked gaunt.

Here are the highlights of today’s introductions:

• 4th generation iPod nano - The new iPod nano incorporates Apple’s “Genius” technology, which automatically creates playlists from songs in your music library. The new iPod nano also features a refined user interface, a high resolution portrait display and a built-in accelerometer which automatically switches to Cover Flow when rotated and automatically goes into Shuffle mode when lightly shaken. The new iPod nano gives users up to 24 hours of music playback or four hours of video playback and is available immediately in an 8GB model for just $149 and a 16GB model for just $199. Both models come in silver, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, pink, (PRODUCT) RED and black.
• 2nd generation iPod touch – The second generation iPod touch features a thin contoured metal design, a 3.5-inch widescreen glass display, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi wireless networking, integrated volume control buttons, a built-in speaker for casual listening, a built-in accelerometer and other advanced sensors, and Apple’s Multi-Touch user interface. iPod touch is now available for $229 for the 8GB model. The new iPod touch is smaller and lighter than the original.
• iTunes 8 - iTunes 8 includes a new “Genius” feature, which lets you automatically create playlists from songs in your music library with just one click. iTunes 8 also intros new ways of viewing your music and video libraries.

Jobs announced that the App Store had topped 100 millions downloads.

“Because I already had a full-time job I used the iPhone SDK to create Trisim in my spare time and in my wildest dreams I never expected this kind of result,” said Steve Demeter, founder of Demiforce. “Selling over 27,000 downloads in the first three weeks means I now have a significant new income stream and some exciting career choices that I didn’t have a couple of months ago.”

Numbers like these, and stories like Demeter’s, make the App Store Apple’s most significant release of 2008. 

Jobs also announced that NBC had come back to the iTunes Store. This announcement is probably the most interesting – it suggests that Apple’s digital video store is already the only major player in the game. 

While Apple didn’t deliver any big surprises today, they delivered their best lineup of iPod ever and solidified their lead over Microsoft’s Zune and other competitors. It should lead to a great holiday shopping season for Apple.

Update: BusinessWeek echoes our take on the introductions, saying “The new iPods feature cosmetic changes and lower prices, but Steve Jobs didn’t announce any game-changing innovations many have come to expect.”

Ashton Kutcher introduced his web startup, Blah Girls, at the TechCrunch50 today. 

As NewTeeVee’s Liz Gannes puts it, “Not only is this one a celebrity-driven startup, but it’s about celebrities. It’s an animated web video show with interactive elements.”

It’s also dead on arrival. 

Everybody seems to be so wowed by the Ashton Kutcher angle that they’ve missed the fact that the only reason anyone would ever talk about this site is the fact that Ashton Kutcher is involved. 

Imagine the Power Puff Girls talking about “ginormous va-jayjays” and you’ve got the Blah Girls. 

Image South Park, without the humor. 

It could be that I’m not the right demographic for this, but I have to agree with an early commenter at the Blah Girls’ site, who says “This is a painful website.”

Microsoft today announced Zune updates, timed to upstage iPod/iTunes announcements anticipated from Apple on Tuesday. 

Unfortunately for everybody who owns a portable media player, Microsoft’s announcements are woefully misguided and mistimed. 

You have to give Microsoft credit for releasing another Zune update that brings new features to their existing players. Apple typically saves significant new features for the current line of iPods to give people incentive to upgrade. 

However, Microsoft’s previous Zune’s updates have not offered enough value to attract many buyers away from the iPod/iTunes ecosystem, and this update doesn’t look like it will either. Microsoft continues to focus on features, like FM tuning, that haven’t proven to be big with buyers.

Microsoft Zune: Now WIth More Clear Channel Than Ever!

Even more bizarre, Microsoft cites Clear Channel’s CEO in their announcement for the Zune update: 

“Microsoft’s decision to integrate an FM tuner into the Zune was revolutionary and they continue their extraordinary leadership with Buy from FM,” said John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel Radio. “We’ve always known that radio is the primary source for discovering new music, and Microsoft’s decision to marry music discovery and delivery does two things: enables consumers to instantly satisfy their passion and enables FM song tagging to be enjoyed by all radio listeners, everywhere.”

What is Microsoft thinking?

The biggest value of a portable media portable media player is the fact that it frees you from being chained to Clear Channel and mainstream radio!

Seeing Clear Channel featured in Microsoft’s Zune press release suggests that there may be a fundamental gap in Microsoft’s understanding of what motivates people to get and use a portable media player.

If people want to listen to radio, people have them at home, in their car and at work. Putting a radio tuner into a portable media player is a feature that, to most users, is little more than a complication. 

This sort of thing is a disappointment; there are a ton of talented people working on the Zune, and having the device marketed as a sort of Clear Channel radio accessory is a real mistake. 

Microsoft has demonstrated that it has the might to compete with Apple in the world of portable media players, but not the vision. This is a loss for Zune owners, iPod owners and the entire portable media player market.

PBS’ Media Shift has published an interesting article that looks at the state of new media education. 

Blogger Alana Taylor talks about her experiences in a journalism class at NYU:

Professor Quigley begins by explaining how blogs are becoming more important and asks if any of us have a blog.

One hand slowly rises. It’s mine. None of the other students in the class have a blog. It comes as a shock to me that the students in a class about “how our generation is very much invested in the Internet” are not actually as involved. Again, perhaps I am an exception to the norm, but I like to think that having a blog is as normal as having a car.

What surprises me further is when Professor Quigley informs us that people actually get paid to blog. That they make a living off of this. For me this was very much a “duh” moment and I thought that it would be for the rest of the students as well. They should be fully aware at this point that blogging has become a very serious form of journalism. Furthermore, they should be aware that it is the one journalistic venture that requires little or no ladder-climbing. You can start at any age, with almost no experience, and actually get published instead of fetch coffee. Luckily, Quigley is one of the few NYU professors who understands this in some way.

Taylor’s article raises the question – can people learn new media from teachers with old media experience? 

Unless schools get with this Internet thing, students are likely to be ill-prepared for a future that doesn’t look bright for traditional media.

“Niche songwriter” Ben Walker has released his wry take on the state of the Internet, You’re no one if you’re not on Twitte:

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It’s released with a Creative Commons license, so you can download it freely and share it or put it in your podcast.

Here are the lyrics so you can sing along, too:

Social media guru Chris Brogan has released a free ebook, Personal Branding for the Business Professional. 

The free download brings together Brogan’s thoughts on personal branding from his blog and compiles them into a concise (15 page) ebook.

Take Control Books has published a new ebook, Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac, 2nd Edition.

The ebook, by Andy J. Williams Affleck, covers what you need to begin your first podcast, without spending much (if any) money.

Changes in the book include coverage of WireTap Studio and Übercaster; updated Garageband coverage and tips on getting great interviews. 

Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac is $10 at the Take Control site. 

Topics covered in the book include:

• What types of microphones are best for podcasting?
• Which software should I use to record and edit my podcast?
• How can I find and use audio plug-ins to improve my podcast’s sound quality?
• What’s the best way to conduct a podcast interview?
• Should I record directly into MP3 format or encode later?
• How do I remove weird pauses or other glitches from my recording?
• How do I smoothly add music to the start and end of my podcast?
• What should I watch out for when choosing an Internet host for my podcast?
• What tools are available for publishing podcasts?
• Where should I promote my podcast to attract the most listeners?
• Can anyone create a podcast and list it in the iTunes Store?