A few months ago, Paul Resnikoff asked me if I'd like the opportunity to blog on Digtal Music News. It sounded like a great idea, so I said 'yes', I'm usually not known to be short on opinions. Little did I know that I'd have the same sense of dread that I had the frst times I sky-dived and snow boarded. I'm hoping that it turns out to be the same 'what was I worried about?'

We're in an interesting time in digital music. Both sides in the P2P issues are listening a little more than before. The rhetoric has softened a bit and the acrimony, believe it or not, is dissipating. That's not to say that we don't have a lot of work ahead to come to a satisfactory resolution, but things are moving in a better direction. In the commercial online arena, the battle for supremacy between Apple and Microsoft is just heating up, see today's NYT Business section for details.

I'm currently focused on next-gen technologies and applications, how wi-fi, wi-max, bluetooth and 3G can be effectively utilized to create intriguing consumer offerings, what the imminent melding of portable digital players and cellphones mean for artists and labels, how does this look five years out.

So, this was my 3,000ft "hop & pop', it wasn't so bad. Going forward, I'll try to keep this area interesting, a combination of random thought and occasional insight.