SPIN Play, developed by Bottle Rocket, enhances print with music, videos to create a whole new experience

This post has been edited. The original mentions some issues with AirPlay that I encountered. I wondered whether this was the fault of the app, or whether my iPad and Apple TV were the source. Opening the app another time reveals that the app is performing perfectly.

Few apps get nearly unanimous raves inside the App Store. It is part of doing business, I suppose, that some people are disappointed in an app, or don't like the price. The new app from SPIN magazine bucks that trend by taking the right approach towards tablet publishing.

Rather than asking the question "how do we publish our print magazine on the iPad?" the creators of SPIN Play seem to have taken the approach "what do we want to publish on the iPad?" or "how do we extend our brand to the iPad?". Either way, the results have produced a new product that takes advantage of the tablet's capabilities and unique features. And users are raving.

It helps that the publisher is working with Bottle Rocket, the developer behind such great apps as the three NPR apps (including the NPR Music iPhone app), ESPN The Magazine, and others.

The list of apps created by Bottle Rocket is not nearly as long as that of other developers, but the reason for this is simple: a Bottle Rocket app is generally a well-thought out, custom designed application. Rarely are there negative comments about a Bottle Rocket app, and if there are, it usually has to do with the client side of the equation. (Strangely, I don't think I have posted about a Bottle Rocket app before today, my bad.)

By the way, if you really want a digital replica of SPIN, one is available through Zinio.

As for SPIN Play, the tablet app does what I'm sure the editors of the print edition wish print could provide: music, of course. Writing about a new CD for print always is only somewhat satisfying. I love reading old copies of DownBeat with their famous "Blindfold Test" column. In the column musicians listen to new recordings, guess who the artist is, and comment on the music. Reading the column one can almost hear the music in the background and imagine the musician there studiously evaluating the recording.

Tablet publishing can bring the actual music to the reader, while retaining the impact of editorial copy at the same time -- it is one of the reasons there are seasoned publishers (like me) so excited by tablet publishing.

The app is free to download and issues are a very reasonable $1.99 per, or $7.99 for an annual subscription. Inside each issue is 60 songs and 30 videos selected by the editors for inclusion. A reader gets quite a bit for their money.

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This is where, in the original post, I wrote about encountering some problems with AirPlay within the app. What I encountered was that the app streamed audio fine to my AirPort Express but nothing to my Apple TV. Yet my other apps were able to stream to Apple TV -- meaning that the source of the problem had to be the SPIN Play app, right?

But after getting an email from Karl Gehrke, QA manager at Bottle Rocket, asking about what problems I seemed to be having I tested the app once again before responding.

This time . . . no problems!

I can't explain what I was encountering with the app because I can't duplicate them, but most importantly everything is working perfectly. This is what I would expect from a Bottle Rocket app, all the apps I have from them have been state-of-the-art.

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Here is the magazine's promotional video, courtesy of SPIN and Bottle Rocket:

Retweet: Netflix inks its first original content deal

The Chief Content Officer at Netflix, Ted Sarandos, talks to Peter Kafka of the WSJ about their new original program deal, the yet to be produced "House of Cards", with Kevin Spacey.

This is the first time Netflix has signed up to distribute an original series so obviously this is a big deal.

The Money Quote

Concerning how much Netflix is going to shell out to get the show: "No comment. But I will say this: If the show proves very popular, it won’t be any more expensive than licensing a popular show off of a network. So economically, it’s not a seismic shift, if it’s popular. If it isn’t, then we’ll have paid more for an unpopular show than we normally would have."

I definitely smiled when I read that because this was what I was thinking, as well.

If Netflix is going to get squeezed by the networks and Internet service providers, who also happen to be cable companies, then they are making a competitor out of a company that could be a partner. In this situation Netflix really has nothing to lose by getting into original programming. John Gruber of Daring Fireball immediately thought of Apple, wouldn't this work for them, too? I tend to doubt it, because for all the bitching and moaning you hear from the studios and record companies, in the end Apple still makes money for them so usually Apple reaches some sort of accommodation with the other party.

