The slowed-down music trend, or “Ambient” tracks, first became incredibly popular when a version of Justin Bieber’s “U Smile” stretched out to 800% slower became a viral sensation. Some didn’t believe that it was really the same song, only slower – but it totally was. If you sped it back up, you would be met with, well, the entirely unimpressive original Bieber song.

One YouTube user describes the Ambient Bieber as “a water bomb exploding, a droplet of water landing in a puddle, the sunrise through to sunset, waves crashing, a hummingbird in flight, a panning view of our galaxy.” OK, buddy, it’s pretty neat but…

Today (with a hat tip to Vulture) I bring you the techie version of the Ambient music movement. Using PaulStretch, the free software that many of these ambient songs are made with, YouTube user Darkfalky has slowed a dial-up modem down 700%. The results? Creepy, epic, ambient genius. Check it out below –

Doesn’t this bring you back to the days before broadband? It’s nerdy nostalgia, with a musical twist.

Ambient versions of tons of songs from all different genres exist on YouTube. A quick search of “Ambient” or “slowed down” will net results for slower versions of Taylor Swift, Movie Theme Music, Reading Rainbow Theme Song, Daft Punk, Slipknot, and so many more. Of course, listening to one of these tracks is time consuming – but it is called Ambient, remember? Put it on while you meditate, cook dinner, or walk your dog.

The coolest one that I’ve ever had the patience to sit through is this version of the Jurassic Park Theme Music, played at 1000 times slower than normal. As described by a Soundcloud user,

“There was a well documented version of Justin Biebers ‘U Smile’ by musician Nick Pittsinger, who used the software ‘PaulStretch’ to slow the track by 800% to achieve a similar effect. That seems to have ignited a bit of a craze for this sort of thing, however, although this may not be an original idea, it is a fantastic piece of music, both at its original tempo and its new state.”

Check it out (if you have the time) -

Jurassic Park Theme (1000% Slower) by birdfeeder

Time Warner hopes to conclude the spinoff, which requires an SEC review, by the end of the year. The company also expects to buy back Google’s 5 percent stake as part of completing this transaction but there is no confirmation that Google has agree to the terms or whether a agreed-upon valuation has taken place.

I’m sure AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is licking his chops at the news. Now we’ll get to see what he’s made of.

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PeoplePC says its Connect for Less service is available for $7.95 a month or about 25 cents per day and it offers unlimited dial-up Internet access at 20 percent less than it competitors.

Kevin Brand

"Staying connected to the Internet is very important, especially during these uncertain and challenging economic times. For a limited time, EarthLink will offer consumers a new, low-cost Internet access option," said Kevin Brand, EarthLink’s senior vice president of product management.

"Whether your job has been impacted and you need to search for employment or you surf the Web for bargains on household necessities, Internet dial access, with our Smart Dialer technology, continues to be an effective and inexpensive tool."

Connect for Less customers will have access to more than 12,000 dial-up numbers nationwide, email with spam controls and virus protection powered by Symantec, two email addresses and free Internet call waiting.

To promote the service, the 795th person to sign up for Connect for Less will receive the $7.95 per month service free for one year. The offer will be repeated for each additional 795th person who signs up.
 

Struggles at Time Warner have the company ready to make some more moves aimed at separating a profitable online advertising business from its dwindling Internet access subscriber efforts.

The Time Warner Cable business is up for sale too.

The New York Times said Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes made it known the company wants to get its costs and operations under control. They will cut 100 jobs as part of that plan.

Despite the continued growth of broadband through cable and DSL connections, a customer base for dial-up access still exists. Though many have left dial-up for faster access options, those who remain have been profitable for AOL.

For many people, and probably some who don’t want to admit it, AOL represented the first tentative foray into the online world. AOL kept people in its walled garden of content for years, before opening up access to Usenet in 1994 and the Web several years later.

AOL opened its content to the Internet a couple of years ago, opting to replace subscriber revenue with an audience-driven advertising stream. The company has made a few purchases to bolster its online ad platform, and its Advertising.com subsidiary is claimed to reach nearly 90 percent of the US Internet audience.

The study found that 42 percent of high-speed customers are loyal to their ISP, while 51 percent of dial-up users are loyal to their ISP. Overall satisfaction is also higher among dial-up users than high-speed users, increasing 13 points from 2006 to 709 on a 1,000- point scale in 2007. Customer satisfaction of high-speed users has declined by 13 points since 2006 to 680 in 2007.

"Although high-speed subscriptions continue to increase annually-to 65 percent of the market in 2007-more than one-third (35%) of Internet service subscribers still use a dial-up service," said Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications at J.D. Power and Associates.

"The cost of high-speed Internet is up nearly $2 per month since 2006, averaging $44.09 in 2007, yet dial-up service costs have dipped $0.12, averaging $17.81. As long as high- speed Internet prices continue to rise and dial-up providers offer a viable level of service at a low price point, significant market opportunity will continue to exist for dial-up service."

In 2007, 70 percent of households with high-speed service report they had outages, while only 51 percent of households with dial-up service reported the same. Over the past 12 months, only 9 percent of dial-up users switched Internet providers. Among dial-up users who did switch providers, 74 percent switched to another dial-up service.

The study also found that Internet service subscribers are more likely to use other Web-based email from a third-party provider, such as Google Gmail, MSN Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or AOL Mail, as their main email service instead of the email from their ISP. Web-based e-mail usage is much more common among high-speed subscribers (63%) than dial-up (38%).

"Web-based e-mail users can now switch ISPs without the fear of losing a long-standing e-mail address," said Perazzini.