Back in 1979, Sony made a significant contribution to music technology when they released the Walkman. With its advent, the way we listened to music would be changed tremendously, and its influence is still felt today. With technology continuing to evolve, it seems things can only get better. I recently spoke with Daren Tsui, the CEO and co-founder of mSpot to talk about mobile music in its many forms, where it’s gone, and where it will go next.

Kayode: So Daren, I figured we could start with you giving us a brief history of how mSpot got started.

Daren Tsui: We started back in late 2004, and the premise of the company was to take advantage of the new crops of media phones in the U.S., having data networks that were fast enough to do some interesting stuff. We started out by experimenting with some really lo-res video, running at about four frames per second. We saw the opportunity to do streaming music because it takes up a lot less bandwidth. We focused a lot on music in terms of different genres, but we also had talk radio content, a sports channel, etc., as well as producing and programming our own streaming music station. We now have a music video service, as well as a product called Music Sync, which allows you to sync all your music and MP3s from your PC to your mobile phone through the 3G network. We also have a ringtone application called Make Your Tone, which allows you to edit your own high-quality music file to serve as your own ringtone.

Kayode: So in light of the 30th anniversary of mobile music, what are your thoughts on the evolution of mobile music, from the first Walkman up until today?

Daren: Well, even before the Walkman you had the transistor radio, which was also portable. The difference was that the Walkman was on-demand, you had a tape you could start and stop. So, it’s absolutely the case when it comes to portable devices, consumers want choices, they want to be able to listen to music passively, but they also want to have the choice of music they can play whenever they want. I think the iPod has proven that over and over again. Therefore, a successful music service needs to offer both portability and the ability to control whatever the consumer wants to listen to. When the CD Walkman came out, it was still about addressing those basic needs, only the quality of the music was higher, and you could access it quicker. Then of course, you have the iPod. But I think the game-changing piece of what’s going on now, compared to back in ’79 with the Walkman, and even the iPod, is that not only is the music listening experience on-demand and portable, it’s connected. You can share music with other users, you can comment on music, get lyrics, it makes for a very robust experience.

Kayode: With everything we can do from listening to music, sharing music, etc., do you think we’ve taken the technology as far as it can go, or can things still go further?

Daren: In addition to what’s going on with 3G, you’ve got the ability to write some very sophisticated software, now that the phone is becoming more and more like a portable PC that’s always connected to the internet. Music is so expressive, and it’s all about sharing and letting people know what you’re listening to. You even have services online where music artists can collaborate, sharing beats and lyrics, etc, over the internet without ever having to meet. I think we’ll see more of that in the future.

Kayode: I have been hearing about that more, with groups like Foreign Exchange, for example. Getting onto the recording industry in general, how do you think they’re dealing with these advancements in technology, and how it applies to how people receive, share, and create music? How are they incorporating all this into how they do business?

Daren: On the mobile side, the music industry has been somewhat protected to date, as piracy hasn’t been as rampant on the mobile side of things. The reason that’s the case today is because the carriers still have a tremendous amount of control over the handsets, over who can write applications for those handsets, etc. Furthermore, the technology is still fairly limited, so it’s not like you could have a site as complex as Napster or Kazaa available on a mobile phone. This is why, for example, ringtones is still a multi-billion dollar market worldwide, and music tracks are still be sold for mobile phones, at least in the United States. But on the open/PC/Internet side, it’s been much more difficult to try and sell digital tracks, due to piracy. So the labels are trying to milk as much as they can out of the current situation. The good and the bad here is that the mobile internet is starting to open up now, mainly due to Apple and the iPhone. And there are a lot of these open stores now, starting with iTunes, now Microsoft has their own store, and you can start writing applications onto these handsets pretty freely. In addition to more and more people being able to subscribe to the 3G Beta Plan, not because they want to listen to music and watch video, first and foremost, but more so they can text and send and receive e-mail, and it shows how mobile phones are becoming more like PCs with internet, which I think music labels are worried about. So right now, they’re doing a lot of experimentation.

Kayode: Getting back to the Sony Walkman and the anniversary, what are some of your own experiences with the Walkman over the years?

Daren: I just remember the first Walkman I had as a kid, I thought it was awesome. I was listening to music everywhere. It really changed the way people listened to music. And then the CD Walkman, or Discman, came out and it was great having higher quality audio and things like that. The only beef I had with it, of course, was that you could only carry one CD at a time, so it kind of locked you in to what you could listen to. I know I jumped onto the MP3 player bandwagon early on. I did buy one of the Diamond Rio players, which only had about 64 megs of memory, so that’s not a lot of music! But at the time it was great, I was showing off to my friends and everything! The funny thing is that as the technology advances, the basic needs of the consumer haven’t really changed. It’s still about making the music portable and giving listeners to access that music however they choose. The only really big difference you’re seeing now is the ability to share music, and overall connectivity.

Kayode: Well, it’s been great talking with you and getting a better idea of some of the changes we’ve seen in mobile music, especially where it’s heading. It’s been very insightful.

Daren: It’s been a pleasure.

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