Summer melt season is getting longer on the Antarctic Peninsula, new research shows.

Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
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Contact: Paul B Holland
pbmho@bas.ac.uk
44-012-232-21226
British Antarctic Survey

New research from the Antarctic Peninsula shows that the summer melt season has been getting longer over the last 60 years -- Increased summer melting has been linked to the rapid break-up of ice shelves in the area and rising sea level

New research from the Antarctic Peninsula shows that the summer melt season has been getting longer over the last 60 years. Increased summer melting has been linked to the rapid break-up of ice shelves in the area and rising sea level.

The Antarctic Peninsula a mountainous region extending northwards towards South America is warming much faster than the rest of Antarctica. Temperatures have risen by up to 3 oC since the 1950s three times more than the global average. This is a result of a strengthening of local westerly winds, causing warmer air from the sea to be pushed up and over the peninsula. In contrast to much of the rest of Antarctica, summer temperatures are high enough for snow to melt.

This summer melting may have important effects. Meltwater may enlarge cracks in floating ice shelves which can contribute to their retreat or collapse. As a result, the speed at which glaciers flow towards the sea will be increased. Also, melting and refreezing causes snow layers to become thinner and more dense, affecting the height of the snow surface above sea level. Scientists need to know this so they can interpret satellite data correctly.

Dr Nick Barrand, who carried out the research while working for the British Antarctic Survey, led an analysis of data from 30 weather stations on the peninsula. "We found a significant increase in the length of the melting season at most of the stations with the longest temperature records" he says. "At one station the average length of the melt season almost doubled between 1948 and 2011."

To build up a more complete picture across the whole peninsula, the team (funded by the European Union's ice2sea programme) also analysed satellite data collected by an instrument called a scatterometer. Using microwave reflections from the ice sheet surface, the scatterometer was able to detect the presence of meltwater. The team were able to produce maps of how the melt season varied from 1999 to 2009, and showed that several major ice shelf breakup events coincided with longer than usual melt seasons. This supports the theory that enlargement of cracks by meltwater is the main mechanism for ice shelf weakening and collapse.

The researchers also compared data from both the satellite and weather stations with the output of a state-of-the-art regional climate model.

Dr Barrand, who now works at the University of Birmingham, says, "We found that the model was very good at reproducing the pattern and timing of the melt, and changes in melting between years. This increases confidence in the use of climate models to predict future changes to snow and ice cover in the Antarctic Peninsula."

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Trends in Antarctic Peninsula surface melting conditions from observations and regional climate modeling will be officially published in the Journal of Geophysical Research this week.

To request an interview with Dr Nick Barrand please contact Catherine Byerley, International Media Relations Manager at the University of Birmingham. Tel: +44 (0)121 414 8254; Email: c.j.byerley@bham.ac.uk

For information on ice2sea contact Paul B. Holland at the British Antarctic Survey Communications Office, Cambridge. Tel: +44 (0)1223 221226; Email: pbmho@bas.ac.uk

Images and paper available on request.

Notes to editors:

Ice2sea brings together the EU's scientific and operational expertise from 24 leading institutions across Europe and beyond. Improved projections of the contribution of ice to sea-level rise produced by this major programme funded by the European Commission's Framework 7 Programme (grant agreement 226375) will inform the fifth IPCC report (due in 2013). In 2007, the fourth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report highlighted ice-sheets as the most significant remaining uncertainty in projections of sea-level rise.

The work was also funded by NSF grant ANT 1141973.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Paul B Holland
pbmho@bas.ac.uk
44-012-232-21226
British Antarctic Survey

New research from the Antarctic Peninsula shows that the summer melt season has been getting longer over the last 60 years -- Increased summer melting has been linked to the rapid break-up of ice shelves in the area and rising sea level

New research from the Antarctic Peninsula shows that the summer melt season has been getting longer over the last 60 years. Increased summer melting has been linked to the rapid break-up of ice shelves in the area and rising sea level.

