Next Music Takes the Stage
The announcement of Timeflix was a resounding success. Some media outlets had previously dampened the excitement around IDDC by claiming that since it showed just about everything, there would be nothing particularly new left to reveal. Those articles had now vanished in a panic, retracting like the tentacles of a sea anemone. Journalists and companies who hated seeing ID Group thrive had tried to find some way to undermine it, but their efforts proved utterly futile against such powerful, technology-driven innovation.
Right after Yoo Jae-won's presentation, the number of computers and cable modems accessing Timeflix reached into the tens of thousands. VOD views matched that figure. Yet there were almost no reports of service problems. The only complaints were that operating the remote control felt a bit difficult.
The most viewed content was, unsurprisingly, dominated by dramas. Variety shows came next, followed by movies. Surprisingly, MLB recorded fewer views. One shouldn't mistakenly assume this meant MLB lacked popularity. Since fans watched MLB games live every day, there simply wasn't much reason to rewatch them yet.
"The cinema display is getting a good response too."
Back home, Yoo Jae-won nodded as he browsed community forums. After Timeflix, the 27-inch FHD monitor was the next most mentioned item. Considering it was 1998, a 27-inch LCD monitor would look like something straight out of the future. Although it used a TN panel—meaning colors shifted strangely when viewed from an angle—computer monitors were rarely watched from the side anyway.
Above all, the Cinema Display, like the iWorks, used an aluminum alloy case, giving it an incredibly luxurious feel. However, many people despaired after learning the price.
"Over four million won per unit. Even in a wealthy country like America, not many people will buy it."
At $3,399, the current exchange rate of 1,280 won to the dollar produced a staggering 4.32 million won. With prices skyrocketing while wages stayed flat—or worse, were cut—it was a terrifying price for Korea. Even in booming America, the reaction was no different. For that amount, one could buy a large television and equip it with a quality speaker system.
The unfortunate part was that at such a high price, there should have been solid profit for Yoo Jae-won, yet the Cinema Display offered none. In fact, it was a loss. Because of the low yield rate, they produced base panels in bulk and then selected the good ones. Manufacturing the Cinema Display created a mountain of B-grade panels that turned into dead stock.
"Still, those who want to buy it will buy it, right?"
Nevertheless, Yoo Jae-won showed a flicker of anticipation as he looked at the reservation screen for the Cinema Display. For the wealthy who never asked about price and only wanted the best, there was no superior product. The same held true for digital content production companies. Nothing beat it for graphics or video editing.
If demand for large panels grew like this, the ID Display factory would run at full capacity. And if the factory operated diligently, they would accumulate know-how and quickly solve the dead pixel problem. Then prices would drop soon after, allowing even more users to equip their computers with Cinema Displays.
For the sake of that virtuous cycle, selling the Cinema Display at a slight loss wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Having examined the community reactions to Timeflix, Yoo Jae-won expressed satisfaction at the uniformly positive reviews. However, it wasn't without a trace of regret.
"Should I have mentioned original content as well?"
What he had debated until the very end was the Timeflix Original series. All the tens of thousands of titles currently on the Timeflix servers came from Time Warner's library. As a massive film distributor that also owned major broadcasting stations, they had accumulated a considerable amount of film stored away from past productions. The work of digitally converting these contents for television and computer playback and uploading them was running around the clock.
The focus had been on popular titles, but eventually every piece of in-house content would be uploaded. Currently airing programs were set to appear the moment their broadcast ended. Movies presented a trickier situation. The video tape sales and rental market had established itself on a fairly large scale. But since the rental market didn't particularly benefit companies like Time Warner, they decided to monitor how VOD affected video tape sales before making a final call.
Still, Yoo Jae-won believed Timeflix could not fully take root with only Time Warner content. That was why original content was necessary. The Million Dollar Challenge currently in progress existed precisely to secure that original content.
Not just dramas or movies—revolutionary variety programs also filled Yoo Jae-won's mind. Yet in the Timeflix announcement, he had ultimately made no mention of original content.
