Gagging Gaga - Why can't we download music legally?

I saw a story this morning that has really bugged me (click here to read it).  Amazon and Apple have been battling it out in world of MP3 music downloads and seeing stories like this really bugs me.  


Living in the Middle East, we don't have any real sources to download music from legally and I don't see when we can expect this either.  

Gaga with a Gag order in the Middle East

As much as we talk about progress in the Middle East, we seem to be moving backwards as far as progress in music publishing rights go, which as a result only encourages music piracy.  Creating a source for legal downloads would eliminate go some way to eliminating the problems that the big record companies complain about.  If record companies want to complain about piracy, they should first give us an avenue for downloading music legally in this region as asking us to buy CD's from our local record store isn't the solution.


I'm not saying all of this because I didn't get to take advantage of Lady Gaga's US$ 0.99 download promotion offer for her latest album but as much as I like my gadgets, I'd like to see the content available for us to enjoy it.


End of rant.

Like a Kindle the Wind

Amazon's announcement this week that it's sold more e-books for its Kindle platform than it did regular paper books is nothing short of amazing (Amazon's official PR can be seen by clicking here).

Are paper books gone with the wind?

The winds have changed course and its blowing in the direction of e-books.  Despite the fact that e-book readers are still a rarity in the UAE and that there aren't many avenues to download e-books, the fact is that once an Amazon (or any other reputable bookseller can get a e-store up and running here), we should start to see the adoption of more e-books.

Having bought my Kindle a few weeks ago, I have to say I've loved it (I've written more about this in a previous blog post).

Show me the Money!

More significantly though, this probably means there's going to be a significant change in the margin structures the publishing industry works on.  Till now, when we bought paper books, there was always a cost of printing, cost of shipping and cost of selling that probably ate up a significant portion of the costs.  Then there would also be cases of obsolete and damaged stocks that traditional booksellers have to manage as well.

In the virtual world that Amazon lives in, most of these costs are variable or don't exist.  The cost of publishing disappears, there is no shipping cost as such, the selling costs are minimal (no landlords or staff salaries to look after) and no excess inventory to manage.  Even if Amazon charges a few dollars less for each Kindle book, it does mean bigger margins for them and significantly more margins than a traditional bookseller can hope to achieve.

Struggling Authors Welcome

For those aspiring authors, the move to e-books could also now make their chances of being published that much more easier as well.  By virtue of the fact that a publisher may not having to think as much of all the prohibitive fixed costs that existed in the traditional publishing sector could mean they go out on a limb more often to promote an up and coming author.

At a time when we've been hearing about the troubles Borders has been having in the United States, it comes as a little surprise that traditional book retailers are finding it difficult.  This is not to say that they'll disappear altogether but the ones that survive are the one's who'll find a way to still engage us going forward.  How they do that, I'm not quite sure but whichever they do work out, I do hope to still see some of them around in my local community mall.  Let's just hope paper books are not gone with the wind.

P.S. Just as I was putting the final touches onto this blog post, I saw fellow blogger Alexander McNabb also put out his post on e-books earlier this morning, which is worth a read (click here to read it)

To tumbl or not?

I've set up a tumblr account today (http://apanjabi.tumblr.com) and I'm still not sure what I should be doing with it, whether I should pursue having a second blog account or not and whether I still quite understand what is the point of tumblr.

For now, it's set up.  Whether it's updated regularly is another point but let's see what happens with it.

Any feedback on tumblr, I'd be happy to hear it.

Buyer Beware!

I got an e-mail last night from Akanksha Goel of Socialize, an up and coming social media house in the UAE which carried a link to a story on their official blog, in which they spoke about the recent Apple location-gate scandal, the Sony PSN hacking incident and an example of when Amazon's cloud hosting services had crashed recently, brining down various other web services such as Quora and HootSuite.

I got tempted into answering this as the press has been playing this mainly as a case of a corporations behaving badly but what responsibility do we as consumers have?  What happened to Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware)? 

In the age of one-click convenience, we choose to ignore many of these risks and can't shift the entire responsibility onto these corporations without first accepting some blame ourselves.

Read about this further on the Socialize Blog by clicking here and you can see my comments on there as well.

