It seems as if the shift from Live Search to Bing is paying off for Microsoft. According to the folks at comScore,  the overall “search share” for Bing has jumped a suprising two percent in a week. According to those within the industry, the upswing in popularity is primarily due to user excitement over the upgrade. Still others say the ratings jump is due more to the Redmond’s “Bing-centric” advertising campaign than any sort of noticeable improvement. As always with stories like this, we will pass on any relevant news and information as it comes our way.

This, of course, got us to thinking. Bing can’t be the only search engine that is taking a shot at greatness. What about the others? That is where we come in. On today’s Free Line, we look at the other major search engine that is vying for mainstream appreciation: Wolfram Alpha. Will it succeed, or will their hopes collapse in a pile on the floor? We are about to find that very thing out.

Wolfram Alpha

Creators: Wolfram Research
Theory Behind the Hype: Despite the opinions to the contrary, the people behind Wolfram Alpha do not consider their creation to be a “search engine.” They see it more as an “answer engine” — a tool specifically designed to answer questions of the “what” and “how” variety. Supporters say that this technology will revolutionize the way people search for information online, thereby eliminating the need for “keyword engines” such as Google and Yahoo.
Positives: The system works! Questions such as “Where is Pittsburgh located?” and “What is Pizza Hut?” were answered within moments. For the former, we received a big orange map with a red dot symbolizing the “Steel City.” For the latter, we were given the financial details of Pizza Hut’s parent company, Yum! Brands.
Negatives: the entire engine comes off as being extremely cold and clinical. A search for The Beatles, for example, netted us a two line explanation of who they were and why they were popular. A query concerning the theory of relativity, on the other hand, provided us with a detailed list of facts, figures, and mathematical formulas. The other problem we have with Wolfram Alpha is its name. In our minds, an engine’s name should sound fun and inviting, like Google, Yahoo, or even Bing. Instead we get a name that sounds like it was stolen from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. While it isn’t a “bad” name, it isn’t necessarily lovable, either.
Chances of Hitting It Big: Iffy at best. It all depends on who they decide to cater their engine towards. If they keep with the “science” vibe, no one outside of that community will even bother. If they open it up to more fields of study and/or pop culture, they just might have a huge hit on their hands.

The use of the Internet on mobile devices is on the rise. According to a recent Nielsen survey, 49.7 million users say that they use their mobile phones and other devices to access the web — a nearly 74% increase from 2007. Those within the industry believe the increase is due to the advent of “unlimited data” plans, which allow users to go online as much they want for one flat fee. The other major factor in the number is  the iPhone. Those who regularly use Apple’s mobile megastar are four times as likely to use the built-in online functionality than those who do not. The runaway success of the iPhone has also spurred the development of several iPhone-level smart phones, which, in turn, could potentially drive the numbers up even further. Still, don’t expect the giant leap to happen just yet. Says Nielsen: “This summer, new phones like the Palm Pre, updates to Blackberry offerings, and phones using Google Android OS aim to challenge the iPhone’s ‘cool’ factor with touchscreens, mobile apps and other features. But right now, iPhone still has the stranglehold on buzz.”

In other news, it seems like the New York Times is serious about their online output. The legendary, albeit highly controversial, newspaper of record has officially relaunched the TimesReader, a handy web application designed to bring everyone closer to the news. Unlike previous versions of the app which relied on Microsoft’s experimental Silverlight protocol, the new TimesReader is built upon the Linux and Mac friendly Adobe AIR runtime environment. The biggest news, however is the app’s ability to store an entire week’s worth of content. Everything that is included in the print edition is available in its online counterpart, from the page to the editorials to even the crossword puzzle. Still, “an improved user experience” doesn’t exactly mean that it’s free of problems. Despite its attempt at indexing, the app does not provide a full search. If you want to find an article, you’ll have to look for it yourself. Minor inconveniences aside however, the shiny new app is definitely worth the old “once over.” Simply put, if you’re a fan of “all the news that is fit to print,” then Times Reader is for you.

And finally: As many fans of the Free Line already know, the folks at Google try their hardest to, in their own words, “not be evil.” One of the surefire ways to stay away from this so-called “corporate dark side” is by fostering competition. In a recent post on their Public Policy blog, Senior Manager Adam Kovacevich talked at length about their approach when it comes to others. According to Kovacevich, it all comes down to six main points.

