January 15th, 2008 5:01 PM
International Support Update
Posted by admin

The Avvenu Access ‘n Share service is now available again in many countries, with most countries to be re-launched by January 26. The list of countries currently supported is here.

Thanks to everyone who provided valuable feedback over the last month. You can continue to send your thoughts on future service improvements, as well as questions about your account, to our customer support group at http://support.avvenu.com. Thanks for your support.

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December 12th, 2007 8:41 AM
International Support
Posted by admin

During the recent Nokia / Avvenu transition, it was necessary to limit service access to those users based in the United States. We apologize for this inconvenience, and plan to resume service in most other countries within a few weeks. Until that time, if you’re an existing user outside the United States, you’ll be temporarily unable to remotely access your PCs. If you’d like to be notified when service is restored in your country, please register for email notification at:

http://www.avvenu.com/countries.php

We’re working hard to expand our country support as soon as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact customer support at http://support.avvenu.com.

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December 4th, 2007 2:47 PM
Avvenu is now part of Nokia
Posted by Richard French

It’s been an exciting and eventful year for Avvenu. This week brings the most exciting news of all: we’ve been acquired by Nokia.

This means that the Avvenu services will now be provided by the world’s leading mobile communications company. With Nokia’s global stature, we expect our Access ‘n Share service to be available to more people than we could ever have reached as a startup.

You can find out more in the press release and in the many news stories published today.

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October 26th, 2007 2:02 PM
Avvenu interviewed on inbabble.com
Posted by Steve Hartford

Yours truly was just interviewed by the mobile applications and content site inbabble.com. In the interview, I give an overview of Avvenu’s mobile services and highlight some of our patented software’s uniquely cool features. Inbabble features interviews with a wide variety of mobile software and service providers.

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September 25th, 2007 11:27 AM
The Future of Music: Copy Rights or Wrongs Panel
Posted by Richard French

From a post at RichardFrench.net.

Last week, at the Commonwealth Club of California, I moderated a lively panel discussion on the future of music. On the panel were Chris Castle, Tim Westergren, Eoin Harrington and David Rosenheim.

Topics included: the issues between the recording and technology industries, compulsory licensing new music business models and issues with US versus world wide licensing. We discussed these topics from a legal, technology and musician’s perspective.

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September 17th, 2007 2:02 PM
Windows Vista now supported
Posted by Steve Hartford

We’ve just released a new version of the Avvenu Connector for Windows Vista. (The Avvenu Connector is the software you download and install from our website. It’s how our service securely connects you to your PC remotely.)

If you’re upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista, first uninstall the Avvenu software, upgrade to Vista, then re-install Avvenu software from our website. Note that if you have any “Anytime Files” or “Anytime Playlists” stored on our service, you’ll need to re-select those files / playlists after upgrading, since Windows Vista re-organizes your hard drive file system hierarchy during upgrades.

If you’ve purchased a new Windows Vista PC, just go ahead and download the latest software from our website.

We’ve also just released a new Vista-compatible version of Access Express, our Windows remote file copying software tool. If you’ve purchased this tool, you can get the new version here.

If you encounter any difficulties, please contact us on our support site, and we’ll be happy to help.

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April 16th, 2007 4:57 PM
Money & Taxes
Posted by admin

Greetings from the Avvenu finance department. With tax day now upon us in the U.S., and just a couple of weeks for our neighbors in Canada, much stress is focused on writing checks to the government, or sighing relief if you are lucky enough to be getting a refund. To soothe your mood (or share the misery, depending on your point of view), here’s what some great musicians said about it all.

Click here to listen to Avvenu’s playlist entitled “Money & Taxes”. This playlist will be available until April 21, 2007.

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April 13th, 2007 2:44 PM
The Future of Music: Digital Rights or Wrongs? At the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco May 7, 2007
Posted by Richard French

As posted on RichardFrench.net today.