No matter how much kicking and screaming the big producers and distributors do it remains true that consumers want their television (and movie and music) content everywhere, not just where the traditional media companies want them to have it. They can fight this all they want, but consumers will get what they want in the end.

Book retailer Borders to close an additional 28 stores

The bad news just keeps piling up for bankrupt book retailer Borders. Late yesterday the chain announced that it will close another 28 of its retail outlets -- this would be in addition to the 200 previously announced closings.

"We reached the determination about these stores after a further review of their ongoing economic viability," Borders spokeswoman Mary Davis said in its announcement.

The 28 stores are located in California (Bakersfield, Goleta, Hollywood, Milpitas, Pleasant Hill, San Diego and San Rafael), Connecticut (Fairfield and Stamford), Georgia (Atlanta), Hawaii (Kahului, Maui and Waipahu), Illinois (Wilmette), Iowa (West Des Moines), Indiana (Fort Wayne and Indianapolis), Kansas (Overland Park), Kentucky (Louisville), Massachusetts (Braintree and Shrewsbury), Oklahoma (Tulsa), Pennsylvania (N. Wales and Philadelphia), Rhode Island (Cranston), Tennessee (Nashville), Texas (Stafford) and Washington (Federal Way and Tacoma).

This will cut the number of Borders stores approximately in half.

“We are moving quickly right at the outset of the Chapter 11 process to restore stability to our business and protect our enterprise and its brand," Mike Edwards, President, Borders Group, said. "We now have financing to pay our vendors and other related parties in a timely fashion for post-petition goods and services, with the funding and related court approvals to operate our business effectively on a day-to-day basis. We look forward to continuing to meet the needs of our customer base and being a preeminent and innovative retailer in this space.”

Morning Brief: Libya says it will release NYT journalists as foreign pressure builds; Lincoln sponsors free access to NYT website; National Lampoon CEO arrested

Running behind this morning, maybe the time change has hit me. Oh well, at least it is spring here and the sun is shining -- 'bout time.

Things are heating up in Libya. Yesterday Qaddafi bragged that he would be in the city of Benghazi by that evening and that the people there should prepare (you can use your imagination in regards to what they should be prepared for).

But following a vote in the United Nations the dictator's tone has suddenly changed. This morning Qaddafi declared a ceasefire. And no wonder, the BBC quotes French officials as saying that air-strikes against the Qaddafi regime could begin "within hours".

Also, Seif Islam el-Qaddafi, son of Col. Qaddafi, told Christiane Amanpour in an ABC News interview that the four New York Times journalists that have gone missing were captured by forces loyal to the Qaffadi regime and that they will be released today. The fear has been that the four journalists, Anthony Shadid, the Times’s Beirut bureau chief, photographers, Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario, and reporter and videographer, Stephen Farrell, were being held by mercenaries more or less outside the firm control of the regime.

The Guardian: Libya declares ceasefire after UN resolution
BBC: Libya 'to halt military action'
NYT: Libya Says It Will Release Times Journalists

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Last night, while trying to keep up with events in Libya I clicked on over to the NYT website using my iPad for the latest news. Up popped an ad for Lincoln (which, by the way, yesterday took the top spot in the JD Power dependability rankings -- congrats to them).

The ad, which you can see at right, said "Beginning March 28. The New York Times will charge for unlimited access to its Web site. Experience all that NYTimes.com has to offer you for the rest of 2011 at no charge, courtesy of Lincoln. This extraordinary invitation is being extended to an exclusive group of visitor to NYTimes.com"

Shock, surprise. Then click, then quickly a confirmation email arrives in my in-box stating that "You have successfully redeemed your free subscription to NYTimes.com. You now have access to the online benefits below" -- which basically are the website and smartphone level.

