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The go-to guy for sound bites on bytes

Widely quoted expert Phil Leigh analyzes the fast-growing digital media industry from his Web site at his South Tampa home.

By LOUIS HAU
Published December 1, 2005

TAMPA - The Tampa Bay area is thousands of miles from the West Coast technology centers that drive many of the latest developments in digital audio and video.

Still, it provides a solid vantage point to observe the industry for Phil Leigh, one of the most widely quoted experts in the burgeoning field of digital media, which includes downloadable and streaming audio and video products.

A former technology analyst at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Leigh, 58, left the firm two years ago after tiring of the travel demands of his job. Rather than jump to another brokerage firm, Leigh struck out on his own.

In September 2003, he set up shop at his home in south Tampa and launched Inside Digital Media (www.insidedigitalmedia.com) The Web site is a platform for Leigh to interview company executives, analysts and other technology experts about the latest industry trends.

Leigh supports himself with sponsorships from RealNetworks, webconferencing and teleconferencing company WebEx Communications and DVD software company InterVideo. In addition, New York investment banking firm Context Capital Group pays him when its clients acquire firms that he identified as potential acquisition targets.

In an interview Wednesday, Leigh shared his views on new technologies.

The research firm NPD Group said in November that Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store posted third-quarter sales that ranked it among the nation's top 10 music retailers. Will online channels be the primary means by which to sell audio and video products in the future?

It's as certain as fleas on a yard dog. The growth in the (compact disc) market is as dead as Gen. Custer. It's over.

Sony BMG is facing a huge legal and consumer backlash over problems stemming from copy-protection software it included on new CDs. Is there anything the recording industry can do to effectively combat CD piracy?

I think the focus on piracy protection is much like Ahab's obsession with the white whale. The pursuit of that obsession is leading (record labels) to make decisions and take actions that are self-destructive. It won't work because it will always be hacked. Everybody who goes to a gym knows that the iPod has replaced the Discman and the Walkman. What that means is that the music has to get on a computer. If (consumers) cannot get it on a computer, then they cannot get it in the iPod, and if they can't get it in the iPod, they ain't gonna buy it.

What do you think about the video iPod? What can we expect next in portable video technologies?

This is just the initial step. Eventually there'll be eyeglass screens or goggles that you wear that will give you the Cinema-Scope effect. The beauty of that is that's not a question of technical feasibility. It's merely a question of economic feasibility. And one of the key lessons that we've learned in digital electronics over the years is that economic feasibility is largely a question of time because the prices of memory and logic keep coming down.

If the future of music and video retailing lies in downloadable formats, how will they compete with free peer-to-peer networks?

Most people are going to want to purchase music from a secure source. ... They want it safe from viruses and malware (spyware), and those peer-to-peer networks are loaded with that stuff.

It's just like Prohibition. During the '20s, people went to the bootleggers to get their intoxicants. But as soon as it was repealed, even though it was expensive and it was a little inconvenient to go to licensed liquor stores, that's where they went and paid the real money for the legitimate stuff because they knew it was safe and legal.

Are there any gee-whiz digital media applications in development that the general public isn't aware of?

I think that in time we're going to search for audio and video files just the way we search for text files.

In other words, we're going to go to Google and we're going to say "What's that movie where the guy says, "We ain't got no stinkin' badges?" And then Google's going to come back and say, "That's Treasure of the Sierra Madre . You want to watch it? Click here." And you click on it, and for a few dollars, you've bought it. That's as certain as tomorrow's sunrise.

--Louis Hau can be reached at 813 226-3404 or hau@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 1, 2005, 01:07:16]