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Beginner's Guide to the AudioVisual P2P Net

Using the net's P2P audiovisual infrastructures can be seen as connecting oneself to a collective mind - an intelligence much smarter than each individual.

Here is how it works:

Theory

The so called "digital revolution" at the end of the 20th century was often exclusively described as a technological revolution - it was going to bring consumers a new "digital" quality (CDs instead of LPs) and advanced productivity to almost every industry. Ten years after the web went mainstream a different picture evolves: consumers turn into producers, we blog about a Participatory Culture and Citizen Journalism and we share our media - recommended online article We Are the Web (www.wired.com, August 2005) by Kevin Kelly.

Or in short: what was "Power to the people" in the '60 of the last century today is We Are the Media http://www.ourmedia.org/node/9237, "this is a Video Mash-up about the Vlogging movement".

Useful Software

Audio/Video Players/Aggregators, Web TV and Codec

The VLC media player (or VideoLAN) http://www.videolan.org/ is an open-source video (and audio) player available for all major platforms and capable of playing back almost all video formats found online. The VLC can be used as a streaming server http://www.videolan.org/streaming/ and also for transcoding video(streams). (*)

The MPlayer http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/news.html, open-source, is "the Movie Player for Linux", but there is also the MPlayer OS X http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/.

The Democracy Player http://www.getdemocracy.com/, open-source, brings independent internet tv (and using the Broadcast Machine http://www.getdemocracy.com/broadcast/ anyone can publish media - also via Bittorrent). Since the the Democracy Player now also supports drag and drop it becomes an interesting alternative for use as the main media player. Available for all major platforms.

FireAnt http://fireant.tv/ is - like the Democracy Player or Apple's iTunes - a feed aggregator, meaning a user can subscribe to a particular channel via a publisher's RSS feed and the app will automatically download the latest episode of a particular programme. FireAnt is specially popular with parts of the videoblogging community, and it also offers one of the best ways of playing back downloaded .flv (Flash Video) files. (KeepVid http://keepvid.com/ lets users download Flash Videos from sites like YoutTube.) Available for Windows and Mac OS X.

PenguinTV http://penguintv.sourceforge.net/, open-source, is "not just another RSS feed reader. It is designed from the ground up to work seamlessly with podcasts and video blogs". Available for Linux.

Flip4Mac http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv_download.htm is a commercial but free (there is a pro/to buy version) that allows Mac users to watch (newer) .wmv encoded files either via the web browser or with the QuickTime Player. Since the latest version of the open-source VLC (0.8.6) - see above - now also plays back videos encoded with the newer Windows Media 9 codec (on the Mac), Flip4Mac might not be so important any more for some Mac users.

QTAmateur http://www.mikeash.com/?page=software/qtamateur/index.html is "a small, simple QuickTime video player. It can play any format that QuickTime can understand, handle fullscreen video playback, and export files to any format that QuickTime can write ...includes a Batch Export function which can convert any number of movies at a time to another format."

Perian http://perian.org/ is "a free, open source QuickTime® component that adds native support for many popular video formats" (like .avi and .flv). Requires OS X 10.4.7.

Xiph QuickTime Components http://www.xiph.org/quicktime/ is "the solution for Mac and Windows users who want to use Xiph formats in any QuickTime-based application, e.g. playing Ogg Vorbis in iTunes."

Ogg Vorbis http://www.vorbis.com/ (for audio) and Ogg Theora http://www.theora.org/ (for video) are open-source alternatives for media encoding, also interesting for commercial online publishing since they are patent free and no license fees will have to be paid.

(*) VLC 0.8.6 (December 2006): Windows Media 9 and Flash Video now also supported under OS X. The only major format not supported yet on any platform is the increasingly unpopular RealVideo.

Audio/Video/Image Editing and 3D

Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ is an open-source audio editor, available for all major platforms. (*)

Ardour http://www.ardour.org/ "is a digital audio workstation. You can use it to record, edit and mix multi-track audio. ... If you've been looking for a tool similar to ProTools, Nuendo, Cubase SX, Digital Performer, Samplitude or Sequoia, you might have found it." For Linux and OS X (no Windows version), source code available.

Inkskape http://www.inkscape.org/ is an open-source vector graphics editor, available for all major platforms.

The Gimp http://www.gimp.org/ is an open-source image manipulation programme, available for all major platforms. To make the transition easier for Photoshop users there is also the GimpShop http://plasticbugs.com/?page_id=294.

CinePaint (Film Gimp) http://www.cinepaint.org/ is an open-source programme for deep paint manipulation and image processing (e.g. motion picture frame-by-frame retouching). An upcoming update is expected to support all major platforms.

ffmpeg x http://www.ffmpegx.com/ is a popular shareware programme for transcoding video on the Mac, maybe not a tool that is easy to use, but works well once configured to one's needs. (The open-source VLC media player http://www.videolan.org/ can also be used for transcoding video and is available for all major platforms.)

Jashaka http://www.jahshaka.org/ is "the worlds first OpenSource Realtime Editing and Effects System", available for all major platforms.

LiVES http://lives.sourceforge.net/ is "a Free, Open Source video editor *and* a VJ tool." It is "fully cross platform for Linux and many flavours of Unix (e.g. BSD, openMosix, IRIX, OSX/Darwin)."

Cinelera is a "non-linear video editor and compositor for Linux", there are two versions http://www.heroinewarrior.com/index.php3 and http://cvs.cinelerra.org/.

