Over at Digital Media Update, Sightspeed’s Peter Csathy blogs about a deal inked between Google/YouTube and Digital Music Group Inc. DMGI will supply YouTube with  a bzillion hours worth of classic TV shows and video content and YouTube will, of course, make their money back through advertising on the “watch” pages associated with the DMGI content. Peter says this is a deal that will be closely watched by all major content providers and distributors. Could movies, music, and prime time be in our not too distant future? Show us the money!

I’m a bit slower than the other bloggers trying out the Nokia N80i, but that’s typical me. I like to process things a little.

Overall, there’s not much I don’t like about this phone. It’s got a good feel in my hand, not too small but not to heavy either. It takes better than expected pictures, and the video recorder is great for the kids’ spontaneous slapstick routines. The music player is a real bonus for me. I don’t bother with an mp3 player when I’m out and about because it means carrying around another gadget. But now that the player is in the phone, I’m really enjoying using it. I know these features aren’t unique, but the N80i implements them really well. One-button access to the camera, video and music player makes these features super easy to use.

However, I had a few hiccups during the setup. The first was installing GizmoVoIP, which I couldn’t find anywhere on the phone. It is supposed to be available from the Downloads folder but in my case it wasn’t there, at least at first. It only appeared after refreshing the list several times over the span of several hours.

The second problem I had was installing PC Suite, the Nokia driver software and applications for the PC. In my case the drivers did not install, despite many uninstall/reinstall combinations. No drivers means no way for laptop and phone to communicate, no way to download music to the phone from the PC, synchronise contact lists,  etc.

The error I received was: “There is no available connection type. The connection to phone cannot be established.”

Ultimately, my solution was to uninstall EVERYTHING Nokia N80 from the Control Panel/AddRemove Programs. This includes PC Suite AND the Nokia PC Connectivity package. For some reason, there were two PC Connectivity packages installed instead of one which probably caused all the grief. I then downloaded the most recent PC Suite from the support web site, and reinstalled.

The PC Suite on the CD that came with the phone was out of date but the autoupdater that updated the sofware when I installed the first time, clearly didn’t do a very good job. I think this is why I ended up with two sets of drivers that didn’t like living in the same house.

The third thing I did, and this is more of a user problem, is that I connected the cable to my laptop first, before popping in the CD. Predictably, the Found New Hardware wizard prompted me for the CD that contains the drivers. When I inserted the CD, of course nothing happened because PC Suite installs the applications and drivers all at once. But since I didn’t realize this at first and there wasn’t anything in the documentation, I spent a bit of time hunting through the packaging looking for another CD that I may have missed.

Who knows if many users have the same issue, but an easy fix would be for Nokia to add more accurate labeling and instructions to the CD itself.

Anyway, all is fine and dandy now.

I’ve been fiddling for the last few days with my Nokia N80i. I know I should be homing in on the on-board mobile VOIP capabilities, but I’m too distracted by all the other things this device can do. You have to understand that I’m a basic cell phone person. I’ve never held too much with phones that try to manage your life. I use my mobile to make calls. That’s pretty much it. (C’mon Leanne, get with the program here). So now that I’ve tried the N80i, I realize how boring I’ve been all this time. 

So far, I’m delightfully dazzled by the camera, the video recorder and the music player. These three things I never thought would have interested me and now I can see using them daily…oh yeah, and making calls…that’s four things.

However, I had a few bumps installing the software (GizmoVoIP), for Internet calling, and the phone drivers on my laptop. Tell ya about that later.

I’ve been wondering about the GrandCentral “One number for life” mantra, and TalkPlus‘ second number for your mobile phone. While I understand these products target different markets, I find it hard to keep them distinct in my mind. It dawned on me that this could be a problem that consumers have as well.

There’s a lot of chatter about Voice 2.0 applications–the user in control not the network–but that is the VOIP blogosphere talking. Me, I think okay, I get another number, it’s free for now, and it’s solving what problem exactly? 

GrandCentral:

Provides a phone number not tied to a device or location. When people call this number, the phones you have “attached” to it ring, like your cell phone, home phone, and office phone. Up to six phones can be linked to your GrandCentral number. The service is all about giving you control over how people reach you (inbound calling) as opposed to how you place calls. Callers can leave voice messages that can be checked by phone, email or online. You’re notified of a voice mail via email or text message to a cell phone. And you can flag unwanted callers as spam. It’s also free.

You need it if people have a hard time tracking you down. You find yourself playing telephone tag. You WANT to be found but heck, you’re always bouncing between work, home, and on the road.

TalkPlus:

Provides a second number for your cell phone so you can separate personal life and work life. The number can be used as a second line for business, dating, classified ads, online auctions, social groups, or a second residence. Like GrandCentral, unwanted callers can be blocked while priority numbers ring through. When making outbound calls, you can specify which caller ID to use so that the person you are calling doesn’t know how or where you’re calling from.

You need it if your mobile phone is your primary means of communication but the  separation of work and play is important to you. You want people to know that you’re calling from the office (the caller ID says this is a work-related call) even though you’re calling from home or the beach in Maui. You are also concerned about personal privacy and want to make sure that your personal number is only available to the people you want to have it.

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In talking with Craig Walker, GrandCentral CEO, he tells me they couldn’t be more different than TalkPlus.

“Our philosophy is that we don’t need MORE numbers for people to reach us at…we need less.  As long as I have the control over my inbound calling that GrandCentral gives me, there’s no reason that I would want to juggle different personas. I don’t want phone numbers that identify me as being located at a certain place or doing a certain thing, I want a phone number that is personal to me.  If you want to reach me, call my ONE NUMBER.  I’ll be able to answer it wherever I want…I will be able to know who’s calling every time, and I’ll even be able to listen in on the voicemail as its being left if I’m still unsure whether I want to take the call.  When somebody calls me, they shouldn’t be able to “figure out” or know where I am based on the number…if I’m in the office, working from home or on the beach, that’s my business.” 

Obviously there’s more to both GrandCentral and TalkPlus than what I describe here, and the enthusiasm voiced by many in the VOIP blogging community seems to be not so much what these services are doing today, but what we can expect from them in the future.

To set up a free GrandCentral account, click here. To sign up for a TalkPlus sneak peak beta (for Cingular, T-Mobile, and Sprint customers in select U.S. states only), click here. TalkPlus won’t be a free service like GrandCentral and pricing is to be determined.

As usual, Carolyn Schuk over at Voxilla writes a great post summarizing Skype’s appeal to business users. The bottom line is that today, Skype works well for a “small workgroup to increase productivity”, but it just doesn’t bring it for all around business-class communications.