Webware

(Credit: Google screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET )

It's no secret that Google's mobile team has been slowly rolling out features from its desktop Web mail to the mobile version of its e-mail site. A few weeks ago, visitors to Gmail.com from the iPhone or Android G1 began seeing an option to "mute" a conversation thread, which blocks further messages in the thread from crowding your in-box. Now, another secondary feature has joined muting. On Monday, Google pushed mobile message labeling.

As with muting, being able to organize e-mail messages by color-coded labels like "parties" or "itineraries" can take on new meaning in the restricted space of a cell phone's screen, even one as comparatively large as the iPhone's.

However, this feature is much more restricted on the phone than it is on the desktop. After selecting the message, you can go into "More" options and choose a label from a preexisting category, but you won't be able to create, rename, or delete labels from the phone. As with the mute feature that preceded it, you'll only encounter this restricted label management option from Gmail.com, not from the Android's or iPhone's native in-boxes. This caveat introduces another requirement that will cause many to stick to the phones' other in-boxes for reading Gmail. (You can get around this by creating a bookmarked icon on the home screen.)

If you heavily rely on labels to organize your correspondence, you'll be able to carry that functionality over to your iPhone or G1. Otherwise, the current inability to add labels from the phone means you won't be able to do much unless you first create categories on your desktop.

Labels are available on Android and on the iPhone operating system 2.2.1 or higher, and support U.S. English only.

Tim Westergren, the founder of popular Web radio start-up Pandora, has said in an interview with The Washington Post that his company may be close to a shutdown.

"We're approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," Westergren said in the article, published Saturday. "This is like a last stand for webcasting."

The problem, he explained, is last year's royalty hike for Web radio, which makes it extremely expensive for an independent start-up to stay afloat in the business. The royalty increase will eat up 70 percent of Pandora's $25 million in revenue, Westergren said.

SoundExchange, an organization comprising representatives from record labels and performers, believes that Internet radio owes a bigger cut of profits than traditional radio does. Activist groups like the SaveNetRadio Coalition, along with start-ups like Pandora, have fought the fee hikes.

A few Web geeks weren't convinced that Pandora's situation is as dire as Westergren says it is. "I love Pandora like my old baseball glove, but they can only pull this Chicken Little move so many times," marketing consultant Brian Oberkirch posted to Twitter on Monday morning.

But Westergren assured in the Post interview that he's not exaggerating. "We're funded by venture capital," he explained. "They're not going to chase a company whose business model has been broken. So if it doesn't feel like it's headed towards a solution, we're done."

Executives from MySpace officially announced the creation of MySpace Music, a service that will be jointly operated by News Corp.'s MySpace and, at least initially, three out of the four top record labels.

The Thursday morning teleconference MySpace held with the press was anticlimactic since details about the service have been leaking for weeks.

The service will roll out gradually over the next three to four months and offer free streaming music, unprotected MP3 downloads, ringtones, and e-commerce offerings such as merchandise and ticket sales, said MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe. The goal is to make MySpace a one-stop shop for everything music. Among the top four music companies, EMI was the lone holdout. A source with knowledge of the negotiations said that MySpace and EMI continue to seek a deal.

(For more on what lies ahead for EMI, read what the incoming chief of its digital unit, Douglas Merrill, had to say in this interview with CNET News.com from Wednesday: "Will former Google exec help save the music industry?")

The partnership with MySpace is another sign that the music industry has decided to embrace the Web and digital technology instead of waging war against it. As CD sales continue to shrink and piracy expands, the labels are moving toward the inevitable: a redefining of how they make money from music. With MySpace Music, the labels will get an equity stake in the new joint venture and a share of all the revenues the service collects.

To this point, none of the challengers to Apple's iTunes has been able to gather an audience of any relevance or able to cut licensing deals that would provide them with a music offering that equals or surpasses Apple's.

That changed today.

MySpace has 110 million users, 30 million who listen to music on the site. Combine those numbers with the 5 million music acts that promote themselves on the site and MySpace already has impressive music credentials. James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research, said MySpace could help modernize the music industry.

"MySpace has the audience and environment to enable the music industry to get to the next digital level," McQuivey said. "What iTunes offers is a good buying experience but that's not all people do with music. They they talk about it, they share it, they try things out. Remember, this is the kind of activity that (record label) Universal Music Group was suing MySpace for previously."

McQuivey continued: "I think the labels said to themselves,'Oh, if we enable fans to have a fully immersive experience, they might spend more on music. MySpace can offer a place where all aspects of the music experience can be expressed. Imeem was getting close to this but MySpace, if they don't mess it up, should take the music industry to Music 2.0"

Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business at Sony BMG Music Entertainment agreed that part of what attracted the record companies to MySpace was its audience.