Ubuntu Studio http://ubuntustudio.org/ is "Coming this April..." and "aims to be a multimedia editing flavor of Ubuntu for the Linux audio, video, and graphic enthusiast or professional who is already familiar with the Ubuntu-Gnome environment".

Blender http://blender3d.org/cms/Home.2.0.html is an open-source 3D modeling/animation programme, available for all major platforms.

See also the Wikipedia iMovie and Windows Movie Maker entries for basic (commercial) video editing software (en.wikipedia.org). A basic DV video editing software for Linux is the open-source Kino (www.kinodv.org).

(*) Mac OS X Audacity bug: if you hear no sound when watching .flv videos (e.g. YouTube) after using Audacity: Open Audio MIDI Setup (/Applications/Utilities/) and change the "Audio Output setting" from "96000.0Hz" back to "44100.0Hz" (see also Mac OS X: No audio from certain multimedia content). (docs.info.apple.com)

Audio/Screen Capturing

Mac/PC/Linux:

Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ for free audio capturing on OS X and Windows explained in this digg discussion (digg.com).

The open-source Streamripper http://streamripper.sourceforge.net/ lets users record e.g. webradio as .mp3 files. For OS X users: StreamRipperX http://streamripperx.sourceforge.net/ (the old StreamRipperX 1.0.5 still works under OS X 10.3.9, not only 10.2 as mentioned).

KeepVid http://keepvid.com/ or Video Downloader http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php let users download Flash Videos from sites like YoutTube.

PodTube (OS X) and iTube (Windows) are for YouTube to iPod. (www.epicempire.com) Note: If this link is not working also try The Amazing YouTube Tools Collection. (www.indianwebmaster.org)

See also (in this P2P Wiki section):

(Pro) Audio Tutorials/Information to learn about DRM removal.

Mac:

Wiretap http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/wiretap/ "allows you to record audio from any running applications, as well as from any microphone, line-in, headset...". Commercial software. (Free option via Audacity: see above)

Snapz Pro X http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/ "allows you to effortlessly record anything on your screen, saving it as a QuickTime® movie or screenshot". Commercial software.

Screen Mimic http://www.polarian.com/products/ScreenMimic.php "allows you to create screencasts (recordings of your Mac OS X desktop) that can be saved as Adobe Flash (SWF), Flash Video (FLV), or Quicktime (MOV) files". Requires OS X 10.4. Commercial software.

PC:

CamStudio http://www.camstudio.org/ is an open-source "Free Screen Recording Software". Download via http://sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/.

VH Screen Capture Driver http://www.free-codecs.com/download/VH_Screen_Capture_Driver.htm "is a DirectShow filter, which emulates Video Capture card and captures screen activity." Freeware.

List of Video Recording software from Softpedia http://www.softpedia.com/catList/112,0,1,0,1.html. Mainly commercial software, some freeware.

SnagIt http://www.softwarecasa.com/pprod/212401dd.htm "All the screen capture and editing functionality you’ll ever need, in one simply powerful program." Commercial software. (Free option via Audacity: see above)

Camtasia Studio http://www.softwarecasa.com/pprod/212402dd.htm "Full-Motion Screen Recording Software". Commercial software.

Linux:

recordMyDesktop http://recordmydesktop.sourceforge.net/ is an open-source software that "offers also the ability to record audio, along with video."

Mac/PC/Linux:

See also the related online article How-to: Rip DVDs with VLC. (www.therealcaffeine.com, 21.01.07)

YouTube Tools

The Amazing YouTube Tools Collection http://www.indianwebmaster.org/showthread.php?t=174 lists "YouTube third party tools which enhance your YouTube experience" (scroll down to see the tools collection).

Telephony (VoIP)/Video Calls

Gizmo http://www.gizmoproject.com/ is "A free phone for your computer", offers free voicemail and conference calls, calls can be recorded and it supports the open-source Asterisk (www.asterisk.org) PBX software. Gizmo currently has no video. Available for all major platforms.

Skype http://www.skype.com/ lets you "Free your conversations", offers conference calls for up to five participants and free video calls. Available for all major platforms.

Guided Tours

This is a little experiment in how-to communicate Wiki content. The idea is to make reading the Wiki more of a (useful and applicable) experience, so this is partly more blog style, but with condensed information/links.

Tour 1: Indie Film Maker's (Editor's) Tour

Classic Route

Apple's Final Cut Pro is still one of the best options that indie film makers have when it comes to film and video editing. A great resource for FCP tutorials (plus reviews and more) is Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro site http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_homepage_index.html. Another classic is the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group website http://www.lafcpug.org/, check out their forums for questions/answers from FCP pros. The "top-rated media pros forum community on the net" is Creativecow http://forums.creativecow.net/index.html, you'll find very active support forums for e.g. almost any Apple or Adobe software, but also "Today's Industry & Cow News". Bringing all the latest news from the HD world is the HD for Indies Blog http://www.hdforindies.com/, have a look at their linklist.

