Sony BMG is in talks with P2P Company Grokster about the prospect of a legit P2P service. The new P2P services would be "label friendly" and would also feature some form of DRM protection to protect label owned music. The service has been given the name Mashboxxx but it may not be called that because some clever person has already grabbed it, on October 29th. It seems the network will block some files from being shared but will allow others to be shared freely. Some programmed DRM rules could put restrictions on some things like CD burning, how many devices you could copy a protected file to and even how many times a file can be played. It seems likely that these extra features would require some form of payment.
So to any readers it may seem like a good enough idea by Sony BMG and Grokster as a way to form a legit P2P service and a new way of purchasing music. However, if you look at it from other ways, you have to become skeptical. What if this is only attempts by Song BMG to even further blacken the name of other major P2P networks like eDonkey? Consider what could happen if Sony BMG creates this P2P network then tell a court that they have proven DRM on P2P services works; would the other major networks be ordered to implement their own protections, or even be shut down? In my opinion, this new "P2P service" is another attempt to keep mainstream music dominant in today’s music industry.
Source:
The Register
Source:
The Register
...And did we tell you the name of the game, boy? We call it "Riding The Gravy Train"....
-- Klingy --
