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December 30, 2005

Replay A/V now available

After tons of work, Replay A/V is now available for download and purchase. It's best described as a TiVo for the Web. And it's totally awesome.

Replay A/V is the long-awaited sequel to Replay Radio. You can schedule and record streaming radio and video, and capture media using the new Stream Capture mode, or by using the old Audio Recording mode used in Replay Radio.

The Stream Capture mode is the big deal. This works by capturing the bits and bytes of the streaming feed, and reassembling them into a file that sits on your PC. Using it, you can record multiple radio shows at the same time. Plus, the audio reproduction is perfect, and the file sizes are small. And it works great for video as well as audio.

The other nice thing about Stream Capture mode is that it frees your Sound card for other uses. This means you can play games while it is recording, and no other noises will creep into your recordings. All Sound Card driver hassles are no longer an issue.

We've also spent some time with automatic conversions. This means that a Windows Media or a Real stream can be converted to MP3, so you can record using Stream Capture mode, and listen on your iPod. Nobody else has done this. It's really cool, and it works great.

Oh yeah - Sirius Online radio can now be scheduled and recorded as well. If you're a Howard Stern fan, or just a Sirius junkie, you'll enjoy this capability.

Anyway - check it out! Click here to learn more about Replay A/V and try a free demo today!

(One final note: existing Replay Radio customers can upgrade for just $9.95.)

Posted by Bill Dettering at 02:03 PM | Permalink | Technorati Tags: | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 27, 2005

The new face of File Sharing

By accident, I came across the Radio Blog Club today. It's cool - you can pick a song, and listen to it instantly from someones "radio blog", and then other songs from a playlist containing that song.

Looking at it like a radio station, it totally violates all the rules. Looking at it like a free Rhapsody-like service, it's legit, except that the artists don't get paid.

Of course, it works great with Replay Music, but don't expect this service to be around forever. They are getting tons of traffic though.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Technorati Tags: | Comments (0)

December 15, 2005

iPodder.org Podcast directory breakdown

It seems the all-volunteer iPodder Podcast directory is in danger of falling apart. And Adam Curry is nowhere to be found.

Read this post from one of the directory "node managers".

It's not surprising Curry has abandoned it, especially since Podshow bought Podcast Alley. They saw it coming.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Technorati Tags: | Comments (1)

December 14, 2005

Are we getting Sirius yet?

As the big day approaches when Howard Stern goes off the air and onto Sirius satellite radio, I figured it would be a good time to get a Sirius subscription. A lot of people are going to want to record Stern via Sirius online, and we'll be ready for them with a new version of Replay Radio.

This was actually an interesting exercise, as I come from the Replay Radio + iPod perspective, and somehow having a couple hundred radio feeds is sort of new.

So I got the StarMate receiver - both a home and a car set. First, tried to hook it up in my house. The antenna must point east. The stereo is on the west side of the house. Major bummer. My stereo also has an iPod cradle, which has always worked well.

Next - to install into the car. There is a suction-cup thing that affixes to the windshield, and you place the receiver there. After a few tries, I got it to stick, and hooked up the antenna wire (about 15 fed of threading through the minivan), as well as the stereo out and cigarette lighter adapter. It all worked well, but I was haunted by what my wife would say about all those wires. A professional installation is preferable.

Listening was great - there are a lot of talk and music channels to choose from. And no ads, of course.

(Aside: the one thing that bugged me about the Sirius receiver was how the up and down buttons worked. The left/right buttons let you view different categories of stations, and the up/down buttons let you choose stations in those categories by moving up and down in the list. That part was nice. Once you're listening to a station, the up and down buttons change stations, but in a different direction than they are displayed. The up button increases the channel number, moving down in the list, and the down button increases the channel, moving up in the list.)

Where Sirius has an advantage over iPod + Replay Radio is in a couple of areas. First of all, it's nice to have live content like news, sports and traffic. Next, you don't have to sync the device up - it's always ready to play whatever you want. And of course, on January 9, Howard Stern.

Where Replay Radio (and Replay Music) + iPod excels is in having complete control of your listening experience. Being able to skip ahead is something you just cannot do with live streams (or at least until someone invents a time machine). Don't like that song? Just skip to the START of the next one. With radio, you always wind up in the middle of a song when you change stations. Listening to recorded stations on the iPod is soooooooooo flexible.

It occurs to me that Sirius isn't really in the radio business - they are in the content business. In that vein, Replay Radio + iPod rules, as we have far more listening options available.

The best thing of all would be to have a combo Sirius radio / MP3 player that you can transfer Replay Radio and Replay Music recordings to. Given the impending bloodbath between the Record Companies and the Consumer Electronics companies over recording features in some of the new Sirius receivers, the only way you may ever be able to get that true TiVo-like experience for radio is going to be by using Replay Radio.

Any hardware makers listening out there? We'd love to work with you!

Posted by Bill Dettering at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Technorati Tags: | Comments (1)

December 05, 2005

Time Shifting and Satellite radio

Looks like the RIAA is posturing about recording songs over the radio and how new technologies impact the long-standing rights of recording and fair use.

Just came across this article from TWICE regarding Sirius, XM, and new tuner/recorder devices from Dell and Samsung.

And Sean Ryan, ex-CEO of Rhapsody, says about the record labels: "Expanding the legal fight to other sectors - e.g. satellite radio rates and time shifting may be the next big battle".

The laws are very clear about what is permitted, and what isn't. Replay Radio, Replay Music, and WM Recorder/RM Recorder all obey fair-use guidelines, but they do push the envelope. Our upcoming Replay A/V program will do some even more amazing things, such as allow for virtually unlimited recording of multiple radio stations simultaneously. (Replay A/V will be the only product that can do this with Windows Media, Real and MP3 streams).

If you're into media, these are exciting times.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Technorati Tags: | Comments (1)


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