Early Adopter Route

Worth checking out are open-source editing alternatives like Jahshaka http://www.jahshaka.org/, LiVES http://lives.sourceforge.net/ and Cinelera (there are two versions) http://www.heroinewarrior.com/index.php3 and http://cvs.cinelerra.org/. "Coming this April..." is Ubuntu Studio http://ubuntustudio.org/. For free media hosting there is the Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/index.php (you can upload via FTP to their Open Source Movie section http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_movies) and Ourmedia http://www.ourmedia.org/. Great open-source tools for D.I.Y. Internet TV are the Democracy Player http://www.getdemocracy.com/ (watch TV) and the Broadcast Machine http://www.getdemocracy.com/broadcast/ (make TV). Once your video is online you can promote it, discover other artist's works and make a video playlist (that generates an RSS feed that can be used as a channel in the Democracy Player) at the Videobomb site http://www.videobomb.com/.

Tour 2: Online Audio, Media Publishing & Online Media/Art Communities Tour

Free Publishing and Free Audio Resources via the Internet Archive

A good place to start learning about online audio (publishing) is the Ourmedia Learning Center http://www.ourmedia.org/learning-center/open. Ourmedia also offers free hosting for podcasts (and other kinds of media), but the ongoing "alpha" status of the site and serious problems with key features (broken RSS feed) make it hard to recommend to technically inexperienced users or those looking for a very reliable service.

While Ourmedia (and its host the Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/index.php) are non-profit projects and have Terms Of Use/Terms Of Service agreements (TOS) that are good for users/creators (it is strongly recommended to always read a service's TOS before submitting any content), there are interesting alternatives - specially blip.tv http://blip.tv/ for videos (their TOS) - if publishing directly to the Internet Archive via FTP, which works very well, is not an option - there is also another more user friendly way of uploading media to the Internet Archive: the CcPublisher http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CcPublisher.

The Internet Archive's Audio section (or Internet Archive Audio Archive) http://www.archive.org/details/audio is both a vast resource for freely and legally available audio recordings of all sorts (including Audio Books or the Greatful Dead collection) and a free host for musicians via the Open Source Audio section http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_audio - which is also a great place to discover new or unknown artists - or the Netlabels collection http://www.archive.org/details/netlabels that "hosts complete, freely downloadable/streamable, often Creative Commons-licensed catalogs of 'virtual record labels'."

More Audio Publishing/Podcast Directories and Webradio

PodSafe Audio http://www.podsafeaudio.com/ "aims to provide a location where musicians can upload music under the Creative Commons License for use in Podcasts, Mashups, Shoutcasts, Webcasts and every other kind of 'casting' that exists on the 'net...

podsafe music network http://www.podsafemusicnetwork.com/ in their FAQ: "All works contain no recordings, lyrics, copyrights, or other elements that are the copyright of any other artist, except under the limited provisions of the Creative Commons License Agreement."

Odeo http://www.odeo.com/ has "over one million audio files—from podcasts and all over the web. Listen, download, subscribe..." About themselves: "As a company, we believe strongly in the democratization of media. We think that giving more people powerful tools for the creation and distribution of media will result in more knowledge, ideas, art, truth, and amusement available to all."

PodcastAlley http://www.podcastalley.com/ is "is the podcast lovers portal. Featuring the best Podcast Directory and the Top 10 podcasts, as voted on by the listeners." About page.

Apple's iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/music/ software also features a useful - but by Apple edited - podcast directory as well as many free radio stations via webstream. Most of these stations are compatible with the open-source Streamripper http://streamripper.sourceforge.net/ that lets users record the music as .mp3 files. Note: while this is - to the best of knowledge to this Wiki's editor - perfectly legal in e.g. Europe, it may be either illegal in certain parts of the United States or laws are being discussed to make this practice illegal.

Global Voices Online http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/ is "a non-profit global citizens’ media project, sponsored by and launched from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School. (...) Global Voices is your guide to the most interesting conversations, information, and ideas appearing around the world on various forms of participatory media such as blogs, podcasts, photo sharing sites, and videoblogs." Their FAQ.

Pandora Internet Radio http://www.pandora.com/ lets users "find New Music, Listen to Free Web Radio". It is based on the company's Music Genome Project and tries to answer the question "Can you help me discover more music that I'll like?" This site is - in its free version - supported with advertising. See also the related online article Pandora and Last.fm: Nature vs. Nurture in Music Recommenders. (www.stevekrause.org, 30.01.06)

See also (from the P2P Resources section in this Wiki):

Podcasts "This is a directory of topical podcasts (audiofiles) related to Peer to Peer topics."

Webcasts "A directory of webcasts on Peer to Peer related topics."

and further (external link):

Open Media Directory (has many useful related subcategories, e.g. "Archives & Repositories", "Distribution Platforms & Licensed Content" or "Podcasts & Feeds") (www.ourmedia.org)

Remix Culture

Very popular with musicians and DJs is ccMixter http://www.ccmixter.org/: "This is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons, where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want." Highly recommended!

The Freesound Project http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/ is "a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Freesound focusses only on sound, not songs. This is what sets freesound apart from other splendid libraries like ccMixter."

sCrAmBlEd?HaCkZ! (Scrambledhacks) is "a Realtime-Mind-Music-Video-Re-De-Construction-Machine". The author does a very good job of describing this truly revolutionary project in this introduction video (YouTube video via Videobomb). On his website http://www.popmodernism.org/scrambledhackz/ the author announces that "the whole package will be released under the GNU GPL as soon as I find time to clean up that mess / comment the code / document it and find a way to make it easily installable. Thanks for your patience."

For online video remix sites and projects (like eyespot http://eyespot.com/) see the online articles Video Editing, Publishing And Remixing Online Is Here (www.masternewmedia.org, 06.04.06) and Ten video sharing services compared (www.dvguru.com, 07.04.06).