1. Actively help other companies be more competitive.
2. Make it easy for users to “jump ship” to go to said competition.
3. Staying “open” is better than being closed.
4. “Competition is just a click away.”
5. “Advertisers pay what a click is worth to them.”
6. Advertisers have a ton of choices anymore.

Will these six bullet points ward off potential nasties such as the oft-rumored antitrust charges? Probably not, but it’s still nice words for a business to live by.

Anyone who has turned on a television these days knows about Twitter. There are a plethora of input devices compatible with the system, from the traditional keyboard and mouse setup to your phone’s number pad to even a video game controller. Still, there’s a new input method out there that has all of the others beat: your brain. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have created a system that allows users to access the obscenely popular microblogging service using only your mind. The actual device, which looks like a red swim cap with wires protruding outward, is actually an EEG machine designed to detect the various electrical impulses that occur within your noggin. Those very impulses are then translated into letters, number, and even a little blinking cursor. While it is a promising idea, don’t expect for “psychic tweeting” to become the next big fad just yet. At the present time, the device is only able to handle about eight words a minute. Improvements are coming, researchers say, but they are at least a few years away.

In other news, instant messaging is coming to a Hotmail inbox near you. Users are now able to access their MSN Messenger Windows Live Messenger accounts directly from the mail service’s main site. Despite the added convenience a feature like this brings, those within the industry found the update to be ever so slightly underwhelming … not to mention two to three years too late when compared to the competition. “[W]hat the [heck] took Microsoft so long,” asks TechCrunch writer Robin Wauters. “Hotmail has a gigantic mainstream user base who are not likely going to switch to an alternative webmail service en masse provided Microsoft keeps up with the times. But make no mistake about it: Microsoft is ridiculously late with adding this functionality to Hotmail.” The new feature is now available in several different countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, Germany, and Brazil.

And finally, a recent study claims that most of the music sold on the Internet today is purchased by those who actively partake in illegal downloading. According to the folks at the BI Norwegian School of Management, a “significant amount” of those surveyed say that they are more likely to by a song or an album after downloading it first. Although it might sound odd, the Norwegian study isn’t the first to link peer-to-peer file sharing with legal purchases. According to a poll conducted by the Canadian Record Industry Association in 2006, roughly 73% said that they routinely buy music after downloading it illegally.

Still, not everyone is exactly buying what the BI Norwegian School of Management is selling. “”There is one thing we are not going away, and it is the consumption of music increases, while revenue declines,” EMI record executive Bjørn Rogstad told Norwegian national newspaper Aftenposten. “It can not be explained in any way other than that the illegal downloading is over the legal sale of music.” Rogstad, and those like Rogstad, also point to the weak sales of full albums as proof that file sharing does not help the bottom line. Album sales were down nearly 14% in 2008, with the numbers falling steadily ever since. That said, no one can deny that there is distinct progress being made in this area. In casees such as this, any progress is good progress, no matter how small or insigificant it might seem.

In the past year, we here at the Free Line have seen Twitter used in a variety of unique and creative ways. With all due respect to the likes of Chris Bosh and Mark Cuban, no one has utilized the “in the moment” power of Twitter quite like the college students of Moldova. Bosh solicits travel directions and restaurant suggestions from his fans. Cuban angers the NBA on a fairly regular basis with his highly opinionated ramblings. The Moldovians, on the other hand … they use the service to help spark a revolution. Displeased with the underhanded and borderline illegal tactics employed by the country’s communist government, the students started a pro-freedom rally on the steps of the parliament building in Chisinau. The protesters have been using the microblogging service to not only give up-to-the-minute reports on the situation, but encourage others to join their cause. Thanks to the Tweets (and an odd YouTube video here and there), the students’ nonviolent protest has quickly turned into a full-on revolution. Like in many communist countries, access to ideas that fall outside of the “party line” is almost nonexistent for most Moldovians. By using services like Twitter to spread their message, dissenters can make sure their voices are truly heard.

