...
Full Version: Old MP3 memories...
Anyone interested in several (long) stories I have from back in 1997 when MP3 was just getting started? I got news coverage from Wired & several other online & offline 'zines... will post to this thread if people feel like reliving the past, or just seeing what the perspective was then ...
...
Yay! Seems very cool.
I'd really love to take a look at them. If no one else is interested, could you please send them to my mail?
rjamorim at yahoo dot com
(Lately, i've been spending hours browsing the old vqf.com forum, there are some really cool histories there)
Regards;
Roberto.
I'd really love to take a look at them. If no one else is interested, could you please send them to my mail?
rjamorim at yahoo dot com
(Lately, i've been spending hours browsing the old vqf.com forum, there are some really cool histories there)
Regards;
Roberto.
Eh, might as well post it... moderators feel free to delete if these are too long. Dunno how the formatting will come out... anyway, here is part 1 of 2.
Note -- this is mostly 'negative' stuff (sorry)... amazing how little has changed in the past 5 years
Enjoy...
--------------------------------------------------------
From Wired - http://www.wired.com/news/politics/story/4361.html
--------------------------------------------------------
Recording Industry Goes to War Against Web Sites
3:02pm 10.Jun.97.PDT Acting forcefully to
defend copyrights as the Net turns into a
music club that never closes, the US
recording industry is taking a new legal
tack against sites suspected of pirating
licensed material.
The Recording Industry Association of
America announced Monday that it had
gone to federal court to shut down three
sites that it says were distributing and
collecting copyrighted recordings. Judges
in California, New York and Texas have
issued temporary restraining orders
against sites hosted in those states, the
association said. None of the sites were
identified.
"There were clear violations of US
copyright law in all three of these sites,
from both the reproduction and distribution
sides," said Frank Creighton, the
association's vice president and
associate director of its anti-piracy efforts.
He said the three sites were chosen for
factors including the amount of
copyrighted content they carried, the rate
at which new songs were added, and the
fact that in some cases their operators
clearly indicated that they knew what they
were doing was illegal. One site,
Creighton said, contained the message,
"Leach [sic] what you want. I don't care.
Just be nice and try to upload something."
Since the owners of the sites are
unknown, the court orders have been
issued to the Internet service providers
hosting them. The association identified
the ISPs as BestWeb of
Croton-on-Hudson, New York; Parsoft
Interactive of Plano, Texas; and SimpleNet
of LaJolla, California.
The ISPs indicated a willingness to
cooperate, Creighton said. "While in all
likelihood we could legally have sued them
also, we clearly were interested more in
getting to the direct infringer. We were
seeking the hosting companies'
assistance in doing so."
Despite the inclusion of the ISPs in the
recording association action, Electronic
Frontier Foundation staff counsel Shari
Steele said the suit is appropriately
narrow in its target, in contrast to cases in
which ISPs were held fully liable for
subscribers' behavior.
"Here, it's reasonable to expect them to
go to the ISP," Steele said. Identification
can be difficult, she said, and the ISP is
the obvious source.
"If they had taken really stringent action
against the ISP rather than just seeking an
end to the violation, I'd have been
concerned," said Scott Mueller, vice
president of engineering at San Francisco
service provider Whole Earth Networks.
But if a party approaches an ISP and
clearly has the legal authority to demand
cooperation, Mueller says his company
would comply.
To Steele and others, what's critical is that
ISPs not be put in the position of
monitoring subscribers.
But Aki Namioka, president of Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility
and vice president of an association of
Washington state ISPs, says any legal
threat against service providers is a threat
to the independent nature of ISPs.
"Requesting cooperation and forcing
cooperation are two different things," she
said. To force them [even by means of a
temporary restraining order] raises the
issue of whether ISPs should be
monitoring content."
Service providers oppose illegal activities
on their systems and will cooperate in
copyright protection efforts, she said. But
a cooperative environment is diminished
by threats of intimidation.
Anti-piracy efforts against unauthorized
Net music collections have so far varied in
severity and scope. One of the factors
pushing anti-piracy efforts into higher gear
is new sound technology combining
high-level audio quality with high
compression ratios that speed up
downloads. For instance, the latest MPEG
format, MPEG-1 Layer 3, boasts a 12 to 1
compression ratio without dramatically
reducing sound quality.
The recording association and the industry
at large have a fine line to tread: Many of
the sites violating copyrights are run by
and cater to the core fan community.
That's why for the past 18 months, the
recording association has been
contacting Net sites and informing them of
copyright laws that affect their content.
These efforts have ranged from
"educational" campaigns to
cease-and-desist letters.
In the current cases, however, no prior
contact was made before the association
went to court. Creighton said the
no-warning strategy was intended to
prevent the defendants from relocating or
removing illegal content.
But there were deeper reasons for the
recording association to act more
forcefully than it has in the past.
"Clearly part of the reason for filing these
actions is to send a message that stealing
these artists' works is not going to go
unaddressed," Creighton said. "And that
in addition to our regular cease-and-desist
campaign we are prepared to bring
additional action ... (including) criminal
action."
What's more, the association didn't want
to wait for new-media legal issues to be
defined. "We want to establish the fact that
traditional copyright law applies to the
Internet and to protect our member
companies' rights," Creighton said, "not
wait for another vehicle to determine those
rights."
Ram Samudrala, a proponent of a
philosophy of free music and a musician
who distributes his own sounds on the Net,
says the recording association action is a
threat to artists. He argues that labels
often don't promote new and unknown
bands. Thus distribution methods like the
Internet represent the only chance these
bands have for a wider audience. In fact,
he says, even bands signed with major
labels have benefited from having music
files on the Net.
"The bulk of their popularity has come
from the Internet," he said. "These kinds of
acts are harmful because they limit the
potential distribution and the number of
new people who share the new artist's
music."
