WebTalkGuys Radio Newsletter for October 12, 2002

http://www.webtalkguys.com


The final version of H.R. 5469, now named the "Small Webcaster Amendments Act of 2002," that was written recently, passed in a voice vote by the U.S. House of Representatives and it's now on to the Senate. They say this is a compromise that reduces the cost per song that an Internet radio station has to pay in royalties.

What will the current royalty rate cost you if you have a net radio station?  Webcasters.org has created a calculator to help answer the question. Just enter your number of average concurrent listeners (AQH) and the number of songs you play per hour to see what it will cost your company.

For instance: Clear Channel Worldwide gets about 1,700 listeners/hour, according to Measurecast.com:

CARP Royalty Rate Calculator
10 Songs per Hour
425 Number of Listeners (Average Quarter Hour)
.0007 Royalty Rate ($)
$2.98 Cost per hour
$71.40 Cost per day
$2142 Cost per month
$26,061 Cost per year

~ Happy Listening, Rob and Dana

In This Newsletter

1. "Audioblogging and Windows Media 9" on WebTalkGuys this week
2. "The Transforming Power of the Web " - a great talk with David Weinberger
2. Article: "Avalanche of e-mail: Electronic correspondence is so one-way"
3. Article: "Homepage Design Statistics: Don’t Buck Conventional Wisdom, Part 3"
4. Article: "You'll Love Them; Hollywood Hates Them; Movie Spoilers on the Web"
5. Next Weekend: "Opening the Xbox": Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution"

This week on WebTalkGuys

"Weblogs, Audioblogging & Windows Media 9"
A conversation with ...
Tech Gadfly Mitch Ratcliffe
Weblogs and the Fine Art of Audioblogging.
Microsoft's Dave Fester, GM, Windows Digital Media,
New Features of Windows Media 9 Series
Net News
The CARP Compromise? Not so much

Full 50 Min. Show for October 12 @ 20K Stream
Listen:
Win Media http://www.webtalkguys.com/msm/webtalk-10-12-2002.asx
Real http://www.webtalkguys.com/ra/webtalk-10-12-2002.ram
MP3 http://www.webtalkguys.com/mp3/webtalk-10-12-2002.mp3

Last week on WebTalkGuys

"The Transforming Power of the Web "
A conversation with ...
David Weinberger, author of
"Small Pieces Loosely Joined"
A Unified Theory of the Web

The Privacy/Security Tradeoff
Microsoft's Privacy Mgr. Greg Hampson
Shopping online & Explorer Privacy Settings

Net News
Death of the Meta Tag
Top Viruses For September

Listen to October 5 Show (50 Min)
Win Media http://www.webtalkguys.com/msm/webtalk-10-5-2002.asx
Real http://www.webtalkguys.com/ra/webtalk-10-5-2002.ram
MP3 http://www.webtalkguys.com/mp3/webtalk-10-5-2002.mp3

 http://www.gamehouse.com/affiliates/template.jsp?AID=261

"Avalanche of e-mail: Electronic correspondence is so one-way"
Going off on the obscene amount of e-mail that finds its way to your computer.
by Rob Greenlee

"My recent inbox contents:
- NEW!! BuyDomains.com is now offering 15% OFF Domain Renewals!;
- Friend, Learn to Play the Piano;
- Save 66% on HP Photo Printers, Plus Manager’s Chairs Only $49.99;
- Your Life Insurance CO does NOT WANT you to know this.; and
- Your Commissions of $5000 per WEEK!

E-mail, E-mail, E-mail is coming to my inbox everyday by the hundreds. My inbox is like my street mailbox..."

Read more:  http://www.webtalkguys.com/article-email.shtml

"Homepage Design Statistics:
Don’t Buck Conventional Wisdom, Part 3 "
by Dana Greenlee

"Face it. Your website won’t be the very first site visited by an Internet novice. Chances are MSN, Yahoo or Amazon has muscled in in front of your site and been the first for a net virgin.

By the time a web surfer makes it to your site, they’ve unconsciously developed a set of mental web usability conventions. They know where everything should be on a web page: navigation in the left margin, which consists of simple works like “Home”, “About” and “Contact”. "

We asked Marie Tahir, co-author along with Jakob Nielsen of "Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed". This is Part 3 of 3.

"You'll Love Them; Hollywood Hates Them; Movie Spoilers on the Web
Cliff Notes to the Movies"
By Dana Greenlee

Too fidgety to sit still for two hours in a dark movie theater?

Do you sometimes find a movie’s surprise ending is not reason enough to pay $8 to see what is otherwise a turkey of a film?

Perhaps you sadistically want to eliminate the fun and enjoyment people have when they go to the movies by giving away the ending.

From now on, all you have to do in order to ruin your friends' cinematic adventure is to boot up your browser and click yourself over to a movie spoiler website.

The video game industry has already eclipsed motion pictures to become one of the largest and fastest growing markets in history. In an effort to grab a chunk of that market, Microsoft—an absolute newcomer to the gaming industry—has put billions of dollars on the line in a gamble to build the fastest, most mature, most advanced video game console ever: the Xbox.

Next week, we talk to Dean Takahshi, author of "Opening the Xbox" and ask if this new Microsoft venture is just another experiment that, like WebTV, was launched to much fanfare but will be quickly forgotten? Or will it become the next Windows, finding its way into the homes and lives of millions of people around the world?

Dean Takahshi, a writer for the for the San Jose Mercury News and former senior writer for Red Herring magazine, has been a business journalist for 14 years and a die-hard video gamer for life. A former gaming and tech correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, he has also written for the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, and Dallas Times Herald and has appeared on CNN and CNBC.

WebTalkGuys Radio is a production of LoudVox.com, a website audio production studio.