For the week of 1.8.06

A number of studies in 2004 documented increased media consumption by all Americans, but especially by young people. The greater degree of attention to media was fueled at least in part by the multiplicity of devices which make media content available.

Not so long ago, there was an extremely limited number of sources of electronic media entertainment. With the exception of print, media entertainment was essentially limited to record players, movie theaters, radios and television.

Today, diversity is much greater: cable and satellite television (with their hundreds of channels), satellite radio, Internet broadcasting, DVDs, iPod downloads, text messaging, and video games – to name but a few-- are all commonly used, especially by teens.

Miniaturized radios, music-playing devices and even televisions have been around for decades, although not as ubiquitous as they are today. And since home computer and Internet use has become widespread, the downloading of various forms of media has also increased apace. But today, it is clear that portable multi-media devices which are capable of downloading media programming from the Internet and playing them anywhere are the wave of the future.

Earlier this year, BitTorrent.com, one of the most popular file-swapping technologies on the Internet, created a search engine compendium of content available through download technology. Internet users could go to BitTorrent.com and search for movies, music, video games and other entertainment content available on the Web, and then download it to a home computer for later consumption. Although BitTorrent agreed to stop listing unlicensed content after complaints from film industry owners that it was enabling movie piracy, it also entered into an agreement with the film industry to continue to make licensed films available. The Motion Picture Association of America estimated that there were approximately 600,000 movies downloaded every day, with a significant portion of that being downloaded with BitTorrent technology. (Advertising Age.com, November 23, 2005)

One of the top-selling devices of the year was Apple Computer's portable iPod. At first allowing only music to be downloaded from the Internet and played anywhere, late last year ABC-Disney made several of its television programs available on the device as well. Now TiVo has announced that beginning this year any program recorded on its Series2 digital video recorders will be able to be downloaded to an iPod. The Walt Disney Co. is also selling more programs from its ESPN and ABC Sports on Apple Computer ‘s iTunes online music and video store, which can in turn be downloaded onto the iPod. In addition to episodes of ABC's hit shows Desperate Housewives and Lost, which have been available since October, shows now available will include condensed versions of all four U.S. Bowl Championship Series college football games, America's Funniest Home Videos and the 1970s Saturday morning School House Rock vignettes. ABC News programming will also be available, including daily segments from Good Morning America and World News Tonight. CBS and NBC Universal have also made programming available for iPod download. CBS' offerings include episodes from the comedies Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother on the Yahoo! Web site, while NBC offers episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. And Internet service provider America Online will soon make available episodes from some 30 classic TV series for viewing on an online AOL channel. (AP, December 27, 2005; Reuters, January 4, 2006)

The eMagin Corporation has developed a wearable headset system that plugs into Apple Computer's portable iPod and displays video from it in front of one eye. The system, dubbed the EyeBud 800, uses optical technology designed to give the picture a higher resolution and make it appear larger than on the iPod's screen. With the proximity of the screen to the eye, and the magnifying effect of the company's optical technology, the company says that using the headset is akin to watching a 105-inch display from 12 feet away, creating a "big-screen, movie-screen, home-theater experience, wherever you are," in the words of eMagin's president and CEO Gary Jones. The EyeBud is expected to retail for about $600. The same company produces the Z800 3DVisor, which puts a display in front of each eye and uses head-tracking technology to let people look around virtual worlds, such as video games. Both devices can also be used as an alternative way of viewing regular computer screens. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 2, 2006)

But new media devices are not limited to the iPod. Sling Media Inc.'s Slingbox makes it possible to watch previously recorded TV not only at anytime but also anywhere. The device sends recorded TV programs from a connected DVR, DVD player, VCR or other set-top box to anywhere there is a Windows computer and a high-speed Internet connection. (AP, November 9, 2005)

Cellular telephone company Motorola Inc. has unveiled music radio service for cell phones that also plays over car and home stereos. Motorola iRadio, featuring 435 channels, would be sold by wireless service providers to their subscribers for between $7 and $10 per month.. Motorola expects about 90 percent of its content to be loaded on phones from the Internet over a personal computer, rather than broadcast over a cellular network. (AP, January 3, 2006)

Digital music players from Samsung and Pioneer Corp. will not only play live XM satellite radio, but will also integrate Napster music downloads and subscription services so that users can "bookmark" songs heard on XM for online purchase from Napster.

Cisco Systems Inc. Kiss Network DVD Player will display high-definition DVDs as well as sending television and Internet-based programming from a personal computer to a TV. Hewlett-Packard is introducing nine high-definition TVs, including an innovative 37-inch liquid-crystal television which will automatically connect to a home network so users can switch from watching TV to downloading music, photos or video from any of their networked computers. The TV will also offer access to music and film subscription services and HP's own Snapfish photo sharing service. And LG will introduce its first portable media center, the PM70, with a 4.3-inch screen and enough storage for 50 hours of video or 7,500 songs. (AP, January 4, 2006)

QUOTE: "More and more consumers are comfortable with the Internet and with networking now. Consumers are more ready for this stuff than ever before." -- Jan-Luc Blackborn, director of digital entertainment for Hewlett-Packard. (AP, January 4, 2006)

Nor does the rapid advance of technology appear to be slowing in the future. Indeed, it is projected to increase ever more rapidly. In a U.S. household technology adoption forecast, Forrester Research predicted that the number of U.S. households utilizing broadband Internet access, which was 2.6 million in 1999 and soared to 31 million at the end of 2004, will swell to 71 million by 2010. The study also predicted that demand will increase for all sorts of digital entertainment devices: digital video recorders, which were owned by 6.2 million homes at the end of 2004, will be in 42.7 million U.S. households in 2010. In the same time frame, DVD recorders will be in 56 million homes, up from 12 million; MP3 players in 40 million from 10.8 million; DVD players in 102.9 million from 76 million; and video game consoles to 48.8 million from 40 million. The report did not include consideration of satellite radio. (Reuters, August 3, 2005)

Certainly, this vast abundance of new technology is not necessarily a bad thing. Technology itself is neutral, neither intrinsically good nor evil. Whether this tide of new technology proves helpful or destructive depends entirely upon what is shown on it.

But the vastly accelerated pace of media consumption, and the large number of new ways to access it, should give parents pause. Increased availability of media means increased exposure to what the media programs. Few of these new devices offer the possibility of parental lockout of harmful or objectionable programming. Thus, children may be increasingly exposed to images or music which parents find harmful or objectionable.

Parents should be aware of the new media devices coming into the world…since it is certain that their children will.

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