Useful Audio Software

Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ is "free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems." (*)

Streamripper http://streamripper.sourceforge.net/ is "an Open Source (GPL) application that lets you record streaming mp3 to your hard drive", e.g. lets users record webradio.

Ogg Vorbis http://www.vorbis.com/ "is a completely open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology with all the benefits of Open Source".

Xiph QuickTime Components http://www.xiph.org/quicktime/ is "the solution for Mac and Windows users who want to use Xiph formats in any QuickTime-based application, e.g. playing Ogg Vorbis in iTunes."

The VLC media player (or VideoLAN) http://www.videolan.org/ "is a free cross-platform media player" that "supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs" and it "can also be used as a streaming server".

Ardour http://www.ardour.org/ "is a digital audio workstation. You can use it to record, edit and mix multi-track audio. ... If you've been looking for a tool similar to ProTools, Nuendo, Cubase SX, Digital Performer, Samplitude or Sequoia, you might have found it." For Linux and OS X (no Windows version), source code available.

ccHost http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CcHost "is Creative Commons' open source (GPL licensed) project that powers ccMixter and is the winner of the Linux Journal LinuxWorldExpo Product Excellence Award for Best Open Source Solution."

Songbird http://www.songbirdnest.com/ "is a Web player built from Firefox's browser engine. Songbird is open source, will run on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and supports user contributed, cross-platform extensions." In development.

(*) Mac OS X Audacity bug: if you hear no sound when watching .flv videos (e.g. YouTube) after using Audacity: Open Audio MIDI Setup (/Applications/Utilities/) and change the "Audio Output setting" from "96000.0Hz" back to "44100.0Hz" (see also Mac OS X: No audio from certain multimedia content). (docs.info.apple.com)

Promotion/Distribution, Discover (Audio and Video)

Creative Commons licenses http://creativecommons.org/ enable "the legal sharing and reuse of cultural, educational, and scientific works."

CC Hits http://cchits.ning.com/recent/ lets users add/vote for their favourite Creative Commons licensed tracks.

10 Ways to Promote an Internet TV Channel http://www.promotevideofeed.com/ and The Channel Channel http://thechannelchannel.tv/ ("One minute previews of Internet TV Channels") are two resources for online video promotion/distribution.

LegalTorrents http://www.legaltorrents.com/index.htm "is a collection of Creative Commons-licensed, legally downloadable, freely distributable creator-approved files, from electronic/indie music to movies and books, which we have made available via BitTorrent".

More Communities/Discover/Buy, Sell

Newgrounds http://www.newgrounds.com/ is "the original and still the largest Flash portal on the web." User made movies, games, music and more. Newgrounds Primer.

deviantART http://www.deviantart.com/ is "where ART meets application" and "the largest art community in the world." About page.

Museopen http://www.musopen.com/ offers "Free Public Domain Music" and "has it recorded by individuals and college/community orchestras throughout the United States". About page.

Stage.FM http://www.stage.fm/ (formerly Audiri.com) says "We give bands a way to distribute music without big labels" and "our plan is to provide all of the normal artist resources but with the majority of the site geared towards the typical music seeker." About page.

Dance-Industries http://www.dance-industries.com/home.php is "one of the many online music copyleft communities" and distributes "contemporary copyleft music". (Note: if play ">" does not work try "Download".)

On jamendo http://www.jamendo.com/en/ "artists allow everyone to download and share their music" under Creative Commons licenses and there is the "possibility of making direct donations to the artists". Our concept.

DiSfish is http://disfish.com/ is "a collective of independent artists, who share their music with you on a "donate if you wish" basis under Creative Commons licenses and a "50/5/5/40 donations split on music". Our rules.

Magnatune http://magnatune.com/ says "We are not evil" and offers ""try before you buy." It's the shareware model applied to music" and "artists keep half of every purchase". Our mission.

Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/ is "the artist music community". From the MP3 Store FAQ: "How much do I get paid? You keep 70% of the sales price. So if you sell a song/album for $9.99 you keep $6.99."

indiestore http://www.indiestore.com/ "from 7Digital that allows independent artists and labels to sell their music online." Starter and Pro Starter (free): "70% revenue share, quarterly accounting". Pro (£ 75 pa): 80% revenue share, monthly accounting"

Music Forte http://www.musicforte.com/ "will help you with Press-Kits, Radio Promotion, CD Replication, Band|Artist Promotion in Japan, and much more!" Free Plan and Pro Gold Plan, for both: "100% profit to YOU on sales of digital downloads"

Some mainstream online communities like MySpace http://www.myspace.com/ or Apple's iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/music/ software and shop might also be of interest to musicians/bands. iTunes also features a useful - but by Apple edited - podcast directory as well as many free radio stations via webstream.

There is also the Hype Machine http://hype.non-standard.net/ that "keeps track of new songs posted on the best blogs about music. Easily listen, discover and buy songs that everyone is talking about!" While smaller acts can be found on the Hype Machine many blogs tend to post more mainstream commercial music.

