PS3 will win say Yankees

Some of us believe that the future of the videogame industry is impossible to predict due to the unthinkable myriad of demographic, economic and developmental factors that contribute to the varying fortunes of different platforms. But we're wrong. Research companies know what's going to happen and thankfully they're willing to tell us.
This time The Yankee Group has issued a report announcing that Sony will hold off the stern challenges from Microsoft and Nintendo to once again dominate the world of interactive entertainments. The company's press release makes the following ardent declaration (if you would like the future of the videogame industry to remain a fantastical mystery please look away now:

by 2011 the PlayStation 3 will have sold about 30 million units and account for
44% of cumulative third-generation console sales in North America.
Comparatively, Microsoft will have sold nearly 27 million units by 2011,
accounting for 40% of the market and Nintendo will have sold just over 11
million units, accounting for 16% of the market.

I'd love to know how they come up with these figures - so precise, so assured. There must be complex mathematics and computers involved. I would hate to visit their offices and find a room full of smoking chimpanzees locked in cages and forced to point at pictures of different videogame consoles.
Unperturbed by the seeming impossibility of the task, they make more prophesies later in the release:

Overall, fewer consoles will be sold this generation. Yankee Group anticipates
that as a result of higher console prices, overall unit sales will lag the
previous generation of consoles (i.e., PS2, Xbox and GameCube).
Microsoft
will put significant price pressure on Sony during the PS3's lifecycle. In
addition to starting at a lower price than the PS3, Microsoft is well positioned
to make a large price cut in the spring of 2007 and each year
thereafter--putting significant price pressure on Sony.

Thank you for that Yankee Group. Thank God someone knows what's going on.
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Sony 50GB Dual Layer Blu-ray Discs Hit U.S.

Sony Electronics on Wednesday started shipping its 50GB dual layer Blu-ray Discs (BD) that feature its AccuCORE technology, though the discs can only be recorded onto once, according to a August 16 Sony press release on PRNewswire.com.
Sony said it will ship rewritable, dual layer 50GB discs by the end of the year.
Mike Lucas, director of marketing with Sony Electronics’ Media and Applications Solutions Division, said, “The arrival of 50GB Blu-ray Disc media is an important step in the evolution of this new format.”
Lucas also said the 50GB dual layer BDs can record up to four hours of HD quality video content at a transfer rate of 24 Mbps.

The discs feature Sony’s AccuCore technology, which provides such features as a scratch protector surface, strong archiving capability to prevent data corruption, and temperature safeguards to help protect against extreme heat or cold, according to the release.
Related Links:
U.S., Japan to Share Blu-ray Region Code
Report: DVD Format Wars to End in Draw

Hi-MD specs

Hi there
I invite you all to read the specs of Hi-MD...you'll be surprised!

Minidisco and Planet Minidisc Merge

David Karon, owner of Minidisco, has lifted the veil off the new version of his company. The aesthetics of the redesigned site is quite keen and general usability has improved greatly.

CDs will remain the main format

CDs will remain the main format

In commercial terms, music certainly generates a higher market value than the other arts, although a comprehensive market size for music in all its manifestations is impossible to calculate. Key Note has put a value of £3.03bn on consumer spending on music in 2005, derived from three sectors: recorded music ( which accounts for the bulk of the market ), live music and musical instruments. However, data for other related markets are included, such as equipment for home listening and viewing.

Amateur participation in music is on the increase generally and one in five adults describe music as their 'main hobby'. However, despite the interest in music, only 18% of adults go to concerts regularly, and Key Note believes there is great potential for the live music market. Encouragement for live events comes from public funders, such as the Art Councils, although funding is biased towards the more intellectual or minority types of music ( classical, jazz and world music ).

In mainstream music, recording and marketing are now dominated by just four 'majors' worldwide, one of which is the UK's own giant record company, EMI Group PLC. The other majors are Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, based in the US, and Sony BMG, a Japanese/German joint venture only created in 2004.

One of EMI's major strengths is its historic catalogue of recordings — and copyrights — which includes The Beatles and many other enduring acts of the last century. Although the music headlines tend to be dominated by new artists — for example, the Arctic Monkeys, whose first album shot to number one in 2006 — the fact is that most people's music tastes are fairly conservative and are rooted in the music they grew up with. Key Note's survey of artists that the public would take to a 'desert island' was topped by Abba, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Madonna, although Beethoven came fifth.