On May 7th, at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, I’ve been asked to moderate a panel on the Future of Music. I’ve decided on a few key topic areas to take the panel. They are: Music Sharing - Is it possible to move towards legal sharing methods, where artists and copyright holders are appropriately compensated? What will music rights and creative license mean in the world of new technologies? How will we access and enjoy music? What is the value of Music - Is 30 cents really worth it to eliminate DRM? Is the Internet surpassing radio as a means of music discovery? Will the recording industry business models be forced to change in order for the major labels to stay in business over the next few years?

If you would like me to consider other topics, or have questions you would like to ask the panel during the open Q&A, please comment on this blog post. I’ll post the answers shortly after the event.

If you are in the San Francisco bay area and would like to attend the event, tickets can be purchased online or at the door.

Panelists:
TED COHEN, Managing Partner, TAG Strategic; Former Senior Vice President, Digital Development and Distribution, EMI Music
RICHARD FRENCH, CEO, Avvenu; Former Senior Vice President, Open Source Development Network, Moderator
GERD LEONHARD, CEO, Sonific; Co-author, The Future of Music
LEE SHUPP, Vice President of Business Strategy, Cheskin; Board Member, Association of Professional Futurists; Musician

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April 12th, 2007 11:36 AM
More Americans than ever are discovering music on the Internet
Posted by Richard French

Source: Bridge Ratings & Research

In a recent study conducted by Bridge Ratings and Research it was determined that more americans than ever are discovering music on the internet, with 71% of their sample subsequently purchasing music they had discovered.

JupiterMedia last year stated that 48% of all music is discovered through sharing with friends. We believe that through sharing music with your friends you are not only giving them a chance to understand what songs you may like but also giving them the ability to discover new artists and new tastes in music.

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March 27th, 2007 9:53 PM
Avvenu Music Player for Windows Mobile
Posted by Richard French

The Avvenu Music Player for Windows Mobile 5 smartphones is now out of closed beta. You can now listen to and share your iTunes music library, from your PC, by streaming your music directly to a Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone. You can now view the press release announcing its immediate availability, as an open beta. We are demonstrating the Avvenu Music Player for Windows Mobile at CTIA this week in our pod within the Palm booth.

The Avvenu Music Player for Windows Mobile recognizes iTunes playlists, artist names, album names, song names and musical genres. It includes the following features:

• » Sharing up to 250 songs with friends
• » Supports the Palm® Treo™ 700w and 750, Motorola Q, and the Samsung Blackjack Smartphones
• » Remotely listen to your iTunes music collections, even when your PC is turned off
• » Supports MP3, AAC and WMA music file formats

You can download the free beta version of the Avvenu Music Player for Windows Mobile at getit.avvenu.com. Unless your reading this post from your Windows Mobile smartphone, you may wish to copy this url and enter it into your phone’s browser.

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March 26th, 2007 4:02 PM
Avvenu Music Player 2.6 Available
Posted by Steve Hartford

The newest version of the Avvenu Music Player was rolled out this week. Feature highlights include:

• » Album artwork displayed for most songs.
• » Easier to choose which playlists are copied into Anytime Playlists.
• » More options for personal preferences.
• » Improved initial loading speed.
• » New buy button for you and your share recipients - makes it easier for share recipients to buy CDs of the songs they like.
• » Quicker and simpler account sign up.

Thanks to the folks whose suggestions and ideas helped us make the latest version of the Avvenu Music Player even better than before. Product updates are automatic, as long as you have the Avvenu Connector installed and running on the PC that has your iTunes collection.

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March 8th, 2007 5:31 PM
Sharing music: A how-to video
Posted by Greg Retkowski

So now you’ve enjoyed some of our music shares, and you’re listening to your own tunes, too. Have you tried sharing your music with the Avvenu Music Player yet? Here’s a quick video tutorial that can help you do this. Enjoy!

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February 15th, 2007 10:41 AM
How to make smart playlists with iTunes
Posted by admin

If you’re like me, you normally listen to iTunes by selecting an artist and/or album. Or perhaps you create smart playlist for each CD you import. The default playlists available in iTunes can be less than inspiring and not appropriate when you want a good jam.

Well, help is available. Check out David Gagne’s blog post Five Tips for Smarter Playlists.

I can’t wait to start making smart playlists that I can share with my friends.