See also:

Open Music Business Models (from the P2P Encyclopedia in this Wiki)

Open Media Directory (has many useful related subcategories, e.g. "Catalogs & Collections", "Communities" and "Net Labels") (www.ourmedia.org)

Dave's Imaginary Sound Space (has a very good selection of related links sorted by categories) (soundblog.spaces.live.com)

More Media Archives/(Remix) Collections

UbuWeb http://www.ubu.com/ "is a completely independent resource dedicated to all strains of the avant-garde, ethnopoetics, and outsider arts. All materials on UbuWeb are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights belong to the author(s)." From their FAQ: "What is your policy concerning posting copyrighted material?" "If it's out of print, we feel it's fair game. Or if something is in print, yet absurdly priced or insanely hard to procure, we'll take a chance on it. But if it's in print and available to all, we won't touch it."

DIYmedia.net http://diymedia.net/ "Microradio, Media Collage and more" is "still a work in progress", good starting point is the Media Collage Index that also links to similar projects like Illegal Art http://www.illegal-art.org/.

Remix.Kwed.Org http://remix.kwed.org/ is "the definite guide to C64 remakes" featuring user submitted Commodore 64 remixes. The "small print" states that "all files provided for download on this server are assumed to be freely distributable." A related project is The C64 Take-away podcast http://c64takeaway.com/.

OverClocked ReMix http://www.ocremix.org/ is the "Unofficial Game Music Arrangement Community". From their FAQ: "Isn't this music copyrighted?" "Yes, the original works which OverClocked ReMixes are based off of are copyrighted. We are not out to infringe on the copyright owner's rights by making money off of their content. ReMixes are not sold, and ad banners on this site go only to pay for the bandwidth / hosting that it requires. Thus far, there have been no complaints."

AmigaRemix http://amigaremix.com/ is "The place for Amiga Game- and Demo-music Remixes!" Note on their website: "All files provided for download on this site are assumed to be freely distributable. In the event that a file here is not freely distributable, please contact the site maintainer for immediate file removal. By downloading any files here you acknowledge that you will not hold the webmaster or our host liable for any damages."

OverLooked ReMiX http://olremix.org/ "is dedicated to ridiculous interpretations of video game music and video game culture. Its primary focus is song rearrangements (ReMiXeS) in .mp3 format. Anyone is welcome to create an account and submit songs to the site. Our mission is to entertain, heckle, annoy and insult video game fans. Please enjoy."

Specialised Audiovisual Media Concepts

Little Sound Dj http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/ "The basic idea is to transform a plain Game Boy/Game Boy Color into a full-fledged music workstation." There is the LSDj Wiki showing how to build an LSDj Midi Interface and there is also a mailinglist.

Free-To-Use Photos and Images

Yotophoto http://yotophoto.com/ finds "free photos... fast!" and is "indexing well over a quarter million Creative Commons, Public Domain, GNU FDL, and various other 'copyleft' images".

Activism/Movements

Downhill Battle http://www.downhillbattle.org/ "is a non-profit organization working to support participatory culture and build a fairer music industry." About themselves: "Five major record labels have a monopoly that's bad for musicians and music culture, but now we have an opportunity to change that. We can use tools like filesharing to strengthen independent labels and end the major label monopoly." There is a very good link collection towards the bottom of the main page.

DefectiveByDesign.org http://defectivebydesign.org/en/node is "The Campaign to Eliminate DRM".

See also the related online article How to boycott the Music Industry and still enjoy music. (www.ghacks.net, 16.06.06)

Forums/Help

Music

The electro-music.com forums http://electro-music.com/forum/ are "dedicated to experimental electro-acoustic and electronic music".

The Home Recording dot com BBS http://homerecording.com/bbs/ is one of the forums from N o W h e r e R a d i o . c o m http://www.nowhereradio.com/ that "is here to help promote independent musicians around the world using new technologies, and bring new music to the barren ears of people from all walks of life!"

Audio/Video

The Creative Cow forums http://forums.creativecow.net/index.html are the "top-rated media pros forums community on the net."

Streaming/Webcam

Streaming

The VLC media player (or VideoLAN) http://www.videolan.org/, open-source, can also be used as a streaming server http://www.videolan.org/streaming/.

Icecast http://www.icecast.org/ is "free server software for streaming multimedia".

The Darwin Streaming Server http://developer.apple.com/opensource/server/streaming/index.html is "the open source version of Apple's QuickTime Streaming Server technology".

SHOUTcast http://www.shoutcast.com/download/broadcast.phtml software powers "Thousands of free Internet radio stations from around the world".

Webcam

See the Wikipedia Webcam entry for an overview about webcams and related topics. (en.wikipedia.org)

Annotation/Subtitles/Tagging

Audio/Video

Web-Based

mojiti http://mojiti.com/ "lets you tell the story your way. ... by annotating video with text, shapes, images and more." Example: http://mojiti.com/kan/941/1204

(Pro) Software

annodex http://www.annodex.net/ offers "Open standards for annotating and indexing networked media". Available as a Firefox extension. (February 2007: Seems not to work yet with Firefox 2.x.)

syncVUE http://www.syncvue.com/ "makes the review and approval process easier than ever before. Multiple people can simultaneously view and annotate local copies of the same media files in perfect sync from different locations - whether separated by cubicles, city blocks, or continents." Commercial software.

Annotation Edit http://www.zeitanker.com/ "gives you a sophistcated interface to attribute and subtitle video or audio in very short time". Commercial software.

Belle Nuit Subtitler http://www.belle-nuit.com/subtitler/index.html is a "program to spot, edit and render subtitles for video editing, DVD authoring and digital cinema". Commercial software.