More from Wired - http://www.wired.com/news/topframe/4069.html
MP3 Music Pirates Avoid Legal Action
9:06am 23.May.97.PDT In the past month, the
number of functioning sites offering MP3
songs over the Internet has dropped from
dozens to a mere handful, largely due to
the threat of legal action from the songs'
rights-holders.
The MPEG-1 Layer 3 compression format
allows for music files of a reasonably
downloadable size that offer
near-CD-quality sound, which had led to
an explosion of popular FTP and Web
sites offering entire songs for download.
That level of user popularity and musical
fidelity is what has caught the attention of
rights-holders.
"A lot of record companies don't really
worry a whole lot about RealAudio
because basically it sounds like crap,"
says David Weekly, who until recently ran
an MP3 site off his college server at
Stanford University in California. That
official neglect has changed with MP3,
however, and distributors of songs in the
format can no longer expect to remain
under the rights-business radar.
Jim Griffin, Geffen Record's technology
director, says he has sent "friendly
warnings" via email to three dozen MP3
sites in the past 6 weeks. Griffin insists
that he's determined to protect the rights
of his artists, but also that the company
respects the college students who run the
majority of the sites, especially since
students form the label's "core
constituency."
"If we had wanted to make an example of
someone and do a real crackdown," he
says, "we wouldn't have done it so quietly."
"It's pretty straightforward legally," says
San Francisco intellectual-property
attorney David Given. "If you're allowing
somebody to download CD-quality songs
on your site, you've got a problem." What's
less clear is whether the music is being
reproduced or broadcast, and thus
whether fees are owed to music
publishers or performance-rights
licensers.
But some MP3 purveyors are contending
that - since record companies actually
lose money producing singles - these
sites are providing a service by promoting
the companies' CDs.
Weekly says his page was hogging 80
percent of the Stanford server's
bandwidth, and was on the verge of an
administrative confrontation when he
received a warning of impending legal
action. He's now working with the MP3
Consortium to find ways to keep MP3
delivery legal and advantageous to all
parties. His personal solution is to convert
his MP3 database into a business, which
he hopes to have operational by the fall.
His new venture - called Universal Digital
Media - hopes to raise money to pay
rights-holders by partnering with an online
music store to sell copies of the CDs the
songs come from.
The TEK site at Texas A&M, currently on
hiatus while the university is between
terms, is using a different strategy. John
Brown, one of its administrators, says
TEK will relaunch in June as a nonprofit
body analogous to the school's radio
station, buying ASCAP and BMI licenses
and continuing to distribute free music.
Citing Geffen's history of experimentation
with digital music distribution, Griffin says
he's not inherently against the MP3
providers' work, as long as they "ask our
permission before they use our stuff." As
such, he's working with Weekly's
consortium to determine ways in which
that permission can be granted without
debasing "the perceived value of our
artists' intellectual property."
But even if the labels and other
rights-holders find a way to establish a
system of legitimate, licensed MP3 sites,
small pirate providers will continue to
appear because of the ease of starting
one up. "Give me a couple hours of free
time, and I have a whole collection [of MP3
songs] on my computer," says Sajdak.
"Another hour, and I can put up a Web site
of my own offering all of mine to the world."
--------------------------------------------------------
From the pages of USA TODAY
--------------------------------------------------------
Albums on Web sites proliferate
Want a free album by Smashing Pumpkins, U2 or No Doubt?
Set your Internet search engine to locate one of the Web sites offering sound files using a technique
called MPEG Audio Layer 3 (MP3). It's a new compression technology permitting reasonably
speedy downloading of high-quality audio even on the slow systems used by most home surfers.
Many MP3 locations illegally offer full-length albums and hit singles by popular artists, well beyond
the 15- to 30-second sound clips that have been posted on fan pages and commercial sites. MP3
sites have mushroomed on the Net in the past few months, particularly among college students.
The music industry is concerned.
"It's safe to say it's probably one of the best quality sounds on the Internet," says Frank Creighton,
associate director of anti-piracy for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "It's as
near CD quality as we have seen."
MP3 isn't quite as good as a compact disc. But the sound is equivalent to FM radio or cassette,
claims Jim Griffin, director of technology for Geffen Records.
"In a low-bandwidth world, which is what we live in now for most people, you need a compromise,"
Griffin says. "And MPEG-3 is the best compromise to date between (download) time and quality."
Users arriving at a typical MP3 site must first download an MP3 player. Once that's installed on a
hard drive, they then turn to an array of sound files, usually grouped song-by-song under artist or
album title.
From there, downloading is a point-and-click process, in as little as 1/12th the time of other music
file formats. Music begins playing instantly as the file is saved to your computer hard drive. It then
can be accessed time and again without connecting to the Internet. Depending on the site, users can
opt to record a few songs or an entire album.
The downloads also can be re-recorded on individual discs or cassette. Although recording a CD is
possible with the proper equipment, Griffin says, the sound quality doesn't justify the effort.
Surprisingly, Griffin says Geffen Records "doesn't see MPEG as a problem. We like anything that
increases the ability of consumers to listen to high-quality music, and if that means on their computer,
that's fine, too. We're actually working on ways to program for it and to provide material in this
format because consumers are making it clear that this is a format they like."
Griffin likens MP3 to radio, where record companies have traditionally "given away" singles in order
to stimulate album sales. However, Geffen and other record companies do object to the full-album
reproductions available for free on some MP3 sites.The RIAA won't estimate lost revenue from
unauthorized downloads using MP3 without knowing how many have occurred. Since sites come
and go - and many servers for MP3 sites are outside the USA - the trade group claims it's difficult if
not impossible to calculate.
