archives

o WSJ: 3G Wireless Internet Won't Be as Fast as Expected
o Napster Asks Judge for Deadline Extension on Song-Blocking
o Webcaster Digital Club Network Raises $3.5 Million in Second Round
o Primedia Lays Off 160, Cites Duplicate Jobs After About.com Merger
o Online Music Retailer CDWorld.com Shuts Down
o Strictly Books Acquires Strawberry Hill Press
> Digital Media Wire: NYC & DC Interactive Games Panels
o Briefly Noted: "Record Industry Plays Both Sides," Isao Okawa, "Payback
for Playback," Jupiter Media Metrix, DivX Networks, Lawrence Lessig, NCAA
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> Job Postings: PR Director, Animation Manager

> Events/Services: "Jones Day: Pitch Like Pros / Intensive Professional
Coaching," "Digital Media Revolution in the Americas,"
"Artesia Digital Asset Management Seminar"

Full Job/Event descriptions listed below "Briefly Noted" section or at
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/postings.html

To Post a Job: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html
To Post an Event: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html
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o WSJ: 3G Wireless Internet Won't Be as Fast as Expected

New York -- According to a Wall Street Journal report published Friday,
new third-generation, or "3G," wireless Internet networks will not be as
fast as anticipated, but will be adopted by consumers even more quickly
than analysts expected. The paper surveyed 19 European wireless operators
and handset makers who estimated that bandwidth will top out between 64
and 144kbps, instead of earlier predictions of around two megabits. On the
low end, the connection would not be much faster than the 56k modems with
which most users currently connect to the Internet on their computers. The
slow speed would make it much more difficult to enable high-quality
streaming video and music to cell phones. Despite slower than expected
connections, the 19 companies on average said that 3G networks will
achieve "mass adoption" in Europe by 2003. The U.S. does not currently
have any third generation networks, but on Friday, Sprint PCS announced
that it will launch the first 3G network in the U.S. with a limited
offering coming by the end of the year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010315/2145.html
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o Napster Asks Judge for Deadline Extension on Song-Blocking

Redwood City, Calif. -- Napster has asked U.S. District Court Judge
Marilyn Hall Patel for an extension on the 3-day deadline to filter songs
submitted by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from its
music file-sharing service, the San Jose Mercury News reported on Friday.
The company said that while it has successfully blocked many song
title/filename matches, obstacles such as misspellings and software that
changes filenames into pig Latin has made its job harder and more
time-consuming. "It is simply impossible for Napster, in the three days
allowed by the court's order, to correlate millions of file names with
hundreds of thousand of names of works where plaintiffs have not done so
in their notices," Napster attorneys wrote in their brief submitted to the
court on Tuesday. The RIAA called the request for an extension "stall
tactics."
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/depth/nap031501.htm
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o Webcaster Digital Club Network Raises $3.5 Million in Second Round

New York -- Digital Club Network, a site that webcasts live concerts from
around the country, announced on Friday that it has raised $3.5 million in
its second round of venture capital financing. Existing investor Atlas
Venture was the round's only participant. New York-based Digital Club
Network will use the funds for marketing as well as for its plan to begin
syndicating its live webcasts to other sites, and to begin recording and
selling live concert CDs from the shows.
http://www.dcn.com
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o Primedia Lays Off 160, Cites Duplicate Jobs After About.com Merger

New York -- Primedia, a media company with print, online and video
properties, announced on Friday that it will lay off 160 employees as a
result of duplicate jobs created by its merger with About.com. 140 of the
employees will be laid off from New York-based Primedia's Intertec trade
publications, with the remaining 20 to be laid off from its IndustryClick
websites. The company said the layoffs and integration among its
businesses as a result of its merger with About.com will reduce expenses
by $49 million annually. Primedia is best known as a publisher of
magazines that include New York and Teen Beat.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010316/2223.html
http://www.primedia.com
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o Online Music Retailer CDWorld.com Shuts Down

Campbell, Calif. -- CDWorld, an online retailer of CDs, DVDs and video
games, said it will cease operations and shut down its website on Friday.
The company cited current market conditions as the reason for its closing.
Campbell-based CDWorld had been in business for over six years, but has
struggled recently amid the difficult advertising market and weariness of
venture capital investors.
http://www.cdworld.com/cgi-bin/nav?home&46861324
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o Strictly Books Acquires Strawberry Hill Press

San Francisco -- Strictly Books, Inc. announced on Friday that it has
acquired the name and assets of Strawberry Hill Press. Terms of the
transaction were not disclosed. Strawberry Hill publishes over 100
fiction, cooking and self-help titles, including books from poet Gary
Soto. Thirty titles will be removed as a result of the acquisition. San
Francisco-based Strictly Books is developing an interactive webcast
technology that will allow users to be seen and heard during chats with
authors. The company has applied for a patent on the "bi-directional
streaming" technology it has developed that broadcasts video and audio
from a home user's webcam to all other chat participants when they ask a
question of the author.
http://www.bookpromo.com
http://www.bookpromo.com/BiDirStr.htm
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> Digital Media Wire: NYC & DC Interactive Games Panels

New York City -- "Interactive Games on the Internet"
MODERATOR:
-Billy Pidgeon, Analyst, Jupiter Research

FEATURED SPEAKERS:
-Greg Costikyan, Founder & Chief Design Officer, Unplugged Games
-Frank Lantz, Sr. Game Designer, gameLab
-Joseph Varet, VP BizDev & Strategy, The Groove Alliance
*Additional panelists TBA.

