In the coming years, the shift from fixed television viewing to on-the-go, or at least on-a-tablet, will only increase. That means wi-fi usage of tablets will rise. Which means that the cable and phone companies providing your home internet, feeding that television signal through the lines and out your router, will see increased traffic. And along with the TV programming being watched, video on Netflix, iTunes and other services, along with a mushrooming market of TV apps, will grow in popularity. Those will require more bandwidth than today’s pipeline demands.

All that means…higher prices. We’ll see the cable and phone companies which have spent significant dollars on the  internet delivery infrastructure requiring more cash for the use of their lines. It is inevitable that prices will increase.

Just how high will our monthly ISP charges be in five years? According to one recent story, AT&T has increased one level of  Internet service rate 150 percent in just three years. By way of comparison, the inflation rate rose 7.3 percent over the same period. Do the math…and I think you’ll agree that we’d better prepare for significantly higher cable and DSL costs for internet use at home.

I won’t project a dollar amount, but my guess is that in five years we’ll have ISP bills roughly double the amount that we’re paying today.

And most of us won’t even blink.

I am probably representative of many listeners to internet radio. And thus  Clear Channel’s announcement it will continue offering iHeartRadio as a commercial-free product for “at least a couple more months.”iHeart, of course, is the “big media” response to Pandora’s success, with similar features – and for now, a rather big difference.

Originally, the iHeartRadio smartphone, newly revamped and reintroduced last fall, was slated to be commercial-free through December 31. Then the ads were scheduled to begin April 1.  Now the app/channel/station (what DO you call such a service?) will stay all-music, all the time for another few months.

The monthly streams for iHeart is growing. Maybe I’ll give them more of a listen…until the commercials start.

Then what?

So what’s your recommendation, if you have one, for a music source that offers radio-like features, minus the ads?

(full story at Radio Info)

My wife isn’t the happiest about iPods and the music they hold – or could hold. I understand her concerns. After all, what music is on those things, and what kinds of messages are our daughters hearing time and time again?

I’ve been a little more lax on the matter, probably because when I was about 13 I started discovering pop and rock music – and it quickly became a permanent part of my world. The Beatles was a mighty fine introduction to the world of 45s and LPs. The teen years weren’t exactly easy (and they still aren’t!). Music soothed a hurting soul, was a common denominator among friends, was even motivational and inspirational. Mostly, though, I found music gave voice to my turbulent emotions – it said things I couldn’t quite express. It still does to this day. I love how music paints pictures, moves my heart and causes me to think.

Probably because it meant so much to me all those years ago, I understand the power of music in my daughters’ lives. Dena and I are on the same page as to having some limits on what they listen to. We have general house guidelines and rules about “screen time” and music listening for our children. We try to model good consumption patterns. We talk through the impact of lyrics and lifestyles of the artists. We rely on Focus on the Family’s Plugged In media reviews for reliable information about the trends and popular groups.

The older they are, the less restrictive we are with the children. I want my kids to “learn to discern” and offer them growing amounts of trust with regard to their choices. Helping them process the “why” behind my affirmations and objections is a pretty important part of the process.

If, like me, you are a media professional, how do you handle your child’s media consumption? Do you allow unrestricted access to electronic devices like phones and iPods? Do you have safeguards in place to ensure your younger kids are protected from crude lyrics and content? What is the most challenging parenting problem you deal with when it comes to your kids and media?

Any college student will tell you that bookstore visits are usually dreaded. It isn’t that the staff are unfriendly, or that the atmosphere isn’t nice enough. Its the drain on the wallet – or pocketbook – that is so painful. Buy the latest edition, because last semester’s textbook is pitifully outdated. Get the right edition, because the prof isn’t going to accommodate a slacker who can’t get the required book. And watch the latest become…a big old paperweight, rather useless after the semester is over. I am ashamed to say that I actually thought I’d refer to some of my most valued college texts…and that a few remain crammed into a box in the attic…even though it has been a long, long time since those courses.

Obviously the college textbook system is antiquated and in need of overhaul. And our friends at Apple are looking out for us. According to some quick research, Apple sold 350,000 textbooks in the three days after unveiling their availability on iBookstore.

I recall a conversation less than a year ago with my daughter, a high school student who carries about 100 pounds of books to and from school everyday. It was about the way things in her academic “career” would change.

“Saige,” I said, “Before you finish college you’ll be getting all your textbooks electronically. You’ll have ‘em all on an iPad. It’ll save you money – and it’ll save your back!”

Looks like I was a little long on the projection. Seems she’ll see that textbook revolution happen before she finishes high school. And for that, Apple, I thank you.

Now, what’s Cupertino got planned next?

What announcements, products or presentations from CES strike you as most exciting or promising?

So, the following are the starting point for a “Top Books of 2012 – Which I Actually Read” list…which I’ll try to post in about twelve months.

1. All is Grace, Brennan Manning  – Memoirs of a fascinating man who found God’s grace…everywhere. I am eager to get to know Manning better.
2. Prayer, Philip Yancey – Started, just need to finish this fine book. Philip has been a favorite writer since I started reading his columns in Campus Life magazine during high school. That’s quite a long time!
3. The New Testament – Various (human) authors. Chuck Swindoll has challenged believers to read through the New Testament this year. I think that’s a great idea – and plan to add in the Psalms and Proverbs, as well (see this reading plan). Why not join me?
4. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy’s epic. If three of my kids have read it, why haven’t I?
5. The Meaning Of Marriage, Tim Keller – We’ll be interviewing Tim and his wife Kathy for a Focus broadcast soon, and I am always glad for an opportunity to read this wise man’s perspective on life.