The Antarctic Peninsula a mountainous region extending northwards towards South America is warming much faster than the rest of Antarctica. Temperatures have risen by up to 3 oC since the 1950s three times more than the global average. This is a result of a strengthening of local westerly winds, causing warmer air from the sea to be pushed up and over the peninsula. In contrast to much of the rest of Antarctica, summer temperatures are high enough for snow to melt.

This summer melting may have important effects. Meltwater may enlarge cracks in floating ice shelves which can contribute to their retreat or collapse. As a result, the speed at which glaciers flow towards the sea will be increased. Also, melting and refreezing causes snow layers to become thinner and more dense, affecting the height of the snow surface above sea level. Scientists need to know this so they can interpret satellite data correctly.

Dr Nick Barrand, who carried out the research while working for the British Antarctic Survey, led an analysis of data from 30 weather stations on the peninsula. "We found a significant increase in the length of the melting season at most of the stations with the longest temperature records" he says. "At one station the average length of the melt season almost doubled between 1948 and 2011."

To build up a more complete picture across the whole peninsula, the team (funded by the European Union's ice2sea programme) also analysed satellite data collected by an instrument called a scatterometer. Using microwave reflections from the ice sheet surface, the scatterometer was able to detect the presence of meltwater. The team were able to produce maps of how the melt season varied from 1999 to 2009, and showed that several major ice shelf breakup events coincided with longer than usual melt seasons. This supports the theory that enlargement of cracks by meltwater is the main mechanism for ice shelf weakening and collapse.

The researchers also compared data from both the satellite and weather stations with the output of a state-of-the-art regional climate model.

Dr Barrand, who now works at the University of Birmingham, says, "We found that the model was very good at reproducing the pattern and timing of the melt, and changes in melting between years. This increases confidence in the use of climate models to predict future changes to snow and ice cover in the Antarctic Peninsula."

###

Trends in Antarctic Peninsula surface melting conditions from observations and regional climate modeling will be officially published in the Journal of Geophysical Research this week.

To request an interview with Dr Nick Barrand please contact Catherine Byerley, International Media Relations Manager at the University of Birmingham. Tel: +44 (0)121 414 8254; Email: c.j.byerley@bham.ac.uk

For information on ice2sea contact Paul B. Holland at the British Antarctic Survey Communications Office, Cambridge. Tel: +44 (0)1223 221226; Email: pbmho@bas.ac.uk

Images and paper available on request.

Notes to editors:

Ice2sea brings together the EU's scientific and operational expertise from 24 leading institutions across Europe and beyond. Improved projections of the contribution of ice to sea-level rise produced by this major programme funded by the European Commission's Framework 7 Programme (grant agreement 226375) will inform the fifth IPCC report (due in 2013). In 2007, the fourth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report highlighted ice-sheets as the most significant remaining uncertainty in projections of sea-level rise.

The work was also funded by NSF grant ANT 1141973.

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/bas-sms032713.php

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Reuters: Wal-Mart looking into crowd-sourcing online delivery

Walmart is considering the slightly insane sounding idea of using its in-store customers to deliver online orders to help it compete with bricks and mortar-less competitors like Amazon, according to Reuters. The big box outfit currently ships internet purchases out from just 25 of its stores, using the likes of FedEx to handle delivery, but plans to drastically increase that number going forward. In theory, customers could sign up for the chore and drop packages off to customers who are on their route home in exchange for a discount on their shopping bill. CEO Joel Anderson he could "see a path to where this is crowd-sourced," adding that "this is at the brain-storming stage, but it's possible in a year or two." Naturally, there's a gauntlet of insurance, theft, fraud and legal issues to be overcome -- along with the slightly skeevy idea of having a random stranger arrive with your packages.

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Source: Reuters

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/7PFZWAb5Afo/

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Developer Choice Of Games gives you story options on Android

Life of a Wizard is more or less a legitimate RPG, in book form. The story is told in first person text, but you get to make all the important decisions, and those decisions shape what kind of person you will be and what your strengths and weaknesses are as well as how the story plays out. It's an awesome concept, and those of us who like to play engrossing games, specifically because we like the stories, will find a lot to love here.