In other news, next major evolution in websites could potentially cause some major headaches for professionals worldwide. As many of you now know, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — ICANN for short — has relaxed the rules concerning top-level domain names. Instead of being limited to the traditional .com, .net, and .org, consumers can now pick the domain name that fits him or her best. A wrestling promoter, for example, could use .suplex for their site instead of settling for comparatively boring suffixes like “.tv” or “.info.” This is where the problem comes in. Many major businesses, organizations, and services buy similar-sounding TLDs in order to prevent others from encroaching on their territories. When a business owner doesn’t take that level of care, bad things tend to happen. (The Whitehouse.gov/.com debacle of a few years ago comes to mind.) By adding a near unlimited amount of TLDs, site owners find themselves having to buy ten or twenty new names instead of just four or five. Added to that is the fact that in order to buy the domain suffix outright, the purchaser has to put at least $185,000 down and offer up another $25,000 a year formaintenence. ICANN feels that the new domains could lead to “one of the largest marketing and branding opportunities in history.” Others, such as Verizon vice president Sarah Deutsch, don’t have such a rosey view on things. “It costs companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, to enforce their trademark rights in the existing space, so imagine how expensive it will be when Verizon gets infringed in a thousand new domains,” Deutsch told USA Today. As far as she is concerned, the new TLDs are nothing more than a “form of extorsion.” As always with stories such as this, we’ll keep you updated with latest information as it comes available.

And finally: With what must seem like a trend, the mighty Google is once again on top of the search engine heap. Roughly 72.34% of all search traffic traveled through Google last March, an 8% increase over the previous year. The once — and if current trends indicate anything, future — runner up is Yahoo, which clocked in with a 16.36% market share, a 19% decrease compared to this time last year. Rounding out the top four are MSN Search (5.5% share; a 17% decrease) and Ask.com (4.07% share; a 1% decrease overall).

Dateline: The Internet. It looks as if the newspapers, the one-time princes of popular opinion that made Orson Welles seethe with red boiling anger and President Richard M. Nixon quake in his loafers, have gone stale. In a poll performed by the professionals at Gartner, only 20% of “Ma and Pa McGillicutty” use the superfluous search option located within all online news journals for the “news that’s fit to print,” while nearly 50% use the likes of Google and Yahoo. The pros at the paper say that it’s no coincidence that their once profitable concern is falling faster than a bi-plane in a tailspin. So who is it? Who is the mastermind behind this seemingly sinister scheme to make the media elite fall to the mat and cry uncle? From the looks of things, the upheaval is coming from a riotous band of merry makers known only as “social media sites.” In the mind of Gartner guru Allen Weiner, however, the old guard has no one to blame but themselves. “[P]ublishers are losing focus on the crucial imperative of how to capitalize on those consumers who remain loyal, engaged online and print readers,” Gartner told the fine folks at WebProNews. He also says the “big daddy newspaper” is unwilling to use skills they learned in grade school to get ahead. “[S]ome of the industry’s current failures fall under the category of looking past the basics… Even simple social media tools not only allow sharing and recommendations, but also provide a level of identity and reputation management to give others a snapshot of a content curator’s credentials.” Until the problem is fixed, he says, expect the “popular press” to continue its decent downward, hurling boldly to the cold ground below.

In other news, it seems as the NBA isn’t the only athletic organization that is questioning the use of web 2.0 technologies in sport. In a story brought to us by England’s Channel 4, the Referee’s Association of Italy has ratified a plan that would ban all football (soccer) officials from taking part in social media sites, writing blogs, or even participating in message boards. The new rules are a part of an overall set of restrictions that are designed to keep the general populous — the media, fans, and most importantly, the more undesirable parts of society — as far away from the officials as humanly possible. By keeping the refs out of the public eye, the theory goes, they are less likely to be involved in “unwanted activities” such as rigging games or getting into publicized skirmished with members of the press. The actual referees have no comment on the decision at this time.

And finally: CVS and Medco are coming soon to a web browser near you, in a way. The popular drug store chains have signed a deal that will allow pharmacy customers to view their prescription histories online through Google Health. Although the notion of having your history floating around on the Internet might make some feel a bit uneasy, it’s for a good cause. According to the folks at Google, the new service is designed to help patients avoid accidentally overdosing on medication by giving them an easy way to keep track of it all. “Having a list of all your medications all in one place from the pharmacies you shop at helps your doctor, pharmacist and other care providers do a better job of taking care of you,” writes product manager Maneesh Arora on The Official Google Blog. “[I]t’s estimated that 1.5 million Americans are sickened or injured each year by errors in prescribing, dispensing and/or taking medicationsys… Making your medications known to those who care for you is a simple step to ensure you get the best possible care.” The new “prescription histories” feature is available now for all CVS and Medco pharmacy users.