"MySpace is already one of the largest music communities on the Internet," Hesse said during an interview with CNET News.com "We're aligning our efforts to reach fans through every conceivable platform."

DeWolfe did not disclose what prices might be, nor would he disclose information about the status of a copyright-infringement suit brought MySpace by Universal Music last year. A source said that the suit was settled for a large sum.

Although DeWolfe declined to discuss financial terms of the deal, the source said that it is non exclusive, meaning that the labels are free to make similar arrangements if they choose. Facebook has been reportedly talking to the labels about launching its own music service.

There are lots of things to like about Google's Gmail service: It's free (unless you count the text ads at the top of each window; it is available on any device with Internet access, and it's easy to use as a central repository for multiple e-mail accounts.

Unfortunately, there are also many useful features of Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, and other standalone e-mail programs that Gmail lacks. One of the features I miss most is the ability to sort messages by sender. I used to have to page through old mail 50 messages at a time to find the one I was looking for. Now I use the service's filters and labels as a sort substitute.

If you're looking for a message from a particular person, select that person's entry in the Contacts list on the left of the main Gmail window, and copy the address in the To: field. Next, click Settings in the top-right corner of the window, and choose Filters > Create a new filter.

Find all the messages from a single person by entering their address in the From: field of Gmail's Create a filter screen.

Paste the address in the From: field and click the Next Step button. After a few seconds you'll see all the mail from that person listed at the bottom of the screen. Check Apply the label, and choose New label from the drop-down menu to the right. Enter a name for your filter, and click OK. You can select the messages you want to view in the list, or simply click Also apply filter to the xx conversations below to add all of them. Click Create Filter to return to the Filters tab of the Settings window.

Sort your Gmail messages by applying a label to a filter.

The messages you selected and all subsequent mail from that person will now be viewable by clicking the entry you just created in the Labels list on the left side of the main Gmail window, just below your list of contacts. Of course, you can also create a labeled filter to find the mail you sent to a specific address, with or without certain words in the subject or elsewhere, and with attachments.

Tomorrow: enable the hidden administrator account in Windows Vista, and password-protect the XP equivalent.

If you simply must send a YouTube video to every single person you are connected to, Movial says it will make that possible.

The 6-year-old company makes a white label application for a PC, phone, or any device that wireless carriers can brand as their own. Called Social Communicator, it shows all of a user's contacts and their online status. All at once, instant messages, text messages, music files, or videos can be sent to all contacts listed.

The demonstration here at Demo focused on sending YouTube videos to everyone or anyone. Individual contacts can be selected ,and even if they don't have Social Communicator installed, the message will still be sent. It's unclear how you decline video spam from your "friends."

Musicians aren't merchants.

We certainly learned that through Radiohead and Trent Reznor's separate experiments with choose-your-price album promotions.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails

(Credit: Rob Sheridan)

In October, Reznor, the leader of the band Nine Inch Nails, and Radiohead attempted to promote and distribute albums online without the help of a major record label. Both offered fans the opportunity to obtain the music for free. Both saw some success.

But they also illustrated that the music business is probably better left in the hands of businessmen. Musicians are not the new labels. Artists need someone to provide financial support and business acumen. If we end up ridding the world of labels, we'll only have to re-create them--in some other, probably more nimble form.

Last week, I interviewed Reznor about the online promotion of rapper Saul William's album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust. In that interview, Reznor said he was disappointed that only 18 percent of the more than 150,000 people who downloaded the album paid for it. He and Williams offered two options: pay nothing or obtain a higher-quality audio version for $5.

By backing Williams with his money, name, and know-how, Reznor essentially thrust himself into the role of a music label. That is, a music label with a lot to learn. The first lesson was that you don't always back a winner. A music company's fortunes can often rest on its ability to discover superstars. Profits generated by a few marquee acts have always kept the companies going while all the other performers break even or lose money.

EMI said this week that only 5 percent of its acts are profitable. This kind of prospecting requires a huge investment.

Reznor said he didn't get involved with Williams to profit, but acknowledged that he spent too much making the album and said he hasn't yet recouped his money. A record company can afford to make bad bets once in a while, said Chris Castle, a music industry insider who has worked as a vice president for both Sony Music and A&M Records. Musicians, even successful ones like Reznor, probably can't.

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Update 2:50 p.m. This article has been updated with user experience information on AIM integration into Gmail.

Gmail and Google Talk users can now chat with their AOL Instant Messenger buddies through the Gmail interface, Google announced today. Rolling out to all English-based users by the end of the day, the new feature will let you seamlessly jump from chatting with a Google contact to an AIM buddy without having to use two separate chat clients.

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