At Ces '06, Entertainment Is Serious Business

Las Vegas—The annual cacophonic orgy of sight and sound that is the International Consumer Electronics Show this year solidified entertainment as the driver of the digital future.

Some joked that the event's acronym—CES—should now mean "Consumer Entertainment Show."

The official kickoff of CES was Jan. 5, just after press time. But in pre-show media briefings, keynotes and press conferences, digital media was pervasive.

On the gadget front, the biggest news was XM Satellite Radio's unveiling of four portable XM satellite devices with MP3-player capabilities. Pioneer's Inno and Samsung's Helix connect directly with XM's programming feed, while two less expensive devices from Samsung's Nexus line require a docking station. All double as MP3 players, so users can listen to their existing files.

The devices also let users save up to 50 hours of programming as individual songs and mix them into playlists with other music files. Sirius introduced a similar, MP3-playing, satellite music-storing device in August. Labels contend that since such capabilities essentially replace the need to buy music, they are tantamount to piracy (see story, page 22).

The other major music announcement was the launch of Verizon's mobile music service, called V Cast Music (see story, page 8).

Motorola revealed more detail about its iRadio service, first demonstrated at CES last year. Although still not live, the service will feature more than 400 channels of music and talk shows that can be accessed via various Motorola phones and streamed to Bluetooth-enabled stereos. Motorola will custom program most of the channels, with Clear Channel Communications providing additional content.

The music industry is already seeking alternative methods of delivering content to mobile devices. Of the greatest interest are mobile phones with WiFi connectivity, which would let users access existing music services.

Samsung unveiled what is thought to be the first dual wireless/WiMax device, and had the Goo Goo Dolls at its booth to help showcase the music-on-demand phones. WiMax is similar to WiFi but with a far greater range and capacity.

In other news, at least one prominent music publishing executive told Billboard that the market for ringtones may flatten or even decline this year after a record-setting 2005, putting more pressure on full-song downloads and other wireless music services to pick up the expected slack.

And in his annual pre-CES keynote address, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates gave a sneak peek into the new Vista operating system, expected to ship at the end of this year.

It is clear that with the new operating system, along with the new Windows Media Player 10, Microsoft is targeting Apple's dominance in the digital music space. Gates brought out MTV Networks president Van Toffler to give the first public demonstration of MTV's previously announced Urge music service, which MTV developed with Microsoft, and offers via WMP 10.

Justin Timberlake made a surprise appearance, hinting that his upcoming album may hold some exclusive elements for the Urge service.

"The technology is getting to the point where the consumer experience is really compelling," he said. "That's why MTV is here in numbers." ••••