My question: just how exclusive is this offer? A quick search of the web has not revealed any articles on this ad campaign. In any case, thanks to whoever thought this one up -- it is definitely appreciated.

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Timothy Durham, chief executive officer of National Lampoon Inc., has found an inventive solution to making money with print: a life of crime. The FBI arrested Durham on Wednesday, accusing the executive of running a $200 million Ponzi scheme.

Durham and co-defendant James Cochran were accused of using investor money to "maintain their lifestyles and to pay for personal expenses," according the indictment Reuters reports.

The Ponzi scheme actually has nothing to do with the National Lampoon, but centers a bankrupt company, Fair Financial Services of Akron, Ohio. According to the charges, the company provided companies with investor case to cover their business loans. But rather than employing the investor money in the way promised, the defendant are accused of using the money on themselves.

Reuters: "In 2008, Durham had $150,000 wired over so he could spend it at a casino, and Cochran took $50,000 to pay country club fees, according to the indictment."

The New York Times digital subscription experiment: but if it succeeds will it actually prove anything?

If the New York Times succeeds in its metered paywall experiment, will it prove that metered paywalls can work? or that the New York Times is the exception to the rule?

If you accept the notion that the New York Times is an elite news sources online, it can be argued that it should be able to buck TNM's rule #1 of digital subscriptions -- which is that financial news products can charge for content, while general news products can not.

The executives at the NYT have had over a year to work out the details of their metered paywall model. In that time I can safely say that they have been trying to come up with something that will work for the New York Times, not necessarily the entire newspaper industry. What the Times produces (IMO) is quality journalism, designed and packaged by some of the best talent in the industry. Accepting that, and leaving aside any issues that one might have with the paper, one can see how a metered paywall could work, and this model might work.

But what does that mean for the Contra Costa Times, or the Duluth News Tribune, or even the Boston Globe?

More later, to be sure.

John Deere goes app: 'Mower Match' is an interactive brochure for their riding lawn equipment lines

A question: do farmers own iPads? construction professionals? landscapers? That is a similar question to one I used to hear in the nineties: do folks in such-and-such industry use the Internet? It was usually a rhetorical question posed by B2B executives as a way of proving that investing in the web was a waste of time. Oops.

Now the B2B media industry is facing the growing use of mobile devices such as smartphones -- and then there is the iPad.

The good news for the B2B industry was that in the nineties, when it was missing the boat on the Internet, it was also the most prosperous time in our nation's history. So, as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats, and so most B2B magazines went on to sell a record number ad pages, allowing them to eventually begin investing in their first websites -- all after getting the bejesus scared out of them by VerticalNet.

But 2011 is most definitely not 1999. The economy still stinks, and so ad pages have remained depressed. Further, with so few B2B's investing in mobile or tablet publishing, it is pretty much been up to the clients or agencies themselves to begin experimenting with app development.

That is a roundabout way of bring us to this new iPad app from John Deere. Called Mower Match, the free app is basically an interactive ad for the company's lawn tractors and zero-turn mowers. Now if you are not a landscape professional, a zero-turn mower is one of those mowers that allow you to mow around a tree, or the dog, if necessary.

The dollars needed to develop this app clearly won't be going to a landscape magazine.(disclosure: a one time I was the publisher of a transportation construction magazine, Roads & Bridges and a landscape magazine, Landscape & Irrigation, where we received John Deere advertising.)

Also, just as very, very few B2Bs got into the business of building websites for their advertising clients out of fear that websites would help them market their products without the need of the magazine, so, too, I have yet to hear of a B2B getting into app development for their clients. The closest example I can think of is Penton, who has worked with developers to create new mobile apps for trade shows they are involved.

Not building ad clients websites did not prevent manufacturers from launching their own web initiatives, and not building apps will obviously prevent clients from experimenting with mobile and tablets.

John Deere is not the first company to launch a product for the iPad or iPhone, but they are certainly among the first. But this won't be the last, if history is any guide.