Thanks to the fickle beauty that is our broadband Internet connection, we’re cutting things a tad short today. We will be running at full steam tomorrow. In the mean time…

Despite popular opinion to the contrary, not everyone minds getting a full-sized portion of free media with a slice of advertising on the side. According to a new poll conducted by KPMG, roughly 29% of cell phone users in the US said that they would gladly sit through a few digital ads if it meant getting their (legal) music for free. When looked at from a global perspective, the number jumps to a surprising 49%. “[W]e may be seeing a new window of opportunity that advertisers have been seeking for so long,” KPMG spokesman Carl Geppert told WebProNews. “We are seeing sizeable [sic] segments of the mobile marketplace that are willing to… accept advertising in return for free songs… [A]dvertisers may need to examine their business models to accommodate those new growth opportunities.”

In other news, it seems as if the folks at Twitter have decided to switch things up a bit and change their tittle tags. Instead of using the traditional “user name / Twitter” combination that users have grown to ignore, the new tittles now feature their full name — the user name is now surrounded by parentheses — followed by the prepositional phrase “on Twitter.” The reason for the change involves one word: Google. The new titles make it easier for the search engine to find the physical page. More hits leads to better (and higher) site rankings. And as we all know, the better the site ranking, the more exposure the site in question gets. Many within the industry see the change as Twitter’s attempt to be mentioned in the same breath as Facebook and MySpace. The new titles are up and running now.

And finally: At this stage of the game, most people have at least heard about Hulu, the up-and-coming video site that features many popular television shows for free. While it’s great for the times that you want to catch up on The Office, but useless if you’re in the mood for a bit of multi-variable calculus or a two-hour explanation on why some feel that Freud was a hack. Don’t worry, because Academic Earth has you covered. Academic Earth is a new site that features the best lectures the college world has to offer. Several subjects are currently available, from economics to theology to medicine and everything in between, all for free. Now we realize that a site full of theorems, hypothesises, and Thomas Friedman lectures isn’t up everyone’s alley. Still, a brief stop-over in the world of academia doesn’t hurt from time to time. Academic Earth is available now for all users.

Hulu is now the fourth most popular online video site in the US, according to research firm comScore. The much-talked about site gained a staggering ten million users over the course of the last month, bringing their total viewership to a shocking 37.4 million users. Many within the industry say the sharp rise is due to the site’s creative advertising campaign, which features the likes of Alec Baldwin and Family Guy creator/generally controversial figure Seth MacFarlane as alien invaders. Other rankings of note include YouTube (99.3 million users), Fox Media/MySpace (53.7 million users) and Yahoo (41.6 million users).

In other news, Facebook isn’t the only social networking site of note undergoing a drastic design change. LinkedIn, the network geared towards business people and the folks who love them, have recently unveiled their own set of improvements. The first thing that you will notice is the inbox … or rather, the total lack of one. Instead of it looming large over your front page like it used to, the inbox now only appears when there are actual messages to be read. Once inside, you’ll run into the second major improvement — tabs. These are designed to make both reading and sorting your mail a quick and painless experience. The new inbox is just one of many planned improvemnet aimed at increasing productivity and usability. The mailbox of your dreams is available now for all users.

And finally: A slate of classic films have finally received a new lease on life. The folks at Warner Brothers have just put the finishing touches on the “Warner Archive,” a video site that specializes in “forgotten classics.” The Archive features over 150 long out-of-print films made before 1986, such as “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” the golf-centric silent film “Spring Fever,” and Paul Simon’s “One Trick Pony,” which is more remembered for the song “Late In the Evening” than the actual film. What makes the Archive special is its “on demand” nature. Unlike most DVD-based services of this type, the actual disc is created only after the user orders the film. Not only does this method cut down on labor and storage costs, it makes the concept of “niche entertainment” economically viable. The discs from the Warner Archive start at $20 a pop. Digital versions of the film in question are available for $15.

While the “DVD-on-demand” concept is still considered to be a fairly “recent” idea, it is by no means new. Anyone who has attempted to purchase a high school football retrospective or lesser-known professional wresting DVD in the past ten years have seen the on-demand concept at work. Many smaller video companies, such as Smart Mark Video and Pittsburgh-based Digital Horizons, have built their distribution systems on variations of that very concept. Amazon also utilizes on-demand as a way to sell their severs full of children’s programming from the 1990’s.

Expect to see more on the topic of video creation and distribution on an upcoming episode of the Free Line.

