MusicNet, a joint venture with major record labels from AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann and EMI Group, plans to let music fans search for, then download or stream, a broad range of music owned by those three labels, Glaser said. These songs could be downloaded from other MusicNet subscribers, as people would on Napster, as well as from central servers.
The big record labels have held up Duet and MusicNet as proof that they are finally moving online in full force. Each is viewed as a potential rival for the paid service being prepared by Napster. |
The new MusicNet capabilities outlined Thursday are a technological step forward for the record labels, which have so far steered clear of licensing music to companies offering anything resembling Napster's file-swapping services.
MusicNet's peer-to-peer capabilities will be a far cry from Napster's old unregulated community, however. Only those songs already available for download from the companies themselves will be allowed to be traded through the network.
Instead of the old anarchic grassroots file-swapping, MusicNet is putting peer-to-peer to a new use that looks more like the Net-speeding capabilities of Akamai Technologies and its rivals. If a song that one member wants can be downloaded more quickly from another member instead of from the central servers, the system can go to this other member instead.
The idea of using peer-to-peer technology as a content-distribution mechanism has been taken up by a few start-ups in the technology community, including Zodiac Networks, but has not yet been used by major entertainment companies.
Although no details are yet available on the type of security that the service will use to protect songs against unauthorized copying, a representative said the MusicNet technology will be ready by the end of June
Source: ZDnet.com