"First, it's important to let people know exactly what kind of service Timeflix is."
Most people still had no concept of VOD. Therefore, he thought it was logical to first plant awareness of Timeflix, prove it was genuinely useful, and only then take the next step. Besides, even if they produced variety shows themselves, channeling them through Time Warner's established broadcasting stations with their solid viewer base seemed wiser.
Thinking about it now, however, he felt a slight lingering attachment. Perhaps creating at least a teaser video to spark curiosity would have been better.
"Clinging to past decisions is a foolish thing."
Yoo Jae-won, who had briefly gone off on a tangent, soon returned to reality. He immediately closed every program running on his computer. He didn't open any new documents to work on either. He simply shut the machine down without hesitation.
It was already the second day. He realized that sleeping in preparation for the Next Music service announcement was what he needed to do right now.
The preparations for Next Music's announcement were already perfect. From stage setup to props, script, and even the surprise guest singer—everything had been a collaboration between Yoo Jae-won and Remington.
What he needed to do now was sleep.
After completely powering off the computer, Yoo Jae-won changed into his pajamas and slipped into bed. There was no cold shock when he first entered the covers. Tiffany, who had gone to bed first complaining of exhaustion, had acted as a human heater and warmed the sheets to a perfect temperature. Yoo Jae-won fell into sweet, deep sleep almost instantly.
The next day.
It was the second day of IDDC 98. Once again, the presenter on the main stage was Yoo Jae-won.
"Hello! I'm Yoo Jae-won."
Receiving applause as he stepped onto the stage, Yoo Jae-won greeted the audience with a much softer expression than the day before.
"I promise today will be even hotter than yesterday. Many of you may already have an idea of what I'll be announcing. Even so, my promise will not change."
He had made every possible preparation to elevate the presentation's completeness enough to make such a bold claim.
"The service I will announce to you today is Next Music."
As soon as the announcement began, Next Music was revealed. The only regrettable part was that since Next Music was software and a service, he couldn't perform a situational skit with Remington. He didn't know how long he could continue that cart show, but if possible, Yoo Jae-won wanted to keep doing it. Still, repeating the same format every time would grow stale, so he planned to create various creative variations going forward.
At the same moment as Yoo Jae-won's words, the giant screen behind him displayed the words NEXT MUSIC in overwhelming size. Soon afterward, the live desktop of Android 98 appeared. The desktop and icons featured animation effects, with the Next Music logo shimmering across them and icons decorated with musical notes and album art.
It looked wonderful, but it consumed significant computer performance. Power users who prided themselves on optimization would disable it immediately after installing Android 98.
Next, the web browser opened, displaying the Nextcom homepage set as the default.
"If you use the internet frequently, you've probably already heard about Korea's Next Music. Many of you might assume it will be similar to what you've seen before, but right now I'll completely shatter that preconception. The screen you're watching is being operated in real time by an engineer from our ID Technology using a New Egg PC. We could have used the iWorks to demonstrate the fastest possible performance, but since the majority of users operate New Egg systems, we've built the demonstration around that environment."
Yoo Jae-won provided important information before accessing the Next Music homepage. As he said, leaving the current most powerful PC—the iWorks—aside and using a standard New Egg was meant to prove the service ran smoothly even in ordinary environments.
"All right, let's begin! Please access the Next Music page."
At Yoo Jae-won's command, the mouse cursor moved and opened the favorites list in the ID web browser. There were only four items saved. Two were hidden behind question marks, their contents unknown. Of the two visible bookmarks, one was Timeflix. Naturally, the remaining one was Next Music.
Upon accessing Next Music, a cleanly organized music site appeared. Its layout closely resembled the music portals people would casually visit in 21st-century Korea. First came the real-time Nextar Hot 100 chart, followed by tabs categorized by artist, genre, country, and era.