Despite the questionable state of the economy, there’s one small industry that is still seeing positive growth: domain registration. According to a new poll by VeriSign, roughly 177 million new domain names were registered in 2008, a 16% increase from the previous year. Those close to the situation cite the emergence of markets such as China and India, as well as a general “relaxing” of the domain name rules, as possible reasons for the increase. As in previous years, the veritable “.com” leads the way, with 90.4 million names registered. Other heavy hitters include .cn (China), .de (Germany), .net, .org.

Elsewhere, it seems as if AOL’s MediaGlow line of sites are a bit more popular than once suspected. The sites, which specialize in delivering content to so-called “niche” audiences, received nearly seven billion page hits over the past year. “MediaGlow has started 2009 by reaching its largest audience to date and building core brands that are at scale,”MediaGlow President Bill Wilson told WebProNews. “We are creating valuable brands that are driving engagement and attracting a larger audience.” Wilson says that roughly thirty new sites will be launched in 2009, including several single-sport hubs and a community that caters exclusively to mixed martial arts fans.

Moving to the “viral” end of things, anti-virus firm TrendMicro has discovered a new malware program designed specifically to attack Internet Explorer 7. Disguising itself as a harmless .doc file, the program uses an oddball IE7 bug to download and install a variety of nasty, harmful, and otherwise dangerous things. The computer is then turned into a zombie system, sending screenshots of the victim’s desktop to the attackers’ servers at various predetermined intervals. As always, make sure that both your anti virus software and Windows are up-to-date. Zombies are meant for horror novels, video games, and George Romero films, not your home office.

In much, much happier news, rock band The Presidents of the United States of America have found an interesting way to distribute their music to the masses — create an iPhone application. The new app gives users access to most of the bands recordings, including their hard-to-find demo album and a constantly-updating list of new and unreleased material, all uncut and commercial free. Similar to other streaming apps like Slacker and Pandora, users are unable to create a proper play list, although “by-album” filtering is possible. Each song also features a link to iTunes, making the act of physicially buying tracks quick and painless. The app, which has been described by Presidents lead singer Dave Dereeder as a “Whitman’s Sampler for the ears,” is available now for all iPhone users.

And finally: The Presidents aren’t the only group with an official-sounding name to turn to the Internet for funds. New York governor David Patterson has revealed a plan that would add the state’s 4% sales to all downloads. The tax plan is designed to help the state fight its way out of debt, which is said be in the $15 billion range. Many lawmakers support the bill, with one going as far to say that the tax would help “legitimize” outlets with otherwise “questionable” reputations, such as the porn industry. As many fans of the Free Line know, this isn’t the first time the state of New York has attempted to add a tax to digital downloads. Last December, the state assembly tried to pass a bill that would allow the lawmakers to tax various “discretionary income” items, including downloads, taxi rides, and cable television service. Unlike the first bill, the new proposal will be limited to digital downloads only. At press time, neither side has officially commented on the issue.

Charging corporate users to use Twitter might not be as ridiculous as once thought. According to Abrams Research, 39.6% of business owners interviewed would willingly pay a monthly fee in order to use the microblogging service. Many within the industry see the poll as proof of Twitter’s emerging presence in the corporate world and a testament to its staying power. On the other end of the spectrum, 41.1% say that gaming/social networking hybrid site ImInLikeWithYou.com is the most likely to shut down in the next year. Bebo, the United Kingdom’s favorite networking site, comes in at a very distant second with 12.4% of the vote.

Sticking with Twitter for a moment, ESPN personality Dan Le Batard has a few interesting thoughts concerning the service’s popularity with athletes. Appearing as a guest host on Pardon the Interruption, the newspaper columnist/talk show host sees “technological advances” such as microblogging and text messaging as a way of eliminating the need for sports writers. “We’re fast approaching the day where [professional athletes] don’t need the media at all… They’re not going to need the Sports Illustrated cover. They can create their own connections with the fans without our help.” Le Batard’s comments echo the sediments of NBA all-star Chris Bosh, who says he uses Twitter to get everything from driving directions to restaurant suggestions. Fellow all-star and all-around media maven Shaquille O’Neal is also a fan of the service, saying he currently has “about” 93,000 followers.