But clearly an enormous potential for losses exists if consumers can download an entire new CD in a
high-quality sound format for free, without compensating the music's creators or marketers. With
Microsoft and Netscape planning to include MP3 players in new editions of their Internet browsers,
and with CD-ROM recorders expected to be standard equipment in future computer models, the
problem is likely to accelerate.
"The first step we're looking at is education," says RIAA's Creighton. "Aside from the unauthorized
use of these recordings being illegal, it's morally wrong. A lot of students really don't understand.
They just like a particular artist and don't see the potential harm putting up full CDs can cause their
favorite artist."
The RIAA is also contacting Internet service providers and universities to request shutdowns of
illegal sites on their systems.
To date, the RIAA says it has received full cooperation in stopping unauthorized MP3 sites. But
new ones are springing up daily.
Meanwhile, aspiring audio bootleggers can pick and choose which music they'll get for free just by
pointing and clicking.
By Bruce Haring
Note -- this is mostly 'negative' stuff (sorry)... amazing how little has changed in the past 5 years
Enjoy...
--------------------------------------------------------
From Wired - http://www.wired.com/news/politics/story/4361.html
--------------------------------------------------------
Recording Industry Goes to War Against Web Sites
3:02pm 10.Jun.97.PDT Acting forcefully to
defend copyrights as the Net turns into a
music club that never closes, the US
recording industry is taking a new legal
tack against sites suspected of pirating
licensed material.
The Recording Industry Association of
America announced Monday that it had
gone to federal court to shut down three
sites that it says were distributing and
collecting copyrighted recordings. Judges
in California, New York and Texas have
issued temporary restraining orders
against sites hosted in those states, the
association said. None of the sites were
identified.
"There were clear violations of US
copyright law in all three of these sites,
from both the reproduction and distribution
sides," said Frank Creighton, the
association's vice president and
associate director of its anti-piracy efforts.
He said the three sites were chosen for
factors including the amount of
copyrighted content they carried, the rate
at which new songs were added, and the
fact that in some cases their operators
clearly indicated that they knew what they
were doing was illegal. One site,
Creighton said, contained the message,
"Leach [sic] what you want. I don't care.
Just be nice and try to upload something."
Since the owners of the sites are
unknown, the court orders have been
issued to the Internet service providers
hosting them. The association identified
the ISPs as BestWeb of
Croton-on-Hudson, New York; Parsoft
Interactive of Plano, Texas; and SimpleNet
of LaJolla, California.
The ISPs indicated a willingness to
cooperate, Creighton said. "While in all
likelihood we could legally have sued them
also, we clearly were interested more in
getting to the direct infringer. We were
seeking the hosting companies'
assistance in doing so."
Despite the inclusion of the ISPs in the
recording association action, Electronic
Frontier Foundation staff counsel Shari
Steele said the suit is appropriately
narrow in its target, in contrast to cases in
which ISPs were held fully liable for
subscribers' behavior.
"Here, it's reasonable to expect them to
go to the ISP," Steele said. Identification
can be difficult, she said, and the ISP is
the obvious source.
"If they had taken really stringent action
against the ISP rather than just seeking an
end to the violation, I'd have been
concerned," said Scott Mueller, vice
president of engineering at San Francisco
service provider Whole Earth Networks.
But if a party approaches an ISP and
clearly has the legal authority to demand
cooperation, Mueller says his company
would comply.
To Steele and others, what's critical is that
ISPs not be put in the position of
monitoring subscribers.
But Aki Namioka, president of Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility
and vice president of an association of
Washington state ISPs, says any legal
threat against service providers is a threat
to the independent nature of ISPs.
"Requesting cooperation and forcing
cooperation are two different things," she
said. To force them [even by means of a
temporary restraining order] raises the
issue of whether ISPs should be
monitoring content."
Service providers oppose illegal activities
on their systems and will cooperate in
copyright protection efforts, she said. But
a cooperative environment is diminished
by threats of intimidation.
Anti-piracy efforts against unauthorized
Net music collections have so far varied in
severity and scope. One of the factors
pushing anti-piracy efforts into higher gear
is new sound technology combining
high-level audio quality with high
compression ratios that speed up
downloads. For instance, the latest MPEG
format, MPEG-1 Layer 3, boasts a 12 to 1
compression ratio without dramatically
reducing sound quality.
The recording association and the industry
at large have a fine line to tread: Many of
the sites violating copyrights are run by
and cater to the core fan community.
That's why for the past 18 months, the
recording association has been
contacting Net sites and informing them of
copyright laws that affect their content.
These efforts have ranged from
"educational" campaigns to
cease-and-desist letters.
In the current cases, however, no prior
contact was made before the association
went to court. Creighton said the
no-warning strategy was intended to
prevent the defendants from relocating or
removing illegal content.
But there were deeper reasons for the
recording association to act more
forcefully than it has in the past.
"Clearly part of the reason for filing these
actions is to send a message that stealing
these artists' works is not going to go
unaddressed," Creighton said. "And that
in addition to our regular cease-and-desist
campaign we are prepared to bring
additional action ... (including) criminal
action."
What's more, the association didn't want
to wait for new-media legal issues to be
defined. "We want to establish the fact that
traditional copyright law applies to the
Internet and to protect our member
companies' rights," Creighton said, "not
wait for another vehicle to determine those
rights."
Ram Samudrala, a proponent of a
philosophy of free music and a musician
who distributes his own sounds on the Net,
says the recording association action is a
threat to artists. He argues that labels
often don't promote new and unknown
bands. Thus distribution methods like the
Internet represent the only chance these
bands have for a wider audience. In fact,
he says, even bands signed with major
labels have benefited from having music
files on the Net.
"The bulk of their popularity has come
from the Internet," he said. "These kinds of
acts are harmful because they limit the
potential distribution and the number of
new people who share the new artist's
music."
