Joining forces with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), The RIAA has filed suit against the FastTrack troika Morpheus, KaZaa, and Grokster for copyright infringement. The MPAA is involved because the FastTrack portals also trade movie files. Now both will try to shut down services that, by design, have made themselves more elusive than Napster.
Limewire has just released Sparky, a prototype that improves traffic over the Gnutella network by using new techniques to dramatically reduce broadcast query and ping traffic. The article includes links to download the program for Linux, Solaris, Windows, and Macintosh.
On the day Vivendi Universal officially took over MP3.com, they sent out a letter to the site's artists telling them how wonderful the new Payback for Playback program will be and, oh yes, payouts will be slashed by 4/5th.
The glove is off between monkey-loving popster Michael Jackson and the MP3 community after his new single, 'Rock your World', was released in an uncopyable CD.
Released by Sony, the discs incorporate controversial copy protection measures which prevent copying and ripping to the MP3 format. But the technology also prevents the discs being played in PC CD-Rom drives, although there is no mention of this anywhere on the packaging.
Thomson Multimedia announced the release of the mp3PRO plug-in for Winamp. The article includes links to download the new plug-in as well as a link to download an updated version of the mp3PRO encoder/decoder.
The official record industry music download services have annouced they are ready for business. But business has changed in the wake of the WTC tragedy and if these services want to be viable they will have to forget their global legal challenges and instead develop pricing and terms that are realistic for Netizens to actually consider.
SonicBlue announces the release of two new MP3/CD players which will complement the original Rio Volt SP100. These new Rio Volts, the $179 SP250 and the $99 SP90, will bookend the SP100 in both price and features. Details here.
The cover for the upcoming CD from a popular hip-hop group portrays an eerily familiar sight.
Against a backdrop of morning skies, the towers of the World Trade Center stand engulfed in
flame from the impact of twin explosions. Clouds of smoke spew from the upper stories, all but
obscuring the tip of what was once the epicenter of the New York City skyline.
Music and record industry lobbyists are quietly readying an all-out assault on Congress this fall in hopes of dramatically rewriting copyright laws. With the help of Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), the powerful chairman of the Senate Commerce committee, they hope to embed copy-protection controls in nearly all consumer electronic devices and PCs. All types of digital content, including music, video and e-books, are covered.
California native Karen DeLise has filed suit against independent label Fahrenheit Entertainment over copy protection it added to a recently released Charlie Pride CD. The security placed on the CD intentionally prevents consumers from playing it on computers unless they register their names on a Website, a site that presumably creates a short list of potential pirates should the tracks on that album make their way to Napster clones. Registering also prevents the CD from being played on any other computer and DeLise has charged the company with consumer deception.