But what I discovered later was that Life of a Wizard is the product of a company called Choice Of Games, and they have made a whole bunch of games like this for Android. And so for the last week I found myself doing little but playing through these games just to see what kind of stuff I could get into.

---

Also on Android Apps

The Indianapolis 500 is one of the world?s oldest auto races. You can learn more about the cars and the people who race them thanks to this Guest Post from Zinio.

---

My favorite of these text-based Android games is called Choice of Romance, about a young boy or girl (your choice) who goes to court in a light fantasy universe to try to find a suitable suitor. I chose to be a lady, and as it begins things are fairly typical of this kind of story. Your family wants you to marry the rich yet not particularly interesting or attractive guy, because it will be good for both you and all your relatives. Meanwhile, there is also a dashing man with little money but who seems pretty cool, and also the king is making eyes at you.

In my version of the tale, I chose to court the dashing man while also having an affair with the king, eventually, my suitor found out I was cheating and dumped me, and so I was left to be one of the king's consorts. Eventually, I gained great power in that role, but I wanted it all. So I conspired to kill the queen and take her place. Unfortunately, due to my earlier character-shaping choices I did a poor job of this, and while the queen did end up dead I was found out. Thus, I was beheaded, and so was my father.

That a seemingly mundane story about going to court for the first time could end up with my character being executed was quite thrilling. I always enjoyed those Choose Your Own Adventure novels because I wanted to see how my character could die, and so I found this result to be a positive experience.

I also tried out one called Choice of Zombies, and in that one you go on a grand quest through a world infested by, you guessed it, zombies. This one was a bit different from the others I played, in that the story is dictated by the number of side quests. Yes, even?a text adventure like this has side quests. As you drive around looking for shelter, you can take detours and collect party members, or you can play it safe and try to get through it alone. In this story, outcomes are dictated almost entirely by the yes or no decisions you make, rather than behind the scenes stats you've collected.

I can't say I prefer one method or another. I would say I like both ways of telling the stories. Having complete control over everything you do is fun, but also having these things be a real game of sorts in which what you can do is dictated by our skills is also fun. Hurrah for having both options.

Life of a Wizard, to bring us back to the beginning, is heavily stats-based. You have and develop skills as you grow up and go on adventures, and while it seems every choice has a ton of options you will only be able to take a few or maybe even none of them. That can be frustrating every once in a while, but it also adds to replayability. I've gone through that one three times just to see how it plays out if I choose different skills.

There are still many more of these games I have yet to play, and you'd better believe I'll continue to try them out. I encourage you to do so as well, as these can be quite interesting and fun. Now, if only some ambitious developer would take story structures like these and combine them with real gameplay, and we might have an honest-to-god mobile gaming paradise on our hands. But for now, I'll be happy that these text-based games exist for my enjoyment.

Source: http://www.androidapps.com/games/articles/13342-developer-choice-of-games-gives-you-story-options-on-android

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Certain breast cancers have a trait that could be attacked by new therapies

Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tim Wall
walltj@missouri.edu
573-882-3346
University of Missouri-Columbia

More than 100 women per day die from breast cancer in the United States. The odds of developing breast cancer increase for women taking hormone replacement therapy to avoid the effects of menopause. New research by University of Missouri scientist Salman Hyder may lead to treatments for breast cancers associated with taking these synthetic hormones. Hyder, along with an international team, found that hormone-therapy-related breast cancer cells have a physical feature that could be attacked by cancer therapies.

"We identified a specific cell membrane protein that blocks cell death in breast cancer cells and allows these cells to grow in response to hormone replacement therapy," said Hyder. "Others have observed an over-abundance of these proteins in a population of breast cancer cells which may explain increased risk of breast cancer in women who consume hormone replacement therapy. Therapies could be developed that would block the activity of these cell membrane proteins, which would make cancer cells more likely to die. The membrane protein is known as PGRMC1."