More from Wired - http://www.wired.com/news/topframe/4069.html
MP3 Music Pirates Avoid Legal Action
9:06am 23.May.97.PDT In the past month, the
number of functioning sites offering MP3
songs over the Internet has dropped from
dozens to a mere handful, largely due to
the threat of legal action from the songs'
rights-holders.
The MPEG-1 Layer 3 compression format
allows for music files of a reasonably
downloadable size that offer
near-CD-quality sound, which had led to
an explosion of popular FTP and Web
sites offering entire songs for download.
That level of user popularity and musical
fidelity is what has caught the attention of
rights-holders.
"A lot of record companies don't really
worry a whole lot about RealAudio
because basically it sounds like crap,"
says David Weekly, who until recently ran
an MP3 site off his college server at
Stanford University in California. That
official neglect has changed with MP3,
however, and distributors of songs in the
format can no longer expect to remain
under the rights-business radar.
Jim Griffin, Geffen Record's technology
director, says he has sent "friendly
warnings" via email to three dozen MP3
sites in the past 6 weeks. Griffin insists
that he's determined to protect the rights
of his artists, but also that the company
respects the college students who run the
majority of the sites, especially since
students form the label's "core
constituency."
"If we had wanted to make an example of
someone and do a real crackdown," he
says, "we wouldn't have done it so quietly."
"It's pretty straightforward legally," says
San Francisco intellectual-property
attorney David Given. "If you're allowing
somebody to download CD-quality songs
on your site, you've got a problem." What's
less clear is whether the music is being
reproduced or broadcast, and thus
whether fees are owed to music
publishers or performance-rights
licensers.
But some MP3 purveyors are contending
that - since record companies actually
lose money producing singles - these
sites are providing a service by promoting
the companies' CDs.
Weekly says his page was hogging 80
percent of the Stanford server's
bandwidth, and was on the verge of an
administrative confrontation when he
received a warning of impending legal
action. He's now working with the MP3
Consortium to find ways to keep MP3
delivery legal and advantageous to all
parties. His personal solution is to convert
his MP3 database into a business, which
he hopes to have operational by the fall.
His new venture - called Universal Digital
Media - hopes to raise money to pay
rights-holders by partnering with an online
music store to sell copies of the CDs the
songs come from.
The TEK site at Texas A&M, currently on
hiatus while the university is between
terms, is using a different strategy. John
Brown, one of its administrators, says
TEK will relaunch in June as a nonprofit
body analogous to the school's radio
station, buying ASCAP and BMI licenses
and continuing to distribute free music.
Citing Geffen's history of experimentation
with digital music distribution, Griffin says
he's not inherently against the MP3
providers' work, as long as they "ask our
permission before they use our stuff." As
such, he's working with Weekly's
consortium to determine ways in which
that permission can be granted without
debasing "the perceived value of our
artists' intellectual property."
But even if the labels and other
rights-holders find a way to establish a
system of legitimate, licensed MP3 sites,
small pirate providers will continue to
appear because of the ease of starting
one up. "Give me a couple hours of free
time, and I have a whole collection [of MP3
songs] on my computer," says Sajdak.
"Another hour, and I can put up a Web site
of my own offering all of mine to the world."
--------------------------------------------------------
From the pages of USA TODAY
--------------------------------------------------------
Albums on Web sites proliferate
Want a free album by Smashing Pumpkins, U2 or No Doubt?
Set your Internet search engine to locate one of the Web sites offering sound files using a technique
called MPEG Audio Layer 3 (MP3). It's a new compression technology permitting reasonably
speedy downloading of high-quality audio even on the slow systems used by most home surfers.
Many MP3 locations illegally offer full-length albums and hit singles by popular artists, well beyond
the 15- to 30-second sound clips that have been posted on fan pages and commercial sites. MP3
sites have mushroomed on the Net in the past few months, particularly among college students.
The music industry is concerned.
"It's safe to say it's probably one of the best quality sounds on the Internet," says Frank Creighton,
associate director of anti-piracy for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "It's as
near CD quality as we have seen."
MP3 isn't quite as good as a compact disc. But the sound is equivalent to FM radio or cassette,
claims Jim Griffin, director of technology for Geffen Records.
"In a low-bandwidth world, which is what we live in now for most people, you need a compromise,"
Griffin says. "And MPEG-3 is the best compromise to date between (download) time and quality."
Users arriving at a typical MP3 site must first download an MP3 player. Once that's installed on a
hard drive, they then turn to an array of sound files, usually grouped song-by-song under artist or
album title.
From there, downloading is a point-and-click process, in as little as 1/12th the time of other music
file formats. Music begins playing instantly as the file is saved to your computer hard drive. It then
can be accessed time and again without connecting to the Internet. Depending on the site, users can
opt to record a few songs or an entire album.
The downloads also can be re-recorded on individual discs or cassette. Although recording a CD is
possible with the proper equipment, Griffin says, the sound quality doesn't justify the effort.
Surprisingly, Griffin says Geffen Records "doesn't see MPEG as a problem. We like anything that
increases the ability of consumers to listen to high-quality music, and if that means on their computer,
that's fine, too. We're actually working on ways to program for it and to provide material in this
format because consumers are making it clear that this is a format they like."
Griffin likens MP3 to radio, where record companies have traditionally "given away" singles in order
to stimulate album sales. However, Geffen and other record companies do object to the full-album
reproductions available for free on some MP3 sites.The RIAA won't estimate lost revenue from
unauthorized downloads using MP3 without knowing how many have occurred. Since sites come
and go - and many servers for MP3 sites are outside the USA - the trade group claims it's difficult if
not impossible to calculate.
