The cheif of the BPI has been looking back at the days of Napster and the like, and has admitted that the whole situation wasn't handled as it should've been. He admits that if they could've all embraced it at the time we would probably be miles ahead in digital distribution by now...but the complexities of creating a licenced, legal system of distribution just seemed too great at the time, and as such the easier route was to just shut everything down.

Napster was miles ahead of it's time and was cut off at it's peak; without even being given a chance to redeam itself into a legal status. Depressing, indeed.

Via DMN

After losing the court case we certainly thought that something might have to change about TPB...but being sold was totally not in my mind at all! The site has been snapped up by Global Gaming Factory X, a sweedish company that plans to pay users in order to allow the transmission of data via a huge p2p network... an interesting idea indeed!

I don't think it's going to catch on with many of the TPB regulars currently though...it's all a bit too...legal!

Grooveshark has always been a bit of an oddball in the online world, inititally starting as a complex peer to peer paid download system, before moving onto a social on demand system with the ability to create playlists and share them with others. However, it's future is looking slightly bleak after EMI have decided they arn't happy with their current royalities package, and as such have whacked a big lawsuit down on the startup. One wonders how well the company is going to survive with a big financial commitment hanging over them...

More as we know it!

I'll admit, I'm a bit of a Zune fanboy; it's a quality device with better software, and in my opinon, hardware than the competition from Apple, and seeing the above device being announced almost sent me over the top! A solid competitor to the iPod touch! Finally!

Specs stack up fairly similer to that of the touch, with wifi and internet browsing included, as well as some rather awesome sounding HD video playback via a dock with HDMI output... I do like the idea of being able to take a HD film to a friends on this, and just plug it into the TV, no messing. HD radio also features, another pretty big innovation!

I'll admit, I'm a bit of a Zune fanboy; it's a quality device with better software, and in my opinon, hardware than the competition from Apple, and seeing the above device being announced almost sent me over the top! A solid competitor to the iPod touch! Finally!

Specs stack up fairly similer to that of the touch, with wifi and internet browsing included, as well as some rather awesome sounding HD video playback via a dock with HDMI output... I do like the idea of being able to take a HD film to a friends on this, and just plug it into the TV, no messing. HD radio also features, another pretty big innovation!

Spotify is awesome. It is the one piece of legal music distribution I cannot fault; you can listen to music, free of charge, whenever you like, just for a couple of ads here and there. Now it's set to get better with teases of an Android, and potentially an iPhone application in the work, allowing access to any music, free, from anywhere. It's a wonderful concept...but will it pan out? Will Spotify really be able to generate the revenues required from simple voice based ads? I'm honestly unsure... plus there's the whole, like, being launched in America issue....

It's sad to have to post this but the "3 strikes and your out" copyright law in France has come into play. It's a seriously idiotic piece of legislation that brings copyright infringement to the foreground of governmental law, rather than civil law. If you are caught aquiring copyrighted material 3 times, you will be "banned" from the internet. One wonders exactly how they will maintain this ban, but nonetheless, it's a rather striking threat.

Lets hope it goes nowhere else, particularly the US or the UK!

Spotify is one heck of a program, letting you stream music for free, with adverts occuring only every 20 mins or so. It's great for just casual listening, and has comforted a friend who lost rather a lot of digital music by effectively replacing it with an always available streaming service; it's good stuff really.

That's why we are pleased to hear that the service is booming here in Europe, with over 1 million users, and a growth rate of about 40,000 per day; a truely phenominal amount, esspecialy as it is mainly through word of mouth.

If you've not checked it out, do now, it's really worthwhile.

The Pirate Bay have always defined the image of defiant internet rights; they threw caution to the wind, ignored legal requests, and have now met their match in Swedish courts, with the entire administration team being sent down for aiding copyright infringement. An appeal will of course be made in good time, but until then, the future of the site hangs in the balence...will it keep running if the team go down? Only time will tell.

I will make no qualms about not really liking iTunes all that much; it's a pig of a program on Windows, that has only now adjusted to selling music without draconian DRM, and with the new pricing structures (variable depending on the song), won't even be the cheapest in a lot of cases.

It's as such unfortunate that 97% of teenagers prefer the iTunes store when buying music (I strongly suspect that pirating music was not an option on this survey!), and a horrific 86% own an iPod, a disgustingly large monopoly for such a locked down player!

Perhaps one day we will see a fair market again. Who knows.