Beatles mania; Google's subscription service

What am I Missy Episode 34 - Beatles stuck in 20th century; Free vs paid; Smule's contest

This episode is brought to you by our sponsor Smule, the creators of  iPhone applications like Ocarina, has a cool "Feel the Love" contest running. Users who have Leaf Trombone can register to win $500 at https://www.smule.com/. You just need to sign-up, and get as much love from your friends as possible.  They can listen to your registered performance, and send you love using Leaf Trombone or Leaf Trombone Lite- which is free!   Whoever gets the most love wins! 

This week, Apple Corps Limited and EMI released the entire original Beatles Catalog for the first time ever. Available at $220 for the stereo box set and $270 for the mono box set, the Beatles music got the full 21st century tech treatment. What we now have in our hands is the best sounding Beatles yet! Unfortunately, while there may be a revival in Beatle-mania, EMI's music distribution model is still stuck in the 20th century. While customers can get the box sets online, it's impossible to "legally" buy a download of a Beatle's album. If the major record labels like EMI wish to save the music industry, they need to rethink music for the digital age. Until then, you can be sure the Beatle's guitars will still gently weep.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know that it has been tough times for content companies relying on advertising. The search giant is creating an online subscription and micro-payment system to let content publishers charge for their work. This is great news for any media company, large and small, and now they can have an alternative solution to make money. But will this work? Debating the virtues of free versus paid is an perennial as the debate over free will versus fate. What's more interesting is why is Google the king if online advertising not just working on making the ads better? If the targeting were better, wouldn't that also help content companies?