"Unlike the rampant pirate MP3 sites, Next Music is an official platform that delivers artists' music through one hundred percent legal contracts. Downloading MP3s from pirate sites does nothing to help artists' creative activities, but Next Music helps them more than any traditional medium ever could."
Next Music's settlement ratio was 7:3. Naturally, the larger share went to the creators. The actual amount received would vary depending on contracts with agencies or session musicians, but the same principle applied to CDs, tapes, and LPs. Moreover, Next Music offered additional advantages. The system provided advances when signing online distribution contracts, with considerable flexibility based on fame, potential, and other factors. For superstars who wielded more influence than their own agencies, that flexibility became enormous.
"Then let's see which artists have joined the Next Music launch."
While Yoo Jae-won spoke, the mouse continued moving. It scrolled past the Hot 100 chart, selected the artist category, and clicked through artists in order of recent registration. Representative photos of famous artists appeared one after another—each a top-tier star who had sold millions of albums.
The cursor gradually moved upward. What appeared next was Metallica. Selecting them, their signature song "Enter Sandman" began to play. That famous guitar riff filled the main stage, soon joined by bass and drums.
From the moment the cursor selected Metallica, the main stage audience was completely hooked. This was before hip-hop had conquered the Billboard charts and rock still held strong popularity. Moreover, Metallica had never hidden their strongly negative view of MP3s. They had even been willing to sue the illegal MP3 sharing program Napster.
The clear evidence that such a band had joined Next Music couldn't have been more powerful.
But the show Yoo Jae-won had prepared was not over. Suddenly, "Enter Sandman" cut off. The excited audience looked deflated at the abrupt silence. They murmured, wondering if a sound failure had occurred even during Yoo Jae-won's meticulously prepared presentation.
That lasted only a moment. "Enter Sandman" flowed again—but not from the cutoff point. It restarted from the clean guitar riff at the very beginning.
Something felt different. And once again, the main stage audience was completely swept away. The stage rotated, revealing Metallica who had been hidden behind the curtain. They were performing "Enter Sandman" live.
Metallica had been in the middle of a nationwide tour, but they had gladly flown to San Francisco for this event. Money was part of it, but there was also a personal connection with Yoo Jae-won. Metallica had been ready to sue Napster to eradicate illegal music sources. Yet someone had stepped forward even before them—Yoo Jae-won himself. While their record company floundered in the storm of new technology, he had taken decisive action. They had known him before, but his proactive support made them genuinely pleased. Furthermore, while preparing the digital music service, he had taken excellent care of Metallica.
However, Yoo Jae-won's surprise guests were not limited to Metallica alone. After Metallica heated the main stage with "Enter Sandman" and coolly exited, the mouse cursor moved again. The next selection was Madonna. Then came superstars like Mariah Carey, Bon Jovi, and Celine Dion in succession. A lineup one would only see at the Grammy Awards had been fully mobilized.
ID Group's status was proven beyond doubt by this single scene. Naturally, the cheers for Next Music reached their absolute peak.
"Did you enjoy that? Next Music will become the fastest and simplest channel connecting you with artists. However, some of you may be wondering what happens outside the house. I know well that while New Egg PCs are easier to move than other computers, they still cannot be carried everywhere. So we have prepared something special."
Having built the atmosphere to its maximum, Yoo Jae-won now moved into the highlight.
"We introduce Livepod—the device that has completed, for the first time, the concept of a new portable player known as a DAP."
While preparing this IDDC, there had always been concern about pairing Next Music with a DAP. It wasn't about incomplete preparation or technical problems, but whether consumers would accept the strange term "DAP." Even among the development team, few liked the name. The marketing department had exploded with opinions that it absolutely must be changed.
After considering all these opinions, Yoo Jae-won restarted the naming process. After fierce internal discussion, the name Livepod was chosen. Combining the positive word "live" with "pod," meaning a small container, it signified a portable device that captured the vivid sensibility of live performance.
At the tip of Yoo Jae-won's fingers, the Livepod revealed its form to the world.