Read On - My Kindle experience

The 3rd Generation Amazon Kindle

I’ve been traveling a lot of late and I’ve found a revelation.  The Kindle.  It’s not a new or revolutionary device but it’s changed the way I read.  I may be late to the party but it’s never too late to start reading.

I tend to generally read more when I travel and it was always been an issue to lug around a book or two in my hand luggage or to find myself frustrated when I’m on a plane and I’ve finished my book and there’s been nothing decent on the inflight entertainment to watch.

With the Kindle though, it’s as if I’ve discovered the joys of reading again.

One reason why I’ve avoided e-readers till now was that I didn’t like the idea of reading off a screen, much preferring the paper editions.  I somehow never felt comfortable when was I reading off a screen for an extended period of time however with the Kindle’s e-ink technology, it’s surprisingly soothing on the eyes.  You can read it for hours and not feel the strain on your eyes as you would on an LCD-based device.

The other advantage of the Kindle has been that you can multiple books stored on one lightweight, featherweight device.  Reading two or even three books simultaneously has all of a sudden become a possibility.

Looks like I don't need another bookshelf
in my office after buying the Kindle

Comparatively, you could read e-books off the Kindle App on the iPad, iPhone or other similar devices but holding an iPad in your hand for hours on end, isn’t practical because of its weight and screen technology.  It eventually weighs you down whereas with the Kindle, it’s light enough to hold onto for hours.  The advantage of the iPad App though is that if you start a book on your Kindle device, you can start off where you left off on your iPad because it synchronizes your progress across the different devices you’re reading on.

There are two versions of the Kindle available, a WIFI model and a 3G version.  I opted for the WIFI model but the 3G model is unique in that it doesn't require you to get a data plan.  It works in most countries and any data costs related to downloading a book on the Kindle are borne by Amazon.

Sharing a book isn’t the same though.  For those traditionalists who enjoy buying a book and then lending it onto a few friends, this is something that you can’t do on the Kindle.

Visiting a bookstore is a different experience as well.  While I love going to bookstores, I’ve found it different since I got the Kindle.  I now see myself as a traitor in a bookstore.  I’m in there to browse through a few books and getting ideas for what I can download from the Amazon Kindle store.

With the Kindle, I’ve also found myself reading at home, which is something I wasn’t doing as often.  Whether this is just a passing fad or a habit that I pick up for life, I’m not sure, but I hope to keep it up for as long as I can.

If you haven’t used a Kindle yet, try it out.  I’m sure it’s bound to change the way you read as well.  With so many distractions and attention spans getting shorter, I’m glad I found something that keeps my attention for more than five minutes at a time.

Benihana loses, Blogger wins - is this the precedent?

For blogger Mark or @mark248am (that's his Twitter handle), yesterday was the day things finally went right and justice was dished out.  Mark, was being sued by Benihana in Kuwait for a post he'd put on his blog that they didn't quite like (Mark talks about it in more detail here) was told yesterday he'd won his case for stating his opinion.

While this is no doubt great news for bloggers across the region, who've certainly come in the spotlight of late with the sea of revolutions we've seen across the Middle East and North Africa, this was a little more interesting because this wasn't a case of blogger vs. government but rather of blogger vs. private enterprise.

The grounds on which the lawsuit commenced itself was bizarre and left many to wonder why would a franchisee of a major brand like Benihana be willing to jeapordize his reputation like that.  After all, bad or negative feedback spreads like wildfire but good feedback doesn't often get spoken about enough.  I'm pretty sure that what happened in Benihana in Kuwait probably had a knock-on effect of sorts on Benihana in the UAE, even though the franchisee is different.  I know at least when I hear the name Benihana, I cringe.  I liked their food and the experience always here in Dubai but somewhere in the back of my mind, I wonder if I want to dine there anymore.

Why didn't Benihana manage the damage much earlier?  Why did it reach to the point where they were making racist remarks by asking Mark if he was Lebanese (as if that makes any difference)?  Why weren't they just willing to sit down with Mark and ask him why he didn't like his experience there so they could see if they could constructively incorporate his comments into his experience there?  These are answers we probably won't ever get.  What Benihana probably underestimated was that even though the blogging community is small, they are vocal.  Their opinions do get heard and with so many journalists and PR-folk on social media across the region, these stories can be picked up very quickly by the mainstream press.