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January 27th, 2007 11:29 AM
Music sharing, old school
Posted by Steve Hartford

A long few months ago, before the Avvenu Music Player (Beta), many people struggled with how to share music they loved with others. Indeed, our shiny blue planet seemed to be filled with confusion, frustration and the associated editorial coverage.

At Avvenu, our early attempts to solve this problem led us to create the Avvenu Music Player (Alpha). In the name of science and progress, we formed a choir to experiment with our invention, the results of which can now be seen publicly for the first time ever.

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January 23rd, 2007 9:12 PM
What’s on my H20proof IPOD - stream it!
Posted by admin

I’m really diggin’ AVVENU’s cool new web app that allows you to email a link enabling streaming of your iTunes playlists to any of your friends — they can listen to YOUR iTunes, off YOUR PC over the network. An AVVENU to your iTunes.

On a click, a web music player will boot and your friends can play the songs you select in the form of an iTunes playlist that plays on their PC or windows mobile phone — streamed from your PC — or from a network cache, if you choose to upload (250 songs free) your songs to the network.

Here’s the link to the actual playlist on my waterproof IPOD (see kiteblog ). I’ve embedded the link share into this blog post — broadcasting my iTunes playlist. It will only be available for the next 5 days, so if your interested in what I like to listen to while kite boarding, then check it out soon. If you need info on installing an AVVENU to your iTunes, here is a ’step by step’ text file on my home HDD i’ve made available for download.

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January 13th, 2007 1:44 PM
Avvenu at CES debating Copyright vs. Consumers
Posted by Richard French

Source: CES

Last week at CES, in addition to launching the Avvenu Music Player, I participated in a lively debate on consumers and the right to share music.

One point we all agreed on: we all want the music industry to flourish, and technology will play an important part.

I believe that it’s part of our culture to share music. It’s also part of our culture to share music within online communities of friends. The technology and entertainment industries can work together, to present consumers and artists with options for sharing music within the boundaries of fair use.

I also raised the point that sharing music through digital technologies may help sell more — not less — music tracks. Several recent studies show this to be true. This means big changes are in store. The music industry needs to create entirely new business models by incorporating technology into its approaches to sales, marketing and distribution.

There was quite a bit of discussion about subscription models — where consumers play a flat rate per month for a certain number of downloads. One question from the audience was whether it’s possible to compensate individual artists given this approach. I realized that many people do not understand the capabilities of today’s technology. For example, technology could easily count downloads and plays by artist and label from a subscription site and accurately report the amount of usage by each subscriber. Royalties and license fees could then be accurately rolled up and paid out according to current license agreements.

The panel also discussed the RIAA’s current lawsuit against XM satellite radio, given that the general counsels of both organizations were on this panel.

Participaing on the panel, pictured left to right were: Moderator: Paul Gluckman, NY Bureau Chief, Consumer Electronics Daily. Panelists: Jeff Blattner, Senior Vice President & Special Counsel, XM Satellite Radio; Richard French, CEO Avvenu (me); Gerd Leonhard, CEO Sonific LLC; Steven Marks, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, RIAA; Gigi Sohn, President & Co-Founder, Public Knowledge; and Matthew Zinn, SVP and General Counsel, Tivo.

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January 10th, 2007 9:30 PM
More than 500 people visit Avvenu at CES
Posted by Richard French

Over 500 people came for a demonstration of our new Music service here at CES. There has been constant traffic to the Avvenu pod since the show started on Monday. The last of the 500 “alpha” version — the sporty Avvenu kazoo — was given away by 11:30 am today.

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January 9th, 2007 8:32 PM
Avvenu announces the Avvenu Music Player at CES
Posted by Richard French

Yesterday we announced a new service which allows users to listen to and share their Apple iTunes music library, residing on their Windows XP computers, using any Windows PC, Macintosh(R) or Windows Mobile(R) 5 smartphone. iTunes playlists can viewed using the Beta version of the Avvenu Music Player and streamed directly to you. Users can store 250 songs on the web for anytime, anywhere enjoyment, and can share songs for up to five days while respecting copyrights. We’ve updated our main website with the details and also uploaded a press release with the announcement.