The proteins identified by Hyder and his colleagues were affected by progestin, one of the hormones given to women to stave off the effects of menopause. Progestin is a synthetic chemical which mimics the hormone progesterone. In hormone replacement therapy, doctors prescribe progestin along with synthetic replicas of the hormone, estrogen.

"Every progestin type that we have tested has negative effects," said Hyder. "A growing body of evidence suggests women should be wary before taking progestin. However, if women take only synthetic estrogens, such as estradiol, it leads to a higher risk of uterine cancer. Hence, the two must be taken together, but even then they seem to still increase cancer risks in post-menopausal women."

###

The study "Overexpression of progesterone receptor membrane component 1: possible mechanism for increased breast cancer risk with norethisterone in hormone therapy" was published in the journal Menopause. Salman Hyder is the Zalk Endowed Professor in Tumor Angiogenesis and professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. The research into PGRMC1 was led by Hans Neubauer of the University of Tubingen, Germany. The research team included Michael Cahill of Charles Sturt University in Australia.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tim Wall
walltj@missouri.edu
573-882-3346
University of Missouri-Columbia

More than 100 women per day die from breast cancer in the United States. The odds of developing breast cancer increase for women taking hormone replacement therapy to avoid the effects of menopause. New research by University of Missouri scientist Salman Hyder may lead to treatments for breast cancers associated with taking these synthetic hormones. Hyder, along with an international team, found that hormone-therapy-related breast cancer cells have a physical feature that could be attacked by cancer therapies.

"We identified a specific cell membrane protein that blocks cell death in breast cancer cells and allows these cells to grow in response to hormone replacement therapy," said Hyder. "Others have observed an over-abundance of these proteins in a population of breast cancer cells which may explain increased risk of breast cancer in women who consume hormone replacement therapy. Therapies could be developed that would block the activity of these cell membrane proteins, which would make cancer cells more likely to die. The membrane protein is known as PGRMC1."

The proteins identified by Hyder and his colleagues were affected by progestin, one of the hormones given to women to stave off the effects of menopause. Progestin is a synthetic chemical which mimics the hormone progesterone. In hormone replacement therapy, doctors prescribe progestin along with synthetic replicas of the hormone, estrogen.

"Every progestin type that we have tested has negative effects," said Hyder. "A growing body of evidence suggests women should be wary before taking progestin. However, if women take only synthetic estrogens, such as estradiol, it leads to a higher risk of uterine cancer. Hence, the two must be taken together, but even then they seem to still increase cancer risks in post-menopausal women."

###

The study "Overexpression of progesterone receptor membrane component 1: possible mechanism for increased breast cancer risk with norethisterone in hormone therapy" was published in the journal Menopause. Salman Hyder is the Zalk Endowed Professor in Tumor Angiogenesis and professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. The research into PGRMC1 was led by Hans Neubauer of the University of Tubingen, Germany. The research team included Michael Cahill of Charles Sturt University in Australia.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uom-cbc032713.php

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Today in History

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo!, try visiting the Yahoo! homepage or look through a list of Yahoo!'s online services.

Please try Yahoo Help Central if you need more assistance.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/today-history-050206767.html

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Astrology 102 03/26 by Starseed Radio Academy | Blog Talk Radio

The Down & Dirty welcomes comedian/writer/podcaster Neal Brennan. He's known as co-creator of the Chappelle's Show and is appearing at the Laugh Factory this weekend.

IBM X-Force research team and professionals pause to read their own report on the trends and risks affecting IT Security.

Spencer Hughes is joined by television game show host legend, American pop icon, and Conservative Chuck Woolery!!

Philosopher Dr. Diana Hsieh will interview Professor Robert Garmong about "Should We Fear or Embrace China?"