What I am more interested about though is that if this sets a precedent?  The legal system in the region can be erratic but a victory like this could be a reference point for others.  However, what this does not mean you can defame or be libelous.  There is still a fine line as a blogger you have to take.  Opinion is fine, making up facts, figures and being racist isn't.

So while I'm thrilled to see Mark win, I'm just worried this sends the wrong message to other bloggers in this part of the world who think they can say anything and get away with it.  There is still a code of ethics we have to live with as bloggers and while it's good to have multiple mouthpieces open during this era of citizen journalism, let's make sure to respect the boundaries.  If you want to be treated with respect, you also need to respect those around you, whether it be on social media or in real life.

As someone who's in the field of providing customer service myself, I know it's impossible to provide 100% customer satisfaction as much as we want but the basic principles of listening, understanding and acknowledging have never changed, whether it happens in person, over e-mail, phone calls or on social media.  I'm sure Benihana have learned a lesson but I sincerely hope other businesses in the region also do as well .

For Mark's comments on winning his court case, you can read this here on his blog.  My blog posts on Benihana Kuwait can be seen with the label of (BenihanaKUW) or by clicking here.

My weekend with Android

About two weekends ago, I had the opportunity to play with a new toy.  It was an Android smartphone and since I use an Apple iPhone (3GS) and a BlackBerry Bold 9780 as my primary devices, I was excited at the prospect of using an Android device, particularly since this was running on the latest version of Android, version 2.3, which has also is also popularly known as Gingerbread.  Since I haven't upgraded my iPhone to the iPhone 4, I was contemplating moving to an Android device and to see if I should wait it out till the iPhone 5 comes out.

Before I talk about my experience, I want to say, I'm not going to mention to brand or the model I used.  I don't want to this to come out like a paid promo for a device or a brand and given my professional background, it could very easily be interpreted that way.  This is also why I decided to post this on my personal blog instead of the corporate blog that I often write about technology topics on.


Speed

First off, I found the said device to be quick, snappy and it had a brilliant display.  Considering the fact that I'm still using the iPhone 3GS, I found this to be refreshing as the 3GS is starting to feel sluggish these days and in comparison, the screen on the 3GS is just plain old dull.  I know if I upgraded to the iPhone 4, most of this wouldn't be an issue but since I have the 3GS, any new device these days would fair better in terms of processor speed and display technology.  The BlackBerry Bold is a much smaller screen and isn't a touch-screen device so you can't really make a comparison here.  However as compared to the BlackBerry OS 6.0, I found skinned version of Gingerbread  that this manufacturer uses to be much faster than OS 6.0.


Home Screen, Menus & Widgets

Another refreshing change on the device was the widgets on the home screen.  This is something I remember seeing in the earlier versions of BlackBerry devices but disappeared somewhere along the process.  On the iPhone, this sadly lacks and there is little customization possible on the home screen.

Social media integration is also something that virtually every Android skin seems to be working on.  On the iPhone the notification system is still weak.  On the BlackBerry it's improved and with OS 6.0, RIM have tried to include their Social Feeds App but you're still better of using UberSocial and the Facebook App.  On this device though, it seemed seamlessly integrated.  Considering more of how we communicate these days is via social networking, this was a real plus point for this device.

The camera on this device was decent.  Whether it was video or still photographs, I found this to do the job just fine.  How good a camera is though depends so much on individual models and manufacturers so you can't really credit Android for this.

As far as the menu's go, I found it more difficult to navigate through the Android device as compared to my BlackBerry and iPhone.  The main reason was the lack of folders.  I didn't like the fact that I had to scroll through five screens to find an App whereas on my iPhone I know I can limit everything to three screens if I need to and have them sorted the way I like them.  On the BlackBerry it isn't as much of an issue either just because you don't tend to end up with as many Apps as you would on an iOS or Android device.


App Away!