I’ll try to gather up the best books I’ve read this past year in a future post. Meantime, what books are on your “didn’t read – yet” list?

ADDENDUM: Just today Danny Heitman writes in the Wall Street Journal (subscribers only, sorry) about this very matter. I appreciated his perspective, which affords some comfort:

The truly cultured, (author Gabriel Zaid) says, “are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or desire for more.”

Further, Heitman adds,

Unread books…can be noble evidence of aspirations not yet met but still worth embracing.

Somehow, such thinking gives me permission to go through those stacks of books which I have not yet cracked open, or which was started but never finished, on bookshelves both at home and at work, and dare to pick one up…and read.

Here’s to a growing collection of unread books, and to a year ahead of great reading!

Who would have thought typing such short messages could be so impactful?

And, as an article in the Wall Street Journal recently pointed out, beyond the use of Twitter by individuals,

even the stodgiest companies have found their way onto Twitter. They have discovered it isn’t just another marketing channel with a funny name, it’s more like a conversation they need to join or risk losing influence over how consumers view them or their brands.

(Twitter…) has become a very public complaint line, and ill-considered tweets or hacked Twitter accounts have caused plenty of embarrassment.

What are the pitfalls – and advantages – to having an active presence on Twitter? Here’s an assessment of three major companies which are utilizing Twitter quite effectively, with some lessons for every business.

…analysis of Arbitron ratings among the A18-34 demo (shows that) Pandora’s AQH is now higher than any terrestrial radio station in all of the five-largest U.S. radio markets.

From personal observation, I’m not surprised. To see that “AQH” (Arbitron’s measure of the average number of individuals listening to a station during any given 15-minute segment) I recall a conversation a few years back with one college student I knew, in which he revealed that Pandora is the only radio he listened to at the time. “Regular” radio just wasn’t reaching him. Then or now, apparently. From the above stat, it seems he is STILL only listening to Pandora.

Contrasted with a dismissal of online radio, I also remember the fear that some broadcasters had several years ago as web  radio was just taking off. They rightfully were concerned about listener erosion. I challenged those I spoke with to concentrate on doing what they did better than any online station: provide localized service, “superserve” their existing audience and remain the trusted, “first source,” local provider of music (and/or information).  I’ve not checked lately to see how those stations are doing, but if they didn’t heed my advice (which admittedly was not altogether uncommon, nor terribly revelatory), their fears are perhaps being realized.

Bottom line, I like Pandora. It isn’t “DJ-hosted” radio, but for the music I want, and the new music I want to learn about, Pandora does a pretty good job of keeping my attention.

Other services: Not so much. With all the hoopla about it, I’ve tried Spotify, but so far don’t find it convenient enough – for free. Maybe the paid service is good…but I can’t – won’t – go there. I just don’t want to pay for my radio. I’ll take the ads Pandora includes in the free stream. I’ll skip the “premium” services.

“Radio is radio” observed Pandora founder Tim Westergren.

I think he is right. Radio is…lots of things. It is companionship. It is information. It is entertainment. It is…free.

Things have changed since I first started on-air. with LPs, 45s, carts, and a bit of dead air. Online changes everything. Except, it would seem, radio listening habits. Most people in the U.S. still listen to radio. Its just that more and more are listening online. That isn’t bad. It just is.

I hope that terrestrial broadcasters are coming to terms with the new reality, that they are either cultivating an online-savvy audience, or they risk losing sharing their audience all-too-soon. I’m not giving up on radio. I’ll continue to punch buttons on my daily commute. And I’ll still listen to online radio stations at my desk.  Because radio is radio.

The headline stat: 71% of the respondents preferred texting to phone calling.

See the graphic, and consider:

• What are you doing to reach the next generation of media consumers?
• In this over-saturated, fast-moving world, how will you be heard/seen?
• What is going to make your message worthy of a teen’s interest?
• And is texting part of your strategy?

Just asking.

Newspapers and magazines are struggling in a world in which we get our information faster than it can be printed and delivered to our door. Television has been slow to move into the internet era, and the massive costs of creating content and distribution are pulling down revenues. Radio has been in some turmoil as it has tried to go “HD” (unsuccessfully) and monetizing online activities.

About radio, here’s a brief summary from veteran Fred Jacobs about where the medium is now, and what the essence of its challenges is:

(It) isn’t about “To stream or not to stream.”  It’s about the difficulty of facing change and about the eventual challenges to aggregate audience, and to generate profits from these efforts.  In the early days, few new businesses are profitable in their embryonic stages – Amazon, Google, Facebook, and now Pandora are all modern examples.  All of these brands have done what radio’s pioneers did eight decades ago – focused on consumers, recognized opportunity, took a risk, built infrastructure and access, created content and functionality, and then developed a business model that made the venture successful.

While specifically about radio, I think the comment has broader application. In today’s media world every new venture has great potential, and every “traditional” effort faces challenges – and oppportunities.

Read more from Fred Jacobs, including his thoughts about what he calls “CX,” right here.