Matthew A. Cherry debuts his first feature film "The Last Fall" a coming of age sports drama about the difficulties an NFL player faces when transitioning to life after his playing days are over.

Raychelle Cassada Lohmann?, M.S., L.P.C?., is a professional counselor, author, speaker, blogger for ?P?sychology Today? ?and contributor to ?Sharecar

Molly Fienning talks about her "aha" moment while on the flight line waiting for her husband Ted when she conceived the concept of "Babiators" sun-protecting aviator sunglasses for children.

Dr. Robert Hopper, PhD, the author of the book ?Stick With Exercise?, to talk about the best practices to guarantee exercise success.

Laura Theodore welcomes popular cookbook authors and chefs Nava Atlas, Leslie Cerier and Fran Costigan, to hear about how plant-based diets are good for your overall health.

Get Focused Radio welcomes special guest Elliot Tiber, the man who was instrumental in arranging the site for the original Woodstock Concert.

Debbi Dachinger is an expert in goal achievement. Debbi is a radio and TV personality; a three-time bestselling author, keynote speaker, and coach.

Best-selling authors Mali Apple and Joe Dunn discuss their award winning book, The Soulmate Experience and share what it takes to find your soulmate at mid-life.

Expert freshwater guide Gregg Silks jons the show with tips for you to become a great freshwater angler.

Alexis Babini is more than an average singer/songwriter, he's positioned to make a major impact on national music scenes.

Media Nite Radio welcomes actor, producer, director Patrick Kilpatrick to discuss his new film, "Active Shooter".

Sultry, hip and passionate best describes the lyric and music of the singing sensation the talented, victorious and beautiful Darnaa!

Matthew Ward is a Historian, an Edutainer and runs History Needs You, appeared in three series of the successful television show Horrible Histories and alsoThe Da Vinci Code.

Afronerd Radio welcomes iconic saxophonist, Maceo Parker to the show to discuss his new memoir, 98% Funky: My Life in Music.

Nigel McGuinness is a former Ring of Honor Wrestling World Champion and TNA Superstar, Nigel will discuss his self-made documentary "The Last of McGuinness".

Marsha Ambrosius a talented, sought after songwriter and revered platinum-selling artist is reinventing herself as a solo artist with her J Records debut disc Late Nights.

In this episode from The Lynch Series actress Laura Harring discusses her experiences working on the acclaimed film Mulholland Dr.

The King Jordan welcomes guest Mickey Sherman, who will be breaking down the Jodi Arias trial, Cannibal Cop, The Ohio Rape Case, and George Zimmerman Case.

Visit with Flula Borg. He has millions of YouTube views, many fans, a few albums, two books, celebrity interviews, yet Starbucks baristas still can't spell his name right on cups.

Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/starseed-radio-academy/2013/03/26/astrology-102

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Will streaming music services bring high-res audio back, or kill it for ...

Regardless of which side of the digital audio fence you prefer to hang your shears, there is no question that the market has spoken in terms of its acceptance of digital downloads and streaming music services. Tens of millions of consumers wake up every single day and get their groove on via digital music services like Pandora and Spotify. The transition from getting our music via physical media to getting it from the cloud is an amazing advancement, currently only limited by bandwidth and the ability of those in less-developed nations to attain access. And now that cloud-based music services and personalized Internet radio have the metrics to prove their worth, we can expect to see some big changes in the music industry. But will high resolution audio be part of this revolution, or will those of us who prefer quality over quantity be forced to continue living on the fringe, doomed to toting around clunky hardware so that we can have access to high-quality music wherever we go?

Those who pray to the God of Mp3 may scoff at the non-believers who continue to profess the quality of high resolution audio and how it could take the streaming ecosystem into the heavens, but to negate the need for high resolution audio downloads and streaming channels is to deny technological progress. Still, if the market says ?no?, who are audiophiles to dictate how things need to be? How do the people who feed you your daily dose of music and build the hardware that makes it possible feel about all of this? You might be surprised to learn just how much they side with the audio nerds.