What I did like on the Android device was the number of Apps that were available.  While there aren't as many Apps available as you would have in the iTunes App store for Apple devices (and don't bother trying to compare with BlackBerry's AppWorld), you tended to find most of the important Apps that you'd use on a regular basis (i.e. games like Angry Birds, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter or Twicca on Android, Skype, Tango, sports & news Apps etc.).

What I did find frustrating though was navigating through Google Market.  I somehow still find the iTunes App store much easier to use and the overall user experience is still stronger on this.  I did however try using Google Market on my laptop and it was great to see Apps loaded over the air directly onto my device.  No cables, no connecting to my laptop, no worries.

What I did find cumbersome was trying to move or delete Apps.  It doesn't seem as straightforward as the iPhone where you get to the wobble screen and just press on the little "X" button that appears on top of each App or on the BlackBerry where you press the menu button and just select Delete.  On this device, there was a lot more work to be done and you just wish it was a one or two step process.  Maybe it could've been done easier and I totally missed this but I didn't see it.

This also brought to me to another issue that bugged me: the lack of help.  With so many Android devices and so many versions running on different skins, finding help online was more difficult.  What works on one device with one skin, may not work on another one.  Comparatively finding support online for Apple's iOS is relatively simple as there is really only two devices that are being used and very fewer versions of iOS than Android.

Having said that, one novel App I liked which came standard on this particular device a flashlight or torch function.  It seems simple enough and I did indeed end up using it once because I needed some light and switching on the flash did certainly help.  I know you can get this on other devices and operating systems now as well but I liked the fact that this came standard.


Gmail, Surfing and Migrating Contacts

Being an OS owned by Google, Gmail integration is surely one of their strengths here.  The Gmail App on the BlackBerry is a pain to use and I haven't even bothered trying to connect my Gmail account on my iPhone but this was a joy to use.

The browser on this device was also fabulous.  The BlackBerry browser is rather more difficult to use and because of the smaller screen size, you don't quite the same web experience.  The iPhone is nice but I found this device just better overall.  What I did find on this particular device though was that it had a relatively poor Wifi range.  I've thus far found the BlackBerry to be the best, followed by my iPhone but this device just didn't cut it.

Moving contacts was probably one of the easiest operations I've seen on a smartphone.  I've moved contacts from one BlackBerry to another or from the BlackBerry to the iPhone, but it always required that I had to connect to my laptop to do it.  Here it was done wirelessly using Bluetooth and I've never seen all my contacts migrate from one device to another that quickly.  Everything moved perfectly and I just wished all manufacturers and OS platforms were this easy.


Connectivity to a PC / Mac

If there was one major gripe I had with this device it was connectivity to a PC or Mac.  The synchronization process when it connected to my PC wasn't as smooth and was terribly slow.  Once you've connected your BlackBerry to the Desktop Manager or had your iPhone connect to iTunes, you find things just happen.  This sadly wasn't the case here.

Trying to connect this device to my iTunes library to copy some music on to it also was a multi-step process which I don't think I would be prepared for everything I wanted to sync or update my  playlist.  Moving a podcast was even more complicated and I eventually gave up trying to do this.  When I did copy music onto the device though, the output was great and I had no complaints on this.

Even worse was though was trying to connect this Android device to my Mac.  It just wasn't going to happen and I found the support for Macbooks to be extremely poor.  The BlackBerry connectivity on a Mac isn't great either but it's much better than this.


What did I choose to do finally?

When Sunday morning came around and it was time for me to head off to work, I had a choice to make. Which phone did I want to use, the iPhone or the Android device?  As much as I liked the whole Android experience, I just missed iOS too much.  Out came the SIM card and straight into the SIM tray of the iPhone it went.

Had I not used an iPhone, I would've probably stuck to this device but with Gingerbread looking as good as it is, I do certainly hope the future versions of Android operating systems move forwards from here and close the gap on iOS.  Fragmentation within the Android environment is a major issue at the moment and with the experience being so different from device to device due to manufacturer skins and so many different versions of Android OS floating around, it is going to be a challenge that Google hopefully addresses.

Where is the Android device in the meantime?  Don't worry, it found a good home and is currently being used by wife and since it's the first touch screen device she's used, she may end up keeping it longer than the one weekend I had this device for.