At our Pod at CES in the Anytime Anywhere TechArena, not only are we showing the beta version of Aveenu Music Player but we are giving away a free copy of the “alpha” version — the sporty Avvenu kazoo — with every demo. It looks like we will run out of the 500 kazoo’s we brought, well before the show ends on Thursday.

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December 18th, 2006 11:41 AM
Top 10 Gifts for Travelers 2006
Posted by Richard French

Have an intrepid traveler on your holiday gift list? Besides a gift of Avvenu Premium – empowering wanderers with guaranteed access to their stuff on their computers from the other side of town or the other side of the planet – you might consider the Top 10 Traveler’s list compiled by KoolConnect. This company outfits luxury hotel rooms with the latest entertainment electronics. What frequent traveler wouldn’t want something on this list?

iGo® Juice70 Universal Notebook Power Adapter
Delphi SM MYFI™ Portable Satellite Radio
Lingo TR-2203 Pacifica Talk Talking Translator
Samsonite® Dual Wattage Converter Kit
TomTom® One Portable GPS Navigation Systems
Bose® Quiet Comfort™ 2 Acoustic noise Canceling Headphones
Apple® iPod®
Nokia N72 Celluar Phone
Sony Playstation® Portable PSP
Slingbox™ by Slingmedia

This is not an endorsement of any of these products, brands or shopping sites. Must admit though, some of these items are on my wish list. What’s on yours?

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December 10th, 2006 2:45 PM
Avvenu at CES
Posted by Richard French

We’re really excited about CES next month. We’ll be taking the wraps off a new service that has been in stealth mode for the past several months. We’re also going on record, on topics we’re especially passionate about: the role of technology in piracy, sharing and related business model tranformations in the entertainment and media industries. I am participating on the CES panel, Copyright versus Consumers: Where to Draw the Line?

It will be easier to find us this year, we are at Pod B in the Anytime-Anywhere TechArena at the Sands Expo.

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December 5th, 2006 3:35 PM
It’s your (get up and) go
Posted by Richard French

A story at Gizmodo shows that the Nintendo Wii and its game developers may achieve what Apple and musicians can only suggest: couch potatoes and mouse potatoes catching exercise along with entertainment.

I like those Apple iPod ads featuring people dancing to music. The images, the music, the idea appeal. But, be honest. How often do you get up and dance while listening to your iPod? For that matter, how often do you see anyone rocking out to their iPod? We all do the nod-nod-tap-tap-lip-synch routine, pretending to avert social scandal while actually reveling in our couch potato / mouse potato ways. Yet, most of us need more exercise and jumping from thinking about it to doing it is key.

Here’s to all of us finding our feet in 2007.

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November 28th, 2006 9:40 PM
I'm sharing holiday photos - no e-mail attachments required!
Posted by admin

One of the best parts of the holiday season is the opportunity to visit and catch up with friends and family who I don’t see as often as I’d like. To keep and cherish these memories, I usually carry my handy digital camera with me and take dozens of pictures. Photo taking is so much easier now, especially with digital cameras and computers — no more expensive developments, plus I get to see the results of my work instantly.

At our last major family gathering, I had taken some photos that I thought several different family members would like to see. I didn’t really want spend a lot of time uploading them to a public photo site but still wanted to provide everyone a chance to view and download the photos, if they wanted.

Plus, I have a few family members who are not very technical, so I needed a simple way to share the photos with them that didn’t require any complicated steps or special software.

Fortunately, with Avvenu, this type of sharing is easy to do… I simply go to the Avvenu site and select the photo folder that I want to share with everyone. I enter their e-mail addresses into the sharing form, and type in an introduction that tells them about the pics. Voila, the photos are available to them through a simple link, easier than an e-mail, with no file size restrictions or detailed instructions on how to handle a zipped file attachment.

I especially like the fact that Avvenu’s premium Guaranteed Access service ensures that my photos and files are available even if my home computer isn’t turned on or connected to the Internet.

What are you sharing with friends and family through Avvenu? I’d love to hear from you - please post a comment.

