IN MOSTLY NON-NAPSTER FILE-SWAPPING NEWS...
CENTERSPAN OF ATTENTION
CenterSpan, the lucky winners of Scour's assets, announced that they've registered more than 20,000 beta testers for the new Scour Exchange, the multimedia file-swapping application. The company also said that it will use the beta test to showcase its Digital Rights Management capabilities, hoping to impress record and film companies--or at least the lawyers for record and film companies. "We have had discussions with major labels and studios at the highest levels and we will have great content as the beta program expands this spring and we march toward the launch of our subscription service in the third quarter of this year," said CenterSpans Digital Media and Entertainment Group co-President Howard Weitzman. "Now, if youll excuse me, Ive got to get on Napster before they start filtering out the good stuff."
AIMSTER USES LEGAL TRICKERY
Our buddy Brad King at Wired took the time to read the recently revised terms of service at Aimster. He points out that with the updated agreement posted on the Instant Messenger file-swapping tools site the service is now positioning itself as basically a locker service, albeit one that allows other users to access other users' files. Here's the catch: Users aren't allowed to open files from other people--except that theres nothing to prevent them from doing so. It follows the letter of the law. Aimster is a file-swappery that creates a mini-network of Instant Messenger buddies and encrypts files that move around its network. King points out that it is impossible for anyone outisde the network to monitor what is being swapped and that breaking the encryption violates terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a law that the film studios and record companies helped push through. Pretty sneaky, sis.
AMAZON SHAKES UP THE TIP JAR
E-commerce leader Amazon.com is offering an array of free music downloads on its site, including tracks by U2, Beastie Boys, Radiohead and Jessica Andrews. In addition, the e-tail king plans to allow unsigned and independent artists to upload and sell their music directly on the site--and will install a "virtual tip jar" allowing users to contribute to their favorites. Said Amazon music guy Greg Hart, "Free is good."
RIAA, MTV, AOL AND OTHER LETTERS
At the Kagan Streaming Broadband Summit, which we didn't attend because our Kegel muscles are already streaming, RIAA chief Hilary Rosen said that the trade group was expecting to sign Webcasting agreements with MTV and AOL soon. "I think were going to have an agreement with both of these companies soon," she said. "Hey, didnt you just say that?" Yahoo! has already signed a licensing agreement with record labels, according to sources inside my head.
GNOTELLA GNEWS
Gnotella introduced its new peer-to-peer sharing application today, Gnotella 0.9.8. The new file sharing version features built-in virus checking, which blocks the GnutellaMandragore virus. Newtella, Inc. claimed just yesterday that it was the only Gnutella client that could bat off the worm. The new Gnotella version also includes a customizable user interface and user community library. The new version boasts it makes file-sharing even easier. And to make sure the file swapping is secure, for users, Gnotella 0.9.8 is firewall-friendly and allows users to set port restrictions, hide their IP addresses and upload options that won't expose their identity or network information. The company may develop an automatic audio file of a "catch me if you can" taunt. Nevertheless, both Newtella and the updated Gnotella version are no longer troubled by the latest Gnutella virus. That's all well and good, but can we get a little original with the names here, folks?
NAPSTER TRAFFIC
However, the file-sharer that is in some, uh, trouble, Napster, hasn't lost any of its audience, even with the site's possible shutdown looming. Traffic to Napster among people at work increased 28% to 1.6 million visitors this week, compared to unique visits the last week of February. According to reports, more than half the site's traffic is comprised of web surfers at work, between 35-to-49 years old. Hmmm, not quite the zit-prone, skate-boarding, teen slacker demographic that Metallica and the RIAA would lead us to believe frequent the site.
