I had an interesting conversation today with Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner about a variety of topics. Among them was whether Google could launch its own browser, which seems entirely possible given how the company is dabbling in everything from blogging to maps to keep its growing army of PhDs engaged. von Tetzchner said Larry Page and Sergey Brin have told him Google isn't working on a browser, although the company is apparently offering technical support to Mozilla. von Tetzchner said Google has much more to lose than gain by moving into the browser market because it has Opera and Firefox has key allies to drive traffic to Google. "If they go out and make their own browser, they would lose that kind of friendship," he said. From a big picture perspective von Tetzchner said the desktop browser market is far more interesting than it has been for the past few years because there is so much innovation happening at a time when Internet Explorer is under attack. "The fact IE is losing market share to Firefox and to us is a very positive thing and bodes well for more interesting Web features because things are not held back," he said. "The fact IE7 is coming out with improvements in the core engine is good for everyone." In the name of transparency, I used to be a big-time Opera user several years ago but have switched to Firefox about nine months ago - even though Opera sports many of the same features such as tabbed browsing. (As a techie, I like the fact Firefox can be easily customized with extensions.) But after talking with von Tetzchner, I'm going to give Opera another crack. By the way, he said downloads are running at two million to three million a month after Opera decided to offer its browser for free - double what they were when Opera was selling $39 and ad-sponsored versions.

 

 If you're looking to buy the new Barenaked Ladies album, forget about a CD or a DVD or even a digital download. The Canadian band and Nettwerk Music Group have released "Barenaked Ladies on a Stick" on a 128MB USB flash drive. The $30 album (stick?), which plays on PCs, Macs and other audio products with a USB drive. In contrast to evil Sony and its recent spyware campaign, the BNL stick has no anti-piracy technology. Give BNL credit for trying something different and reaching out to consumers who are buying and listening to music in different ways. Sony's misguided efforts to combat piracy clearly demonstrates the music industry is still working to get a handle on the new digital age and how it changes everything. The music industry's biggest problem is its inability to engage consumers by capitalizing on the Internet. Instead, it has embraced lawsuits, spyware and a war of words that have hacked away at any goodwill it once enjoyed. Maybe BNL will regret the USB promotion if fans decide to share and rip it but at least they are using technology rather than battling it.