While wandering the halls of some off-site venue at CES 2006, I accidentally bumped into a guy who was waiting for his opportunity to listen to a sound system ? coincidentally, it was the same one I wanted to hear. After apologizing (so Canadian), we introduced ourselves, after which he proceeded to pitch me on this new music steaming service that he was about to launch. His service was going to be really different. It would offer better music, improved sound quality, and a different kind of social interaction with people who liked the same kind of music you did. He told me that it would eventually offer high resolution audio (which in 2006 probably meant 16-bit/44.1 CD-quality), but that wasn?t his focus, despite having a personal affinity for high-end audio. David Hyman and I exchanged business cards and, many months later, I became a MOG user.?

Years later, when MOG was acquired by Beats Electronics in July 2012, alarm bells must have gone off in the offices of chief rivals Spotify and Pandora. Beats, which includes the wildly popular Beats by Dr. Dre headphone brand, was capitalizing on its enormous cash flow and market dominance by throwing its very large hat into the streaming audio arena. Project ?Daisy,? as it is now officially known, does not have a specific launch date (late 2013 is the most we?ve heard), but the principals behind it, including CEO Ian Rogers (formerly of Topspin Media ? a company which developed direct marketing software so artists could have better interaction with their fans), Dr. Dre, CCO Trent Reznor, and music producer Jimmy Iovine, have pledged that ?Daisy? is going to be really different. We?ve been told to expect better sound quality, easier music discovery, direct-to-fan integration, and for the service to generally ?take music subscription services to the next level.?

With MOG already offering 320 kbps streaming service, the promise of better sound quality hints at a rather significant leap forward ? could we be talking about lossless audio here??We?re not convinced that dream will be realized, ?but perhaps high resolution audio has some kind of a future in the streaming world. With Google planning to launch two streaming services ? one for Google Play, and the other for YouTube ? and Apple looking to launch its own music streaming service, we have to wonder what these services will do to make one more appealing than another, especially with already well-established services such as Spotify, Pandora in the mix.?

There are a few music services which make their living by picking up where Apple leaves off, and they seem to believe streaming high-res audio is on its way ? that it?s just a matter of time.?

And then there?s the little guys like?Bandcamp, which?does an end-run around the recording industry by allowing artists to upload their music and sell it as a 24/96 or 24/192 FLAC files, ?AAC, Ogg Vorbis, and Apple Lossless as well. The service has become extremely popular with indie artists with almost 51 million downloads so far ? could it pose a threat to the status quo and do to streaming music services what ?streaming music services did to physical media?

With the software side of things showing such progress, we must naturally turn our attention to the hardware?s role in this progression. It?s all well and good to have sources for high-quality audio, but what you play it back on is equally important. ?Is there anything on the mobile hardware front that could make streaming high resolution audio more appealing to the masses?

According to Tim Pryde,?Senior Director of Audio Product Management at Jawbone, ?Jawbone Jambox products take advantage of SBC Codecs, including AAC in the near future, to transfer audio files over Bluetooth.?

?When listening to audio tracks through a Jambox or Big Jambox, the signal coming in over Bluetooth or through the Line In input goes through the DSP of the unit.?You will not hear the full benefit of ?true high resolution audio tracks over Bluetooth, unfortunately. ?There are improvements when utilizing AAC or APTx Codecs, but still nothing like having the original source material, playing through a high quality DAC plugged straight into a high quality preamp/amp and speakers,? Pryde explained.

?

Jawbone has also been partnering with others including David Chesky to help spread the word about Binaural audio recordings and reproduction.??Jawbone?s LiveAudio technology allows listeners to experience Binaural Records from a single speaker instead of headphones, and for audio tracks that were not recorded in binaural, playback of these tracks through LiveAudio still provides a three-dimensional sound experience,? concluded Pryde.

?

Apple is not on board

?