But clearly an enormous potential for losses exists if consumers can download an entire new CD in a
high-quality sound format for free, without compensating the music's creators or marketers. With
Microsoft and Netscape planning to include MP3 players in new editions of their Internet browsers,
and with CD-ROM recorders expected to be standard equipment in future computer models, the
problem is likely to accelerate.
"The first step we're looking at is education," says RIAA's Creighton. "Aside from the unauthorized
use of these recordings being illegal, it's morally wrong. A lot of students really don't understand.
They just like a particular artist and don't see the potential harm putting up full CDs can cause their
favorite artist."
The RIAA is also contacting Internet service providers and universities to request shutdowns of
illegal sites on their systems.
To date, the RIAA says it has received full cooperation in stopping unauthorized MP3 sites. But
new ones are springing up daily.
Meanwhile, aspiring audio bootleggers can pick and choose which music they'll get for free just by
pointing and clicking.
By Bruce Haring
Part 2...
A pirate becomes an entrepreneur
Stanford University computer science freshman David Weekly, 18, was an MPEG pirate.
In late March of this year, Weekly put 110 music files - including cuts from the Beastie Boys,
R.E.M., Cypress Hill and Natalie Merchant - on his personal Web server, run through the university
system. Soon, more than 2,000 people a day were visiting, representing more than 80% of
Stanford's outgoing network traffic, Weekly says.
By mid-April, Weekly's site had attracted attention from Geffen Records. A complaint to the
university led to the site being shuttered. But Weekly and Geffen began talking, leading the student to
form a business, the MP3 Consortium. Weekly hopes it will legally offer a limited number of free
songs and link consumers to online stores for purchases.
Such a concept represents the future of music distribution, contends Geffen's Jim Griffin. "Microsoft
and others have proven that you can distribute intellectual property online. Yes, there'll be piracy,
but it's manageable in its amounts, and we can be properly compensated."
The exciting part of digital distribution, Griffin says, is "it's going to allow a new kind of content that
we've never seen before. You like the Nirvana live album? Well, we can produce a Nirvana live
album for every show they ever did. Traditionally, that would not be possible. But in the digital
future, that's not only possible, it's likely."
By USA TODAY
***************************************************************
Taken from http://www.theage.com.au/daily/970603/info.../infotech1.html
Pirates of the Web
A new digital compression method on the Internet has alarmed the music
industry. Nathan Cochrane explains how to ditch your CD player in
favor of your hard drive.
TWO sounds compete in my head for attention. The first is a catchy tune from
the piano man Billy Joel, which emanates from my sound system. Also queued
for playback are The Prodigy, Spice Girls, Vince Gill, Savage Garden - the
hits just keep coming.
The list of songs at my disposal reads like the archive from an FM radio
station. The sound is gorgeous, as you would expect from a CD or digital
stereo radio transmission. Only this is neither. And the thumping bass comes
not from my lounge room, it is reverberating in my study, where the computer
is.
The second sound is the imagined one of a giant tree cracking in the forest
under the attack of millions of termites. That tree is the global music recording
industry, the termites are the webmasters of small music sites on the Internet.
Welcome to the world of MPEG-1 Layer 3, where music is near CD quality
and there is always something worth listening to. The distribution medium of
choice is the Internet. Say goodbye to the scratchy sounds and telephone-line
quality, monaural reproduction of RealAudio, which spurred the first wave of
live and stored sound on the Internet.
On a good system, MPEG-1 Layer 3 (better known as MP3) can sound
almost as good as CD digital audio. And that's why, in recent weeks, the
music industry has begun to fight back. Threats of legal action have culled the
number of functioning sites offering MP3 songs, especially in the United
States, to a handful.
But whatever your inclination, there is likely to be a site somewhere with the
song you want. Country, R&B, gospel, pop, new wave and more - all tastes
are catered for on the global radio station that is the Net.
A query on the term mp3 in any Web search engine will return many
responses. Some sites will carry anywhere from a dozen to thousands of
songs, along with software utilities to make and play your own MP3s. Early
last month I estimated more than 5000 songs available.
The new format makes good on a prediction I made nearly 10 years ago,
when I got my first CD player. Back then, I was peeved at the high price of
CDs, especially considering the tendancy for only a handful of songs on each
disc that I really liked. I suggested to my local record store owner that the
time would come when I could electronically download just the songs I
wanted.
The key to MP3's versatility and rapid adoption as the format of choice for
the wired generation is its ability to compress big music files, often to less than
a tenth of their original size, without losing quality. A typical music CD
contains about 650MB or 74 minutes of storage. So if you do the maths, the
size of a normal song, assuming a full CD and about 20 tracks, is about
32MB. Using MP3, this can be reduced by up to 95 per cent - to less than
3MB - with no loss of quality or clarity.
Downloading time is similarly reduced. A typical music file takes five to 10
minutes to download using a 28.8kbps modem. A whole CD compressed
with MP3 would take about an hour. Uncompressed it would take close to a
day.
In theory, up to about 20 normal CDs can be put on a 650MB disc. Say
goodbye to music stackers.
It is also incredibly easy and cheap to convert CDs to MP3 format. Assuming
you have a music CD for a source, a couple of free programs from the Net
will convert it to MP3. It is so easy a novice will be ready within minutes to
convert a collection.
The technology was originally developed by the Motion Pictures' Expert
Group (MPEG) for digital movies. As such, it is the same technology at work
in the new Digital Versatile Disc and high-definition TV standards. But it is
with audio-only sources where MPEG is making its biggest impact.
We are traversing a well-worn path. In the same way that text-based HTML
revolutionised paper-based publishing, better technology is doing the same for
music.
But like everything else, there's a catch; and in this case, several.
The processing of such high-quality samples requires a lot of grunt. Right now,
you need a powerful computer to replay the tunes downloaded from the Net.
A Pentium-90 at minimum is recommended. A fast hard drive and plenty of
memory (16MB minimum) is also a necessity.
