News written by Jari Ketola (February, 2001)

After Napster had it's $1 billion offer to the record industry turned down, a small little-known dot-com company made its own $3 billion offer.

Of course the company, Minneapolis-based J. River, doesn't have a dime of the amount it's offering. The offer is based on the projection that millions of users are willing to sing-up and pay for a service like Napster. J. River assures that it should be able to pay the $3 billion over five years for rights to offer copyrighted music available through it's service.

Even though the bid probably isn't one to take seriously, it's clear that the recording industry can't hold back much longer. They have to start licensing their music for digital distribution. The only remaining questions are where and how.

Trying to take full advantage of the ongoing Napster / MP3 -hype, Universal and Sony (again) announced they will be launching a digital music service.

The service, currently known by a code name "Duet", will initially be streaming only, but downloads, encrypted in some rights management software, will be offered later. Also some peer-to-peer functionality will be implemented, such as the ability exchange... hold your breath everyone... play lists! *Gasp!*

Vivendi Universal and Sony are trying to license at least 50 percent of global record sales for the service. That might sound like a huge goal, but it's not - Universal Music Group and Sony alone account for close to 40 percent of global record sales.

Having fought against Napster for quite a while now, the record industry has turned it's focus to the numerous Napster clones that also offer free music - just on a much smaller scale.

Since Monday RIAA has sent about 60 notices to the Internet service providers hosting Open Napster servers. The client software, like the Napigator, which use the Open Napster servers are much more difficult to shut down than the centralized Napster.com -servers.

Although RIAA might be able to force most of the U.S. Open Napster servers down with little effort, there will most definitely be "renegade" servers running overseas. Even though they will never be as big as Napster, they will probably haunt RIAA and the major record labels for a very long time indeed.

Former federal judge Eugene Lynch, a mediator appointed by the judge in the Napster case, has been negotiating a deal between Napster and major record companies to allow the popular MP3-swapping service to survive.

As reported earlier Napster may already have a solution to keep the service available. On Friday Hank Barry, Napster's CEO, announced that they have been developing a membership-model along with Bertelsmann AG.

Federal appeals court ruled Monday that Napster must stop it's free music sharing service.

In the ruling the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Napster must lock out those users who exchange copyrighted music without permission. Napster officials, of course, see this could lead to a shutdown of the service.

"This is a clear victory. The court of appeals found that the injunction is not only warranted, but required," said the president and CEO of RIAA, Hilary Rosen. "It's time for Napster to stand down and build their service the old-fashioned way - with permissions."

Napster was obviously disappointed with the court's ruling. "We will pursue every avenue in the courts and the Congress to keep Napster operating," said Napster in their statement.

Napster can stay in business until U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel retools her injunction. The appeals court found the previous injunction "overly broad".

If Napster can not find a way out of this the focus of the song swapping community will turn to the likes of Gnutella and EDonkey. It remains to be seen if it'll boost their development even further.

MP3.com announced Wednesday that it will be developing music applications for cell phones based on Qualcomm's wireless software standard BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless).

BREW is a cross platform standard that allows developers to write a single version of any application and then run it on any cellphone using Qualcomm's CDMA technology.

MP3.com's application will allow the delivery of digital music to wireless devices. It remains to be seen if the quality of the service, and more importantly the sound, will satisfy the potential customers.

Source:
Yahoo! Daily News

... or 'Hooray for the marketing department'.

Quote:
The MP3-Connector is a revolutionary new patent-pending device which allows you to listen to all of your computer audio through your home stereo while also maintaining the ability to listen through your computer speakers.
This simple to install "all-in-one" device is a must have for anyone with an MP3 collection who wants to enjoy the full sound of their songs the way they were meant to be heard through a true home stereo.

In addition, you can use the MP3-Connector to make MP3 copies of all your favorite albums and cassettes.


Sounds nice, doesn't it? And it only costs $19.99 - an "incredibly low price".

An incredibly low price for a lenght of wire, three connectors and an extension cord? Hardly. Take a look at the device at www.MP3connector.com and spend a moment of silence for the passing of common sense.

Nevertheless they do present the product incredibly well.

See the device in it's full glory at www.MP3connector.com.

While Bertelsmann feels that turning the Napster into a subscriber service will be profitable, AOL Time Warner doesn't see it the same way.

"We have had discussions with Bertelsmann, but we haven't seen a business model that puts the reality around that dream," Richard Parsons, AOL Time Warner's co-chief operating officer, said during a luncheon with reporters. AOL Time Warner owns Warner Music Group, one of the Big Five record labels.

Much of the negative attitude comes from the fact that the copyright lawsuit against Napster is yet to be settled. Should Napster be found quilty of copyright violation the big five music companies will be all over them like vultures.

Source:
The Register