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November 9th, 2006 5:36 PM
Avvenu pulls a hat trick in October
Posted by admin

Three goals by the same player is a hat trick in soccer. Avvenu’s obviously a player after placing in the top lists of mobile apps. If fact, we were the only company included in all three lists. PC Magazine says we’re one of the 11 Great Smarphone Apps, Lifehacker thinks we ‘re one of the 11 Killer Freebies for your Pocket PC and Lifehacker also says we’re one of the 12 Killer Apps for Palm PDA’s.

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November 2nd, 2006 11:02 AM
Transferring Large Files
Posted by Richard French

I’m constantly being asked if the Avvenu service is a good alternative to email and other approaches to get large files to another person or group of people. This is becoming a bigger issue now that more photos, movies, powerpoint presentations are often larger than the limits imposed by most email systems. Internet.com’s Ron Pacchiano recently published an article in WinPlanet entitled, The Art of Transferring Large Files. The author mentions several alternatives including xdrive, ibackup, gotomyPC as well as Avvenu. Here’s an excerpt:

The other option works in a similar fashion, but instead of storing your files online, you actually keep your files on your PC and allow the user to download it straight off of your system. There are numerous offerings available in this category, but one of the best ones I’ve found is available from a company called Avvenu.

The Avvenu service is based on the company’s patent-pending technology in media routing and managed peer-to-peer content access and distribution. Using Avvenu you can share your files among multiple users. The sharing happens directly, from your computer. Simply locate the file you want to share, specify for how long you want the share to be available and with whom you want to share it. It’s all done automatically and securely.

…

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October 20th, 2006 2:04 PM
Things I do with Avvenu while at the Dentist
Posted by admin

Ever since I joined Avvenu in February, I have stopped lugging my laptop back home with me. Now before you say “cool, I want that job” or “what a slacker”, let me just say that Avvenu is a startup and that translates to a ton of work. And no, I don’t live in the office either – it’s just that I use the Avvenu service to keep connected to my laptop. And besides the Avvenu service, my Motorola Q plays a critical role in ensuring that I never carry my laptop with me. Take this one instance, when I had to leave work in a hurry as I was running late to for a dental appointment. As I was waiting at the dentist’s office, reading about Brad and Angelina, I get a call from a client asking me for “the presentation”. “Oh darn!”, or something similar, is what echoed thru my mind – yep, I had forgotten. But thankfully I was not going to rush back to work; I logged in to my Avvenu account using my Motorola Q smart phone, navigated to the file on my laptop and sent a ’share’ email to the client. The client got the presentation and I got my tooth drilled!

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October 6th, 2006 11:46 AM
I've redefined "shortly" to mean 5 months
Posted by Richard French

Here is the first paragraph of an article I posted on my personal blog when I joined Avvenu in late April.

Two weeks ago I joined Avvenu, Inc. as CEO. We’ll start a company blog shortly. Meanwhile, I wanted to add a more personal perspective to the company news release. Several friends were surprised that I did not go to an open source or media company. In truth, I certainly looked at opportunities at several, and at some companies with more traditional products and services as well. In the end, Avvenu captured my imagination and passion for the same reasons that VA Software/OSDN did: incredible market potential, a highly talented and fearless team, and a companywide hunger for leadership.

Well here is the company blog - 5 months later. Not quite as “shortly” as I’d hoped, it seems we’ve all been very busy with new releases, new features and some great new ideas that will be turning into enhanced services over the next few months. Now that the blog is here please provide your comments on the articles posted as well as any feedback you have of our service.

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September 23rd, 2006 6:52 PM
Listening to Music
Posted by Richard French

Last week I was in Los Angeles attending the CTIA trade show. On the first afternoon I had 4 meetings in a row with a variety of different companies. At 6:00 pm my second from last meeting finished, leaving about an hour before my final dinner meeting. In order to get into a relaxed mood, I decided to listen to some of the music I’d ripped over the weekend on my home computer.

Using Avvenu and my Motorola Q, I was able to easily navigate to the songs I wanted to hear and quickly listen to them streamed directly from my home computer.

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