By dagsmith | May 2, 2009
Online Music Players | Comment

Here at MusicPlayer we’ve gone behind the scenes at some new products that are so new they are still in beta, pre-release testing to those of us who aren’t fluent in the Geek language. Let’s take a look at the future of Internet radio in Mixcloud and the hope for effective music backup and synchronization with Tunebags.

Mixcloud
Most internet radio sites allow you to choose the channels you want to listen to. Mixcloud wants to change that approach and makes the unit of value the radio show - not a channel.

Mixcloud’s business pitch is very simple - they want to be “The Youtube of radio”. Just like YouTube has created a universe of user generated video content and introduced the world to new performers, Mixcloud wants to do the same for audio programming. You can’t upload one song or one track - Mixcloud is committed to providing a full show or mix, with track list, that listeners can appreciate in totality.

The site itself is beautiful in its simplicity. You can get up and running - either listening or uploading in just a few minutes. Also, they rely on their music player so you don’t have to get caught up in having or configuring the right version of other music players. The site has all the “traditional” Web 2.0 social features with leave comments on track lists, follow shows that you like and see how popular a show is with the number of times it’s been listened to.What’s next in Online Music - Tunesbag and Mixcloud
By dagsmith | May 2, 2009
Online Music Players | Comment

Here at MusicPlayer we’ve gone behind the scenes at some new products that are so new they are still in beta, pre-release testing to those of us who aren’t fluent in the Geek language. Let’s take a look at the future of Internet radio in Mixcloud and the hope for effective music backup and synchronization with Tunebags.

Mixcloud
Most internet radio sites allow you to choose the channels you want to listen to. Mixcloud wants to change that approach and makes the unit of value the radio show - not a channel.

Mixcloud’s business pitch is very simple - they want to be “The Youtube of radio”. Just like YouTube has created a universe of user generated video content and introduced the world to new performers, Mixcloud wants to do the same for audio programming. You can’t upload one song or one track - Mixcloud is committed to providing a full show or mix, with track list, that listeners can appreciate in totality.

The site itself is beautiful in its simplicity. You can get up and running - either listening or uploading in just a few minutes. Also, they rely on their music player so you don’t have to get caught up in having or configuring the right version of other music players. The site has all the “traditional” Web 2.0 social features with leave comments on track lists, follow shows that you like and see how popular a show is with the number of times it’s been listened to.

now or never
Eutelsat is launching its “Tooway” service in the UK this week. The service offers speeds of up to 2 Mbps and should cover the entire country. This is a similar speed and goal outlined in Lord Carters ‘Digital Britain’ report, although the government’s aims involve using fixed line and mobile broadband to achieve the goal.

The service uses an existing satellite right now, but the French firm aims to launch a new satellite in 2010 that will be able to offer speeds of up to 10 Mbps even to those in isolated rural areas. The new satellite with use the Ka band for its high speed transmission and cover all of Europe, from Ireland to Turkey.

The firm is aiming its service at those customers who have been left in the dark as far as broadband is concerned. Those in rural areas will be able to receive the service which includes an upload speed of 256 kbps.

Of course, there’s a reason that satellite broadband has never really caught on. One of the main problems is the latency involved in communicating with a satellite in orbit compared to an exchange down the road. Eutelsat say that VOIP and video services will not be affected by latency. It has admitted however that online games won’t work well with the service. However, if you’re considering satellite in the first place, chances are it’s your only option for high speed broadband.
Satellite Broadband Costs Compared With ADSL

The biggest problem with the service is the price. Eutelsat’s services costs £29.99 a month but there is a large initial payout. The hardware itself and the installation of the dish and receiver will cost around £400 and be performed by local satellite companies. This high initial cost could put many users off. In comparison, the standard connection charge for an ADSL connection ranges from free to a high of around £50.

Once installed however, the receiver will be ready to accept speeds of 10 Mbps when the service launches next year. The company will also be offering packaged phone and TV services to make the monthly pricing scheme more attractive.

Although satellite remains a last resort for many in terms of both speed and price, the service could be the first time many rural users see broadband internet speeds in their own homes.

When was the last time you made someone else’s blog better?

Today’s task in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is to do just that - to improve a blog that is not yours.

Most bloggers naturally spend the vast majority of their time improving their own blogs - but there can be a lot of good things happen when you spend time on other people’s blogs making them better in one way or another.

I think it’s fairly obvious why it can be worth helping another blogger achieve their goals so won’t go into it too much except to say that there’s not many ways to make a better impression on another blogger than to help them achieve their goals for their blog. When you do this any number of benefits can come your way.

The question is - how do you improve someone else’s blog?

