Consumers not ready to embrace cloud-based digital locker solution for music and video

The industry is rapidly moving content solutions to the cloud, but consumer interest is not keeping pace, as less than 30% of U.S. broadband households find the digital locker an attractive alternative for music or video.

Cloud Media and the Digital Locker, a new report from Parks Associates highlights the challenges within the industry, including device and format interoperability, consumer awareness, and security and delivery issues. Market fragmentation is also a major inhibitor, and efforts including Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem's (DECE) UltraViolet initiative and Disney’s Studio All Access aim to overcome these barriers.

The benefits of cloud services are popular with consumers, indicating significant market potential. Access via mobile devices is important, and over 50% of U.S. consumers consider multiroom access to music and video content and guaranteed replacement of lost or damaged media to be equally important features of the digital locker.

Cloud Media and the Digital Locker examines how key players from content owners and distributors to platform and technology solution providers are tailoring their cloud-based solutions to include secure delivery, high quality, and ubiquitous access models.

Netflix Delays Android Mobile App Over Security, DRM Fears

Netflix Nov. 13 said it will release an instant streaming app for Android on specific smartphones next year, delaying the launch because of content protection hurdles caused by fragmentation in the open source platform.

Apple and Microsoft both have strict control over the iPhone and Windows Phone 7 platforms they offer, making it easier to build secure apps for devices using those platforms.

This isn't the first complaint about the difficulty in writing software for the platform. More than 200,000 Android handsets ship daily and devices floating around are powered by Android 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, and soon, version 2.3.

Because not every build offers the same protections, this makes it difficult to write one unifying app that won't break across the builds

For the complete article, please click here.

Monsoon revamps Vulkano media streamer lineup

Monsoon has rebranded its lineup of Vulkano placeshifting multimedia streaming devices and added a new, barebones model. The Vulkano and Vulkano Pro introduced this past summer now become the Vulkano Deluxe and Vulkano Deluxe Pro, respectively, while a third model, the Vulkano Platinum, has been added.

It also foregoes any onboard storage, but does get Wi-Fi and allows users to watch live streaming TV content on their Android, BlackBerry and iPhone smartphones as well as the iPad. It uses H.264 compression for not quite HD video quality but just 150kbps of necessary bandwidth.

For the complete article, please click here.