For research see also On the BBC Annotatable Audio project... (www.plasticbag.org, 18.10.05)

Geotagging

Geotagging with Zonetag and Bluetooth GPS... (www.plasticbag.org, 12.10.06)

See also the Wikipedia GeoTagging entry. (en.wikipedia.org)

How-To Sites/(Pro) Tutorials and Media Aggregation/Management

Image/Video/3D

Janee's Photoshop Tutorials http://myjanee.home.insightbb.com/tutorials.htm are "Photoshop Tutorials from the Goddess". Techniques described here can of course be applied to open-source alternatives like the Gimp or be a useful resource for editing/compositing work in other programmes like Final Cut Pro.

Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro site http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_homepage_index.html is one of the best resources for FCP tutorials. A lot of concepts and techniques can of course be applied to other non-linear editing solutions.

Apple's H.264 Frequently Asked Questions http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/h264/faq.html are a good introduction to this "next-generation video compression technology".

See also the related online article Why Ogg Theora Matters for Internet TV for open-source alternatives. (maketelevision.com, 14.03.06)

BlenderWiki http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Main_Page is the most comprehensive online resource ("User's Manual", "Noob to Pro", "Blender Summer of Documentation" and more) for the free and open-source Blender http://www.blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html 3D modeling/animation programme.

TuftsOpenCourseWare offers many .pdf http://ocw.tufts.edu/Content/28/supplementarymaterial/366744 and over 100 video tutorials http://ocw.tufts.edu/Content/28/supplementarymaterial/366743 for "three-Dimensional Modeling, Animation and Rendering Using Blender 3D Software".

Audio/MP3 Players

iTunes/iPod

How to: Share your music via iTunes on the Net (www.sevitz.com, 12.03.05)

PodTube (OS X) and iTube (Windows) are for YouTube to iPod (www.epicempire.com, 06.09.06). Note: If this link is not working also try The Amazing YouTube Tools Collection. (www.indianwebmaster.org)

hymn http://hymn-project.org/ "...allows you to free your iTunes Music Store purchases (protected AAC / .m4p) from their DRM restrictions with no loss of sound quality."

FairGame http://seidai.50webs.com/Seidai%20Software.html "will convert the songs you bought on the iTunes store to an unprotected format..." See also the related online article FairGame cracks iTunes using iMovie. (www.boingboing.net, 31.10.06)

iLounge http://www.ilounge.com/ is about "All things iPod, iTunes and beyond". This is a commercial site with a lot of useful resources (good forums, iPod how-to related articles and more).

Zune

HOW TO - Copy data off a Microsoft Zune (use as a hard drive) (www.makezine.com, 23.11.06)

See also the related online article Zune, Creative Commons Don't Mix (www.wired.com, 27.11.06)

(Pro) Video Tutorials

How-to: Rip DVDs with VLC (www.therealcaffeine.com, 21.01.07)

Video Blogging using Django and Flash(tm) Video (FLV) (blog.go4teams, 23.07.06)

RSS and Atom Feed Auto-Discovery for Internet TV (maketelevision.com, 02.04.06)

(Pro) Audio Tutorials/Information

Podcasting

HOW TO - Podcasting for educators (www.makezine.com, 08.12.06)

The Podcasting Legal Guide (wiki.creativecommons.org)

DRM

Convert DRM-protected WMA files to unprotected MP3s (lifehacker.com, 05.02.07)

FairGame cracks iTunes using iMovie (www.boingboing.net, 31.10.06)

Web Building Tutorials

W3Schools Online Web Tutorials http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp "At W3Schools you will find all the Web-building tutorials you need, from basic HTML and XHTML to advanced XML, SQL, Database, Multimedia and WAP."

DVD/PVR/P2P TV/IPTV

VideoHelp http://www.videohelp.com/ is a resource for the advanced consumer (prosumer), has a how-to section (links to many tutorials from all over the web) and forums.

CenterStage http://centerstageproject.com/ is an open-source "Mac Media Center" for Mac OS X.

MediaPortal http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ is an open-source "free MediaCenter" for Windows.

MythTV http://www.mythtv.org/ is an open-source "homebrew PVR project" for Linux.

See also the P2P TV and IPTV entries from our P2P Encyclopedia in this Wiki.

RSS TV = Indie IPTV

While the entertainment industry is betting high on set top boxes ("media centres") - proprietary technology and user unfriendly DRM included - for TV over the net delivery (IPTV), there is an increasing number of users building their own PVRs (Personal Video Recorder) or a combination of PC, feed aggregator (RSS reader) and BitTorrent technology to get both legally available independently produced content, as well as mainstream TV shows delivered automatically to their PCs.

From an indie media producer's point of view RSS TV can be seen as the future of content distribution: RSS TV = Indie IPTV (or maybe it should be called iPTV: Rip. Mix. Burn. Feed...?)

For details see these related online articles:

Coming to your TV: RSS (describes an alternative use for Apple's upcoming AppleTV - www.p2p-blog.com, 10.01.07)

Hack Attack: Get your TV season pass with Democracy (www.lifehacker.com, 03.10.06)

How to Subscribe to TV Shows Using The Democracy Player, Bittorrent, and RSS (soylentfoo.jnewland.com, 23.02.06)

For finding independently produced video content see:

Media to Mobile Phones/Digital Movie Distribution

Media to Mobile Phones

Note: Since these distribution channels might not be in place yet, but are said to be important for media distribution in the years to come, we will provide links and examples, but indie content distributors should look themselves carefully at all the details before using any of these services - they might or might not be useful, this is * untested * territory:

Zannel http://www.zannel.com/ wants to offer "Zillions of Channels" and "will be the easiest way to share your content on mobile phones."