A special program, called a player, is also mandatory. This can be
downloaded off the Web and costs about $50 to register. The most popular
for Windows 95 is called WinPlay, although there are players for most
platforms - DOS, Mac, Unix, NT and even Amiga.
A normal music CD player, like the one you probably have in your stereo,
can't be used to play back the songs.
Even though the songs are highly compressed and can be accessed quicker
than if they were in the digital audio (DA) format, they still take quite a while
via modem to download. This means most people have to download the song
and then play it.
Finally, about 99 per cent of the MP3 music you are likely to find on the Net
is pirated.
This brings me to the sound of cracking tree.
The big advantage that music CDs had for a long time was their stunning
technical sound reproduction. Quiet passages and booming bass. Even a
recording from CD on to audio tape did not compare. So we went out and
paid for our music. And paid through the nose to the tune of nearly double
that for music software elsewhere in the world, according to the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission.
But what happens when music is of equal quality and free? For a long time,
the world's major recording studios have relied on their extensive distribution
channels and marketing clout to justify their charges and maintain their
dominance over the music we hear.
But MP3 and the Internet threaten to upset this system. With this new format,
music CDs for computer owners could be redundant: just download the
tracks to your Pentium and pipe them to the rest of the house from your hard
drive.
The second issue has to do with what technology maven Nicholas
Negroponte refers to as bits over atoms.
Essentially, music is just information bits. But, in order to get high-quality
bitstreams we have been forced to rely on music CDs - atoms - for
distribution.
With the Internet as a vehicle for distributing the MP3 bits consumers can get
their music without all the costs associated with shifting atoms about.
The arrival of MP3 could render the ACCC's seven-year saga over the
high-cost of CDs in this country irrelevant. If the music is free and available to
anyone with a home computer, who cares about expensive CD's?
Consumers could just bypass the whole retail process and all that entails.
Needless to say, there are those in the music industry less thrilled at the
prospect of being undercut so dramatically.
When the pop group U2 found their new CD distributed on the Net before its
official store release, hard questions were asked. Agents for Oasis, have
recently started legal proceedings against fan sites that offer MP3s.
Despite individual threats and, in some cases, quiet warnings, there is yet to
be a worldwide coordinated response from the music industry. This may be
due - in part - to the very recent nature of the threat, and to executives not
fully grasping its ramifications.
On the other hand, the arrival of MP3 Internet distribution offers opportunities
that eclipses even the arrival of the compact disc. Music can now be sold
through the Net without all the fuss and bother of holding stock, stamping
CDs and mounting expensive marketing campaigns. The consumer just pays
for the music, and none of the wrapping.
This is a point not lost on the creators of the MP3 Consortium Web page.
Their goal is to promote a radical reshaping of the recording industry. ``MP3
can change the music industry . . . only for the better,'' the site nobly
proclaims. ``We seek not to destroy the system. We seek rather to augment
it. Long live MP3: the system that benefits everyone!''
Sony and some other labels are toying with the notion of using MP3 to
promote and market music - the MP3 Consortium argues that since record
companies lose money producing singles, MP3 sites helpfully promote the
CDs by offering singles.
But there is still an implicit reliance on the CD to distribute the final product.
According to the Australian Performing Rights Association, the Net offers as
many opportunities as challenges.
APRA's communications manager, Julie Harders was enthusiastic about the
use of the Net to promote music, even though the association is suing OzEmail
Internet Service Provider over copyright infringement. ``The Net is an
important way to sell the work, too,'' Ms Harders said. ``It's a good way to
move CDs.
``The Net is all the go. Fortunately, there is already a signpost for the way we
will buy music in the future. It is the tested and true honor system of electronic
software distribution called shareware.
``Basically, we will download for free all the songs we want, and only if we
like them and intend to keep them, will we then be expected to cough up.
Small bands and recording studios also stand to gain. No more grovelling for
the big music contract. Independents have their own voice, and now their own
cost-effective way of distributing that voice.
Given recent industry grumblings over the lack of a ``new sound'' driving
down music sales, this new-found diversity may be the answer.
The danger is that as bandwidth increases and more CDs are pirated, the
economics of the music industry could unravel before a new model is put in
place.
Already, Foxtel's cable Internet service has the capacity to download a whole
MP3 CD in less than one minute. This makes real-time concurrent download
and playback a reality for the first time.
The biggest potential losers in the package are the small CD shops.
Increasingly squeezed out by online mail order companies such as CDNow,
and soon music companies offering their wares for electronic distribution over
the Net, the future does not look bright for them.
Already hackers have devised a way to reconvert MP3s back to digital audio
format for playback with ordinary stereo systems. With CD recorders for
computers now not much more expensive than CD-ROMs, the prospect of
wholesale uncontrollable piracy is much more likely.
The real winners in this music revolution are likely to be the consumers. Costs
are sure to be greatly reduced, and with a proliferation of smaller labels there
will be more choice.
But it all hinges on the final response from the big recording labels.
The question is whether the music software industry is willing to accept that
the rules it has played by, for nearly a century, are about to go the same way
as vinyl.
The MP3 Consortium is at:
barista.stanford.edu/m3c
A pirate becomes an entrepreneur
Stanford University computer science freshman David Weekly, 18, was an MPEG pirate.
In late March of this year, Weekly put 110 music files - including cuts from the Beastie Boys,
R.E.M., Cypress Hill and Natalie Merchant - on his personal Web server, run through the university
system. Soon, more than 2,000 people a day were visiting, representing more than 80% of
Stanford's outgoing network traffic, Weekly says.
By mid-April, Weekly's site had attracted attention from Geffen Records. A complaint to the
university led to the site being shuttered. But Weekly and Geffen began talking, leading the student to
form a business, the MP3 Consortium. Weekly hopes it will legally offer a limited number of free
songs and link consumers to online stores for purchases.