In other news, MySpace Mobile is getting a much needed overhaul. The new site is created to replicate its full-featured brother as closely as possible, allowing the user to “drift” between interfaces with ease. In addition to the site, the company also announced support for both Nokia handsets and Palm webOS, making MySpace the only social network with a free standing app on every major mobile platform. Those close to the company say the moves could not have come at a better time. Mobile use of networks, especially MySpace, is projected to top 50% within a year or two.

Elsewhere, it seems as if the new, improved TV.com is getting noticed. Hulu, a one-time partner, has pulled all of its content from the site. A few months ago, owner CBS has turned the once innocuous site into a high-tech, online video powerhouse. As such, it was only a matter of time that the proverbial battle lines were drawn. Despite the pull out, TV.com users still have access to content from a variety of networks, including Showtime, Sony, and, of course, CBS. Hulu fans who don’t feel like visiting the main site can still catch its content on the Comcast-sponsored Fancast and Sling.com.

And finally: As you might have noticed, the top three or four links on the average Google search result page are now YouTube videos. The underlying reason for this is due to the company’s “Universal Search” initiative, which allows all Google-owned properties to be searched at any given moment. This tells us three things:

1. When choosing between a finely tuned website and a YouTube video, Google search is much more likely to choose the video — fifty times more likely, says Forrester Research.
2. The old days of the “viral video” are gone. Search engines, particularly Google, are the future.
3. At this stage of the game, videos need YouTube. Without it, your video is much less likely to be picked up by the main search engine.

So what can you do? That’s where the YouTube Secret Weapon comes in. The YouTube Secret Weapon is a brand new project that will not only show you how to optimize your videos, but why optimization works the way it does. The end result is a list of highly ranked, notable videos sitting on top of good ol’ Mount Google. It’s an easy system to follow, completely cost effective, and most importantly, it works. Simply put, the YouTube Secret Weapon will help your video-powered masterpiece top the charts, without making your wallet sob uncontrollably.

The United States government could be getting a bit more “open,” so to speak. An unnamed group of software developers have written an open letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to consider embracing open source technology. In the letter, the group says that those who participate in the open source and FOSS distribution systems “mirror [the values the president] promoted in [his] campaign: hope, change, and openness.” While the idea of going open may be new to the mainstream federal government, it is far from a new idea. Governments and organizations as diverse as the Department of Defense, the state of Massachusetts, and France have experimented with open software, all with varying degrees of success.

In other news, survey firm InsightExpress has uncovered a few interesting tidbits about social networking sites. According to the poll, roughly 71% of users have two or three profiles on a variety of different networks. MySpace is the clear winner in this field, taking in 78% of the user share. Facebook comes in at a respectable second with 71% of the audience, followed by Classmates (22%) and LinkedIn (11%). Users with four or more profiles, however, are a completely different story. Out of these users, 92% say that they frequent Facebook, while only 89% visit MySpace. Industry insiders say the numbers, much like the recent “aging Facebook” story, prove that networking is moving from “teenage fad” to a readily accepted means of communication.

Staying within the world of social media for a moment, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has a few controversial ideas when it comes to making money off of his service. “We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them,” said Stone in an interview with British publication Marketing Magazine. “We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts.” He also sees the potential of using the popular microblogging service as a tool in both the customer service and marketing industries. Despite the plans, Stone is quick to point out that average users will never be charged to use Twitter.

Elsewhere, it seems as if the Internet radio industry is on the rise. According to a new poll by AccuStream Research, users spent a staggering 6.67 billion hours listening online — a 37.6% increase from 2007. As with years past, do-it-yourself radio pioneers SHOUTcast lead the way, coming in with a 27.6% user share. Feeds derived from a bevy of Clear Channel-owned music stations came in second, bringing in a respectable 16.5% share. “Online music programmers are passionate about radio, and adapting their businesses to an inspired yet challenging marketplace,” research director Paul A. Palumbo told WebProNews. “In 2009 their focus is on running lean, efficient operations, capping international streams while pitching local, regional and national avails.”

And finally, someone new has taken over the reigns of an online music store — you. The People’s Music Store is based around the crazy idea that you know what’s best to listen to. Each file in your own personal store is available in mp3 format, so none of your customers can blame those pesky DRM woes on you. Unfortunately, unless your a fan of the “indie scene” or live in the United Kingdom, the library of available music is less than spectacular right now. None of the major labels have signed off on the plan, and some of the other albums are currently unavailable in North America. That said, the People’s Music Store is still a great way to share your musical tastes with the world, even if your favorite tracks aren’t around at the moment.