Digital Movie Distribution

CinemaNet Europe ("DocuZone") http://www.cinemaneteurope.com/ "is bringing documentaries to the big screen by transforming independent cinemas across several countries into digital cinemas. These screens will receive films by hard discs or ADSL instead of reels."

Related Links/Resources

remixlinks.ning.com

remixlinks.ning.com is a bookmark project that collects open media culture related links. Social bookmarking services let users tag links - all entries can be searched via tags. Here audiovisual related tags used by the maintainer of the audiovisual P2P Wiki section - some links are mentioned in this Wiki text, but there are more to be found here that might be worth exploring:

opensource audio video 3d web2.0 blog remix links

dmoz.org/Computers/Multimedia

The Open Directory Multimedia page is a good starting point for finding audiovisual related links and software. (dmoz.org)

Video Production (Wikibooks)

Video Production gives a more technical detailed introduction to internet video and related topics. (en.wikibooks.org)

Movie Making Manual (Wikibooks)

Movie Making Manual attempts to cover every aspect of film making - the project might still be a work in progress, but some sections like Linux in film production could already be of use for the dedicated indie film maker. (en.wikibooks.org)

Filmmaking (Wikiversity)

Filmmaking from Wikiversity attempts to offer a full and free film making online course (in the making). (en.wikiversity.org)

Personalize MediaPedia

Personalize MediaPedia ("This wiki covers everything from resonant interactive services to global personalization." - personalizemedia.com)

Related Online Articles

Blogging

(13.11.06) My 50 favorite blogging resources (www.pronetadvertising.com)

(14.07.05) Time to check: Are you using the right blogging tool? (www.ojr.org)

Online Image

(24.01.07) Visual Communication And Online Image Editing Tools (www.masternewmedia.org)

(05.09.06) The Web Photo Sharing Site Faceoff (www.readwriteweb.com)

(28.07.06) Online Image Editors Compared (www.smileycat.com)

Online Music

(05.02.07) Social Music Overview (See also "Comments" for the reader's suggestions.) (www.techcrunch.com)

(16.06.06) How to boycott the Music Industry and still enjoy music (www.ghacks.net)

(30.01.06) Pandora and Last.fm: Nature vs. Nurture in Music Recommenders (www.stevekrause.org)

Online Video

(08.02.07) The 17 Most Talked About Online Video Companies and How They Differ (video about, incl. promotion of own service, and blog entry - splashcastmedia.com)

(25.01.07) Understanding Video-Sharing Sites' Terms of Service (www.techsoup.org)

(25.01.07) Video Search Engines And Online Video Directories: A Mini-Guide (www.masternewmedia.org)

(11.2006) Online Video: Getting Paid, Open-Source Storytelling/Film Making Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 (indiworks.blogspot.com)

(11.2006) Getting Paid: Sites that Help Video Producers Make Money (www.scottkirsner.com)

(17.10.06) The Innovators - Nicholas Reville of The Participatory Culture Foundation (blog entry and video - www.technologyevangelist.com)

(16.09.06) Openness Matters. RSS Can Help. (blog.blip.tv)

(14.09.06) The Future of Online Video - Openness Matters. RSS Can Help. (www.getdemocracy.com)

(07.04.06) Ten video sharing services compared (www.dvguru.com)

(06.04.06) Video Editing, Publishing And Remixing Online Is Here (www.masternewmedia.org)

(14.03.06) Why Ogg Theora Matters for Internet TV (maketelevision.com)

Remix Culture

(27.09.06) Remix Hollywood movies ... (p2pnet.net)

(30.08.06) Geek to Live: 6 ways to find reusable media (Creative Commons search and more - www.lifehacker.com)

(08.2005) We Are the Web (www.wired.com)

Technology: DRM, P2P, RSS TV, etc.

(06.02.07) Thoughts on Music ("Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music ... Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat." – Steve Jobs - www.apple.com)

(15.01.07) Privately, Hollywood admits DRM isn't about piracy (arstechnica.com)

(10.01.07) Coming to your TV: RSS (describes an alternative use for Apple's upcoming AppleTV - www.p2p-blog.com)

(10.01.07) The Inevitable Death of DRM (www.techcrunch.com)

(27.11.06) Zune, Creative Commons Don't Mix (www.wired.com)

(18.11.06) The Top 10 Arguments Against DRM (www.learnoutloud.com)

(03.11.06) Big labels are f*cked, and DRM is dead - Peter Jenner ("Clash, Pink Floyd manager lifts the lid" - www.theregister.co.uk)

(31.10.06) FairGame cracks iTunes using iMovie (www.boingboing.net)

(23.10.06) The Best of BitTorrent (www.wired.com)

(03.10.06) Hack Attack: Get your TV season pass with Democracy (www.lifehacker.com)

(23.02.06) How to Subscribe to TV Shows Using The Democracy Player, Bittorrent, and RSS (soylentfoo.jnewland.com)

Industry, Activism, Copyright

(10.10.06) Disney-ABC: "We understand piracy now as a business model" (arstechnica.com)

(17.08.06) John Gilmore donates US$15,000 to the Freenet Project (freenetproject.org)

(14.08.06) PRESS RELEASE: Pirate Party Launches World's First Commercial Darknet (www2.piratpartiet.se)