Jawbone is but one popular product offering hardware which can take advantage of high-resolution audio. There are a surprising number of Bluetooth headphones and portable speakers that can take advantage of codecs like aptX and AAC which deliver surprisingly excellent-sounding audio wirelessly. There?s just one problem: The maker of the most popular media players in the world isn?t down with this whole high-resolution audio thing. Apple?s iTunes store offers, at best, 256 kbps files, and its devices don?t support aptX. If Apple isn?t on board, then is this discussion moot? Perhaps not. There are a few ?music services which make their living by picking up?where Apple leaves off, and they seem to believe streaming high-res audio is on its way ? that it?s just a matter of time.?

?

?High-resolution audio has a real future and we?re going to leverage our relationship with hardware manufacturers to get as many music listeners interested in it as possible.

Eric Wittman is CEO at Songbird and a proponent of high resolution audio and what it could mean for audio playback in the home and on portable devices. He notes that high-res formats require a lot of bandwidth, so it?s unlikely that we?ll be streaming them from the cloud anytime soon, but its millions of users prove there is demand for such a thing.?

Songbird, a desktop open source alternative to iTunes, supports playback of 24/96 and 24/192 FLAC files, and is an option for listeners who want to experience high-resolution audio. The player offers support for just about any digital audio file type, including Apple Lossless, AIFF, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, and Windows Media Audio and it will even tie in access to Internet radio sources such as Last.FM.

Wittman explained to us that ?it?s been amazing to watch the interest in FLAC among our base of millions of users. The number of files has doubled to almost 8% in a short period of time. People who grew up with the iPod and MP3s are suddenly realizing that music can sound a lot better, and they are turning to FLAC as a playback format.?

?Songbird offers a different experience to those who are not tied into the Apple ecosystem or are iOS users but want to try something other than iTunes,? Wittman explained.

?What high resolution audio really needs is exposure. It?s not even a question that it sounds better than MP3. I?ve even demonstrated it at work by playing the same album in the various formats much to the annoyance of my staff who are probably sick of the Dave Brubeck album that I downloaded from HDtracks,? Wittman laughed.

?Look, it?s not like Pandora or Spotify are going to push a button and have the ability to stream 24/96 tracks from the cloud to your device. At least not for a few years and [until] bandwidth issues have been worked out,? replied Wittman when asked about the possibility of streaming high-resolution audio from the cloud in the short term.

??High-resolution audio has a real future and we?re going to leverage our relationship with hardware manufacturers to get as many music listeners interested in it as possible. The initial step is to make it easier for listeners to download it to their devices. That?s the short-term goal. ?My issue with MP3 is that you get the intent of the music, but you don?t really absorb it. High resolution formats make that possible, just like listening to vinyl,? Wittman offered.

Digital Trends: But why should someone decide to go with Songbird?versus another platform? What makes you different?

Eric Wittman:?There are three important differences with?Songbird: First, we don?t try to change your behavior and allow you to play both the content you already own and content from the internet. Second, the breadth of consumer platforms?and media file formats we support. Finally, we deliver the most personalized experience based upon what artists you already like.

DT:?But do you think the launch of Daisy, a potential Apple streaming service, two from Google, and now a proposed Twitter music service, is going to make it impossible for consumers to pick between Songbird, Spotify, Pandora, and all of the rest?

EW: There is clearly a lot of noise in the streaming services space today making it confusing for consumers. One of the concerns we hear from consumers is that pure streaming services are not fulfilling their needs specifically because they limit the catalog of content they have access to, do not allow use of their own media (which often contains higher quality and limited release tracks) and a lack of a discovery experience that is truly personal. The entity that brings these elements into a really elegant consumer experience will be the eventual leader of the digital music world.?

Wittman understands that the future hinges on mobile access, but he also believes that, as more and more people have the opportunity to hear high resolution audio, they?ll begin to appreciate what they have been missing.

We hope he?s right. If the people demand it, then hardware and software providers might work to provide it ? maybe even Apple.?

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/streaming-music-services-and-high-quality-audio/

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