Date: Wednesday, March 28th, 2001
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCgames.html

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Washington, D.C. -- "Interactive Games on the Internet"
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
-Phillip Campbell, Chief Creative Director, Quantic Dream
-Larry Cotter, CEO, Sandbox.com
-David Levine, CEO, Butterfly.net
-Doug Lowenstein, President, Interactive Digital Software Association
*Additional panelists TBA.

Date: Thursday, April 5th, 2001
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/DCgames.html
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o Briefly Noted:

(San Francisco) Wired News featured an article on Friday ("Record Industry
Plays Both Sides") that discusses the RIAA's entry into music webcasting.
The piece criticizes the RIAA for its seemingly contradictory stance with
regard to compensation for digital music distribution. "We find it
exquisitely ironic that the recording industry tries to define the sound
recording license (the one it owns) as narrowly as they can for
webcasters, but the publisher's license (the one it pays royalties on) as
broadly as possible," said Jonathan Potter, executive director of the
Digital Media Association, in the article.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,42426,00.html

(Tokyo) Sega Corp. president Isao Okawa died of heart failure on Friday at
age 74, Reuters reported. When the company decided to end production of
its Dreamcast console, Okawa presented Sega with a $700 million personal
donation to cover associated losses.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,22906,00.html
http://www.sega.com

(San Diego) MP3.com on Friday announced the end of its free "Payback for
Playback" program, which monthly paid artists who attracted the most
downloads from its site. Bands still interested in the program must now
pay the company $19.99 per month to participate. The program has awarded
millions of dollars to artists since it was started in November 1999, but
a very small percentage of its participants receive more money from the
program than it would cost to participate under the new fee-based model.
http://mp3.com/payback

(New York) Internet analyst and measurement firm Jupiter Media Metrix said
that it is seeking a new CEO. Current chairman and CEO Tod Johnson will
remain in his positions until the company can find a replacement, when he
will serve only as chairman of New York-based Jupiter Media Metrix. "I
believe today's market conditions make it increasingly difficult for me to
remain as the CEO of two companies," said Johnson. Johnson also serves as
CEO of NPD Group, which founded Media Metrix.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010315/2486.html
http://www.jupiterresearch.com

(San Francisco) Salon.com is featuring the first part of a two-part story
about DivX Networks, a company developing a "codec," or file-compression
technology for video that is comparable to the MP3 format for audio. The
codec's creators are trying to make DivX:-) the standard format for
digital video, and build a legitimate, profitable business on top of it.
http://salon.com/tech/feature/2001/03/15/divx_part1/index.html
http://www.divxnetworks.com

(San Francisco) Business2.com is currently running a feature story on
Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford law professor who has written numerous briefs
and opinion pieces that have influenced litigation concerning Microsoft
and Napster.
http://www.business2.com/content/magazine/indepth/2001/03/12/27868
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/content/index.html

(San Francisco) CNET ran a feature story Friday on the increasing number
of websites capitalizing on technology that automates wagering by "office
pools" on the outcome of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Prizes of
up to $10,000 are being awarded for contests on sites like ESPN.com and
CBS' SportsLine.com.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5150268.html?tag=cd_mh
http://tc.espn.go.com/cgi/tcmen/Request.dll?FRONTPAGE
http://basketball63.commissioner.com/mp/splash/home?product=opcr&index.cgi

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Job Postings:
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To Post Jobs: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html

> Niehaus Ryan Wong, PR Director - Austin, Texas

We are looking for Directors who know both technology and consumer media
to assume one of the senior-most account positions within the agency,
having overall responsibility for operation of a specific group of
accounts and people. Directors provide strategic marketing and PR counsel
to senior client executives and are deemed industry influencers. Send
resumes to jobs@nrwpr.com
http://www.nrwpr.com
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> School of Visual Arts, Animation Manager - New York City

This position reports to the film chairman and the Film Department's
director of operations. Manage daily functions of animation facility,
supervise assistant & student workers, coordinate schedules &
responsibilities, research & plan animation technology and convey budget
updates & proposals. Knowledge of Illustrator, Adobe Premiere,
AfterEffects & Photoshop. Send resumes to hr@adm.schoolofvisualarts.edu
http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu

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Event Postings:
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To Post Events: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html

> Pitch Like Pros / Intensive Professional Coaching, March 26 - D.C.

Have your pitch honed by VCs and professional coaches! VCs Linda Powers of
Toucan Capital and Jonathan Silver of Core Capital, and professional
coaches from PowerSpeak of Philadelphia, hosted by Jones Day lawyers Doug
Whipple and Thomas Beck, work with 15-20 entrepreneurs in a three-hour
highly interactive, highly intensive pitch coaching session. No cost for
this high-value event if your executive summary is accepted. More
information:
http://www1.jonesday.com/html/what_s_new_at_jones_day.asp
To apply, submit your executive summary to dwhipple@jonesday.com
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> Digital Media Revolution in the Americas, Nov. 29-30 - Pasadena

Institute of the Americas and the Annenberg School for Communication
Conference will focus on all aspects of digital media content production,
delivery and protection of digital property rights in the Americas.
Features CEO track at the Huntington Museum and high-level Latin American
speakers.
Send inquiries to cmorton@iamericas.org
For more information: http://www.iamericas.org
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> Artesia, Digital Asset Management Seminar -- SF, LA, Atlanta, NY, DC

Did you know that the average ROI for an enterprise Digital Asset
Management solution is between 9 and 18 months? Artesia Technologies
invites you to a free seminar on digital asset management. Our discussion
will include up-to-the-minute analysis presented for the first time and
speakers from The GartnerGroup, analyst Frank Gilbane and PwC. San Fran
on 3/8, LA on 3/9, Atlanta on 3/13, New York City on 3/14, and DC on 3/16.
Send inquiries to personalseminar@artesia.com
To register go to http://www.artesia.com/seminar/index1.html
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