Such a concept represents the future of music distribution, contends Geffen's Jim Griffin. "Microsoft
and others have proven that you can distribute intellectual property online. Yes, there'll be piracy,
but it's manageable in its amounts, and we can be properly compensated."
The exciting part of digital distribution, Griffin says, is "it's going to allow a new kind of content that
we've never seen before. You like the Nirvana live album? Well, we can produce a Nirvana live
album for every show they ever did. Traditionally, that would not be possible. But in the digital
future, that's not only possible, it's likely."
By USA TODAY
***************************************************************
Taken from http://www.theage.com.au/daily/970603/info.../infotech1.html
Pirates of the Web
A new digital compression method on the Internet has alarmed the music
industry. Nathan Cochrane explains how to ditch your CD player in
favor of your hard drive.
TWO sounds compete in my head for attention. The first is a catchy tune from
the piano man Billy Joel, which emanates from my sound system. Also queued
for playback are The Prodigy, Spice Girls, Vince Gill, Savage Garden - the
hits just keep coming.
The list of songs at my disposal reads like the archive from an FM radio
station. The sound is gorgeous, as you would expect from a CD or digital
stereo radio transmission. Only this is neither. And the thumping bass comes
not from my lounge room, it is reverberating in my study, where the computer
is.
The second sound is the imagined one of a giant tree cracking in the forest
under the attack of millions of termites. That tree is the global music recording
industry, the termites are the webmasters of small music sites on the Internet.
Welcome to the world of MPEG-1 Layer 3, where music is near CD quality
and there is always something worth listening to. The distribution medium of
choice is the Internet. Say goodbye to the scratchy sounds and telephone-line
quality, monaural reproduction of RealAudio, which spurred the first wave of
live and stored sound on the Internet.
On a good system, MPEG-1 Layer 3 (better known as MP3) can sound
almost as good as CD digital audio. And that's why, in recent weeks, the
music industry has begun to fight back. Threats of legal action have culled the
number of functioning sites offering MP3 songs, especially in the United
States, to a handful.
But whatever your inclination, there is likely to be a site somewhere with the
song you want. Country, R&B, gospel, pop, new wave and more - all tastes
are catered for on the global radio station that is the Net.
A query on the term mp3 in any Web search engine will return many
responses. Some sites will carry anywhere from a dozen to thousands of
songs, along with software utilities to make and play your own MP3s. Early
last month I estimated more than 5000 songs available.
The new format makes good on a prediction I made nearly 10 years ago,
when I got my first CD player. Back then, I was peeved at the high price of
CDs, especially considering the tendancy for only a handful of songs on each
disc that I really liked. I suggested to my local record store owner that the
time would come when I could electronically download just the songs I
wanted.
The key to MP3's versatility and rapid adoption as the format of choice for
the wired generation is its ability to compress big music files, often to less than
a tenth of their original size, without losing quality. A typical music CD
contains about 650MB or 74 minutes of storage. So if you do the maths, the
size of a normal song, assuming a full CD and about 20 tracks, is about
32MB. Using MP3, this can be reduced by up to 95 per cent - to less than
3MB - with no loss of quality or clarity.
Downloading time is similarly reduced. A typical music file takes five to 10
minutes to download using a 28.8kbps modem. A whole CD compressed
with MP3 would take about an hour. Uncompressed it would take close to a
day.
In theory, up to about 20 normal CDs can be put on a 650MB disc. Say
goodbye to music stackers.
It is also incredibly easy and cheap to convert CDs to MP3 format. Assuming
you have a music CD for a source, a couple of free programs from the Net
will convert it to MP3. It is so easy a novice will be ready within minutes to
convert a collection.
The technology was originally developed by the Motion Pictures' Expert
Group (MPEG) for digital movies. As such, it is the same technology at work
in the new Digital Versatile Disc and high-definition TV standards. But it is
with audio-only sources where MPEG is making its biggest impact.
We are traversing a well-worn path. In the same way that text-based HTML
revolutionised paper-based publishing, better technology is doing the same for
music.
But like everything else, there's a catch; and in this case, several.
The processing of such high-quality samples requires a lot of grunt. Right now,
you need a powerful computer to replay the tunes downloaded from the Net.
A Pentium-90 at minimum is recommended. A fast hard drive and plenty of
memory (16MB minimum) is also a necessity.
A special program, called a player, is also mandatory. This can be
downloaded off the Web and costs about $50 to register. The most popular
for Windows 95 is called WinPlay, although there are players for most
platforms - DOS, Mac, Unix, NT and even Amiga.
A normal music CD player, like the one you probably have in your stereo,
can't be used to play back the songs.
Even though the songs are highly compressed and can be accessed quicker
than if they were in the digital audio (DA) format, they still take quite a while
via modem to download. This means most people have to download the song
and then play it.
Finally, about 99 per cent of the MP3 music you are likely to find on the Net
is pirated.
This brings me to the sound of cracking tree.
The big advantage that music CDs had for a long time was their stunning
technical sound reproduction. Quiet passages and booming bass. Even a
recording from CD on to audio tape did not compare. So we went out and
paid for our music. And paid through the nose to the tune of nearly double
that for music software elsewhere in the world, according to the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission.
But what happens when music is of equal quality and free? For a long time,
the world's major recording studios have relied on their extensive distribution
channels and marketing clout to justify their charges and maintain their
dominance over the music we hear.
But MP3 and the Internet threaten to upset this system. With this new format,
music CDs for computer owners could be redundant: just download the
tracks to your Pentium and pipe them to the rest of the house from your hard
drive.
The second issue has to do with what technology maven Nicholas
Negroponte refers to as bits over atoms.
