Archives For digital content

Good news and bad ones~

First, about a week or two ago Yuguo announced that they were finally releasing their third full studio album Sunset Strip (日落大道), which seemed like it had been in the planning for ages [1].

It’s the 23rd in China, and it happened!

yuguo-album-art-sunset-strip

You can listen to the album (and download the songs) via Xiami.

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I’m still not sold on Netflix- never to this date I’ve ran into a film that I wanted to watch on it. At least in terms of this region, which doesn’t count with as much content as the US or Canada one. Similar issues with iTunes… and Amazon is out of the question.

I used to subscribe to MUBI for a long while (at least for a bit over a year), but eventually turned off my subscription because I wasn’t watching anything, while things I had added to my watchlist stopped being available, and the selection of their films eventually was reduced to their now curated content. I’m only subscribed to EROSNOW now, and have seen a few couple of films there, but had to turn to other mediums when found links that were region-restricted or surprisingly without subtitles.

My experience with streaming has been decent- and for as cheap as $5-9 bucks you can watch a lot in a month, and it just makes your life quite easy. Similar flawless experience with my first Vimeo On Demand watch. Thanks Joss Whedon for the heads up, and actually putting the film up there right after its premiere. To top it all off, subtitles in Spanish, German, French, Portuguese and Japanese (plus English CC) were available making it the smoothest watch if you decided to watch it with any bunch of people.

Paying $5 to stream a new movie can seem like the best way possible to make it look as if you’re going to the cinema. It takes me back to those days where I would watch 2 or 3 new movies a weekend. If studios ever decided to really go off their way to online distribute their new movies almost simultaneously, I’d be willing.

Here’s In Your Eyes.

Apparently Vimeo streaming is not as smooth (or at all) if you don’t have a Vimeo account, though. Take it as a good chance to get one, or don’t complain. I really don’t know any other streaming (paying) website that would let you use their content without an account. You need one in iTunes, in Amazon, in Netflix, HBO, et all. So please, people, stop complaining about THAT.

Spanish (more serious) related note.

For a few couple of years already, people have been calling on the death of printed paper. And in all honesty, I rarely print stuff for myself — a vast majority of printed documents refer to letterhead letters, which I usually just send on PDF by email. But if I’m printing something, it’s got something to do with branded documentation.

We’ve talked about e-paper [1], digital newspapers, and Samsung’s flexible screens [1] are coming. People are supposedly using smartphones and are all over iPads, as sales for PCs are down dramatically as times flies by. Yet, people apparently still print stuff. At least that’s the premise for this project:

For a long time, people have been playing around with interactive tables [1][2][3][4][5], though I don’t know anyone who can afford one. The guys from Fujitsu Laboratories seem to be aiming at consumer-range products. And though it may sound and look cool that you can turn all your printed documents into something digital and interact with it, wouldn’t it mean that your page with video included has already been digitally design?

There’s digital pop-up books!

creative-sandbox

Of course, there ARE elements in our everyday life that aren’t digital — doodled post-it notes (I can’t think of anything else other than notes). The rest, they wouldn’t have been embedded elements on your digital source document. The question is, why print it?

I know so many people who would download loads of music for free, but still buy the stuff they liked (usually discovered from their own or other people’s free downloads). Now those same people listen to Spotify and feel that they have paid the artists, so no longer feel the need to buy the songs they like.

Comment on Artists, Please! Don’t Put Spotify Play Buttons On Your Site…

Additional info: How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online?

Downloads, Streamings, and Buys- Oh, My!

We’re always bombarded with news at how the music (and movies, and everything else) industry is losing money to piracy, even though we keep hearing all these facts about how Glee has had more songs charted than The Beatles.

When Sarah, from the Music Production Schools’ design team, emailed me this infographic depicting all these facts onto one place… is hard not to share, right?

I won’t lie to you, the numbers are good — though I really don’t know how that works with adjusted inflation — but the numbers also make me sad. To imagine Katy Perry standing on similar ground as MJ or Flo Rida standing on similar ground to The Beatles… or Ke$ha selling MORE than The Beatles. It’s depressing.

Mainly because there are MUCH better artists out there, and half the world haven’t even heard about them. I think it’s a crime that everyone knows Katy Perry, but it’d be rare if someone knows who Shiina Ringo is.

In any case, this is an infographic about sales~ so there you have it.

Full infographic after the break~

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