I’d love to hear your suggestions on this in comments below but let me mention just a few:

• write a guest post - write a high quality post that will be useful to another blogs readers
• leave helpful and insightful comments
• link to the blog - share your readers with them
• promote the blog in social media - get a social bookmarking campaign going for them
• recommend that your readers subscribe to them
• email the blogger with some suggested topics you’d love to see them cover
• introduce them to a potential advertiser
• share with them an affiliate program that has worked for you
• write an email telling the blogger how you found one of their posts helpful

Really there is no limit to the ways that you can help another blogger improve their blog. The key is to ask yourself what their needs might be and attempt to fulfill those needs in some way.

The key with this exercise is to do something significant for the other blog. Don’t just leave a comment on 50 blogs today - spend some significant time focusing your energy on one other blog in your niche.

If it doesn’t go noticed by the other blogger don’t despair - hopefully in doing something for others you’ll learn something for yourself also, as well as getting a little good karma in the process!

Let us know what good deed you do for another blogger today in comments below!

When was the last time you made someone else’s blog better?

Today’s task in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is to do just that - to improve a blog that is not yours.

Most bloggers naturally spend the vast majority of their time improving their own blogs - but there can be a lot of good things happen when you spend time on other people’s blogs making them better in one way or another.

I think it’s fairly obvious why it can be worth helping another blogger achieve their goals so won’t go into it too much except to say that there’s not many ways to make a better impression on another blogger than to help them achieve their goals for their blog. When you do this any number of benefits can come your way.

The question is - how do you improve someone else’s blog?

I’d love to hear your suggestions on this in comments below but let me mention just a few:

• write a guest post - write a high quality post that will be useful to another blogs readers
• leave helpful and insightful comments
• link to the blog - share your readers with them
• promote the blog in social media - get a social bookmarking campaign going for them
• recommend that your readers subscribe to them
• email the blogger with some suggested topics you’d love to see them cover
• introduce them to a potential advertiser
• share with them an affiliate program that has worked for you
• write an email telling the blogger how you found one of their posts helpful

Really there is no limit to the ways that you can help another blogger improve their blog. The key is to ask yourself what their needs might be and attempt to fulfill those needs in some way.

The key with this exercise is to do something significant for the other blog. Don’t just leave a comment on 50 blogs today - spend some significant time focusing your energy on one other blog in your niche.

If it doesn’t go noticed by the other blogger don’t despair - hopefully in doing something for others you’ll learn something for yourself also, as well as getting a little good karma in the process!

Let us know what good deed you do for another blogger today in comments below!

If you run AdSense on your blog and are looking to attract advertisers to target it specific with their ads then you’ll want to check out a new tool that AdSense have just announced on their blog - Google AdPlanner’s Publisher Center.

Ad Planner is a tool that advertisers use to find sites related to their ads and this new publisher center you can have some say over what they see when they’re looking for sites to advertise on.

First you need to claim your site (there are two methods either through Webmaster Tools or if you’re a DoubleClick Directory User) and then you can customize the description for your site, highlight the ad types that you run, share Google Analytics data (if you wish - this will replace the estimated traffic numbers that Ad Planner currently gives advertisers), choose categories for your site etc.

See more about Google’s Ad Planner Publisher Center in this video:

Featured Posts 15 comments

Yaro Starak has just launched his new site - the Membership Site Mastermind Coaching Program.

Last week I linked up to a free report that Yaro Starak had released outlining the way that he makes money from setting up membership sites (get the report here if you missed it) - as a follow up to that report Yaro today has just launched a great coaching resource for those wanting to discover more - Membership Site Mastermind.

You can get details of what the program entails on the sales page for MSM. He’s created a special video at the top of the page if you don’t want to read the very long sales page.

The program that Yaro has put together covers a lot of topics over the 6 modules that it runs.

• Module 1 - Topic Selection and Preeminence
• Module 2 - Traffic Generation
• Module 3 - Human Resources and Technology
• Module 4 - Content and Pricing
• Module 5 - The Launch Process
• Module 6 - Post Launch

There are also a variety of great bonuses including videos on the technical aspects of setting up a membership site, interviews with membership site owners, templates, a members only forum area and live coaching calls.

Yaro is a great teacher (most of the teaching in this is done via video/mp3/transcripts) - he produces high quality teaching resources - he shares in a very personal way with simple and easy to understand language.

Best of all - Yaro’s done what he is teaching. He’s built a business around membership sites that earns him a six figure income while traveling the world.

Signups Close on 11 May - you do need to make a decision on whether this is an investment for you in the coming week as doors close on 11th May.

If you’re considering membership sites as a way to build an online business - I’d recommend you get Yaro’s free report and consider this new coaching program.

Fast Action Bonus: Yaro is also offering a special bonus for people who sign up in the next 24 hours. It’s access to some training he’s doing called “How To Live The Two-Hour Work Day”. The training is being done live here in Australia in Brisbane but if you can’t make it to the live session you get access to recordings of the training.