(14.08.06) Closing Letter to the Copyright Industry Associations of America ("... we announce a massively distributed copy-less file system." - thebighack.org)

(27.07.06) What goes on the Net stays on the Net (about YouTube: "They could refuse to take down your video... ...charge YOU for your own video. ...insert ads in the video..." - www.pbs.org)

(03.05.06) Soderbergh: Burn, Hollywood, Burn (www.wired.com)

Related Blogs/Sites

Video/Film/3D

Self-Reliant Filmmaking http://www.selfreliantfilm.com/ "is what makes a filmmaker independent"

the Workbook Project http://workbookproject.com/ is "a social open source experiment for content creators"

DV Guru http://www.dvguru.com/ is no more (January 31st, 2007: "...today marks the last day of DV Guru."), but some of the former DV Guru bloggers have now moved to camcorderinfo.com:

The CamcorderInfo Blog http://www.camcorderinfo.com/d/blog.htm is "All About Shooting, Editing and Polishing Your Videos" and has a notable Ethics Policy.

CinemaTech http://www.cinematech.blogspot.com/ is about "Digital cinema, democratization, and other trends remaking the movies"

HD For Indies http://www.hdforindies.com/ is about "High Definition Video for Independent Filmmakers"

BlenderNation http://www.blendernation.com/ brings "Fresh Blender News, Every Day"

Audio/Music

Dave's Imaginary Sound Space http://soundblog.spaces.live.com/ is "A Virtual Playground for Audio and Music Enthusiasts". Has a very good selection of links sorted by categories.

The Future of Music, Media & Entertainment http://www.gerdleonhard.net/ is where "Gerd Leonhard explores the 'convergence zones' of music / entertainment and technology"

Media/Networks/3D Web

unmediated http://www.unmediated.org/ is "Tracking the tools that decentralize the media"

Robin Good http://www.masternewmedia.org/ is about "Independent Publishing News, e-Marketing Articles, Online Collaboration Reviews"

Techcrunch http://www.techcrunch.com/ reviews "new Internet products" and profiles "companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space"

Mashable! http://mashable.com/ is "The Social Networking Blog"

3pointD http://www.3pointd.com/ is about "The Metaverse and 3D Web, as blogged by Mark Wallace and friends"

Videoblogging

Video Blog / Podcast Map http://community.vlogmap.org/ is about "The World of Video Blogs"

We Are The Media http://wearethemedia.com/ brings "News from the Vlogosphere"

Have Money Will Vlog http://havemoneywillvlog.com/ promotes "projects we believe in to potential donors"

loaded pun http://loadedpun.com/ is about "vlogs vodcasts and online digital video"

realpeoplenetwork http://www.realpeoplenetwork.com/ is "A Hollywood-free vlog"

VR/Gaming

Terra Nova http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/ is "a blog about virtual worlds and their implications." (Academic) game research and virtual worlds in general.

GameTunnel http://www.gametunnel.com/ is "the web's home for independent video games." Other indie game sites linked at the bottom of the main page.

Media Archives

What’s New at the Internet Archive http://internetarchive.wordpress.com/ is "A blog from the Collections Team at www.archive.org"

P2P Related Media

Video

Who Owns Culture? by Lawrence Lessig - A talk about copyright and (remix) culture - 20 min. 5 sec. - Google Video via www.videobomb.com

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch - " Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes." 4 min. 31 sec. - www.youtube.com

Copyright Criminals Preview by Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod - A work in progress - 10 min. 29 sec. - www.archive.org

Many To Many produced by the Center for Social Media - Public Media and the Blogosphere - 12 min. 40 sec. - www.centerforsocialmedia.org

We Are The Media (or direct media link) by Josh Leo - A video mash-up about the Vlogging movement - 2 min. 20 sec. - www.ourmedia.org

Free Culture by Maggie Hennefeld and Thessaly La Force - A documentary about the Free Culture New York Summit 2006 - 9 min. 23 sec. - www.archive.org

Alternative Freedom (Trailer) by Twila and Shauna - A documentary about the invisible war on culture - 3 min. 54 sec. - alternativefreedom.org

Ourmedia - 21st Century Media (or direct media link) by Valentin Spirik - A 3D animation video for ourmedia.org - 44 sec. - www.ourmedia.org

Audio

Podcasts and Webcasts (from the P2P Resources section in this Wiki):

Podcasts "This is a directory of topical podcasts (audiofiles) related to Peer to Peer topics."

Webcasts "A directory of webcasts on Peer to Peer related topics."

Text

The Podcasting Legal Guide from the Creative Commons - via Wiki or as a .pdf, 1.9 MB - wiki.creativecommons.org

Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents from Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders) - .pdf, 1.6 MB - www.rsf.org

The Directory

Note: We plan to move "Articles in category "Audiovisual"" to 14 subdirectories - until this is done those pages are empty!

The following "Articles in category..." have been collected by individual Wiki authors and are linked in various sections of the P2P Wiki. These articles are - even more than the text above - a work in progress. Some entries may only consist of a short description and an URL, while others may have been developed much further:

BUSINESS

CONFERENCES

EDUCATION

INTERVIEWS

LICENSING/LEGAL

MEDIA

MOVEMENTS

OPEN SOURCE

PODCASTING

SOFTWARE

TECHNOLOGIES

THEORY

WEB 2.0

WEBCASTING