Essentially, music is just information bits. But, in order to get high-quality
bitstreams we have been forced to rely on music CDs - atoms - for
distribution.
With the Internet as a vehicle for distributing the MP3 bits consumers can get
their music without all the costs associated with shifting atoms about.
The arrival of MP3 could render the ACCC's seven-year saga over the
high-cost of CDs in this country irrelevant. If the music is free and available to
anyone with a home computer, who cares about expensive CD's?
Consumers could just bypass the whole retail process and all that entails.
Needless to say, there are those in the music industry less thrilled at the
prospect of being undercut so dramatically.
When the pop group U2 found their new CD distributed on the Net before its
official store release, hard questions were asked. Agents for Oasis, have
recently started legal proceedings against fan sites that offer MP3s.
Despite individual threats and, in some cases, quiet warnings, there is yet to
be a worldwide coordinated response from the music industry. This may be
due - in part - to the very recent nature of the threat, and to executives not
fully grasping its ramifications.
On the other hand, the arrival of MP3 Internet distribution offers opportunities
that eclipses even the arrival of the compact disc. Music can now be sold
through the Net without all the fuss and bother of holding stock, stamping
CDs and mounting expensive marketing campaigns. The consumer just pays
for the music, and none of the wrapping.
This is a point not lost on the creators of the MP3 Consortium Web page.
Their goal is to promote a radical reshaping of the recording industry. ``MP3
can change the music industry . . . only for the better,'' the site nobly
proclaims. ``We seek not to destroy the system. We seek rather to augment
it. Long live MP3: the system that benefits everyone!''
Sony and some other labels are toying with the notion of using MP3 to
promote and market music - the MP3 Consortium argues that since record
companies lose money producing singles, MP3 sites helpfully promote the
CDs by offering singles.
But there is still an implicit reliance on the CD to distribute the final product.
According to the Australian Performing Rights Association, the Net offers as
many opportunities as challenges.
APRA's communications manager, Julie Harders was enthusiastic about the
use of the Net to promote music, even though the association is suing OzEmail
Internet Service Provider over copyright infringement. ``The Net is an
important way to sell the work, too,'' Ms Harders said. ``It's a good way to
move CDs.
``The Net is all the go. Fortunately, there is already a signpost for the way we
will buy music in the future. It is the tested and true honor system of electronic
software distribution called shareware.
``Basically, we will download for free all the songs we want, and only if we
like them and intend to keep them, will we then be expected to cough up.
Small bands and recording studios also stand to gain. No more grovelling for
the big music contract. Independents have their own voice, and now their own
cost-effective way of distributing that voice.
Given recent industry grumblings over the lack of a ``new sound'' driving
down music sales, this new-found diversity may be the answer.
The danger is that as bandwidth increases and more CDs are pirated, the
economics of the music industry could unravel before a new model is put in
place.
Already, Foxtel's cable Internet service has the capacity to download a whole
MP3 CD in less than one minute. This makes real-time concurrent download
and playback a reality for the first time.
The biggest potential losers in the package are the small CD shops.
Increasingly squeezed out by online mail order companies such as CDNow,
and soon music companies offering their wares for electronic distribution over
the Net, the future does not look bright for them.
Already hackers have devised a way to reconvert MP3s back to digital audio
format for playback with ordinary stereo systems. With CD recorders for
computers now not much more expensive than CD-ROMs, the prospect of
wholesale uncontrollable piracy is much more likely.
The real winners in this music revolution are likely to be the consumers. Costs
are sure to be greatly reduced, and with a proliferation of smaller labels there
will be more choice.
But it all hinges on the final response from the big recording labels.
The question is whether the music software industry is willing to accept that
the rules it has played by, for nearly a century, are about to go the same way
as vinyl.
The MP3 Consortium is at:
barista.stanford.edu/m3c
Found a link with some history...
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/00/31/...l?tw=multimedia
(Basically just an outline, but not too bad)
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/00/31/...l?tw=multimedia
(Basically just an outline, but not too bad)
really cool articles. A nice read. Thanks for postin em
This is a RIAA memo I found other day, surfing the net. Not quite on the same subject.
But it's quite interesting, seeing how scared they are regarding P2P networks.
-------------------------------------------------------------
KaZaA Network Outline of Proof
PRIVILEGED & CONFIDENTIAL/ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
We have distributed various legal and technical memoranda that describe the KaZaA network and the potential legal claims against the entities offering this peer-to-peer service. This memorandum seeks to consolidate our current learning into a single document. Accordingly, detailed below are: (a) a brief overview of the relevant entities and the KaZaA network architecture; (b) the facts supporting our legal claims; and © a going forward strategy recommendation.
I. Overview of Entities and Architecture
FastTrack is the Netherlands based software company that developed the software code library used to create the KaZaA peer-to-peer networks. KaZaA was the first application to use the FastTrack code. FastTrack later licensed its code to MusicCity (MusicCity dubbed its system Morpheus) and Grockster. The principals behind FastTrack are Niklas Zennstrom and Janis Friis- - Two young technology developers who are primarily interested in the development of their technology and who have privately funded their operation. MusicCity is being run by Steve Griffin, but with heavy influence by Timberline Venture Partners, the independently managed Northwest Affiliate of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Timberline owns 65% of MusicCity and is very involved in running the company.
The FastTrack network designates (perhaps automatically) certain peers - more powerful computers with high-bandwidth connections - as "supernodes." [because of the system’s encrypted communication, we are unable to determine how supernodes are designated]. Several hundred "ordinary" peers connect to any one supernode. A supernode also connects to other supernodes. [because of the system’s encrypted communication, we are unable to determine how one supernode knows how to locate other supernodes]. Vidius found that when one of its machines was in supernode status, it was connected to approximately 25 other supernodes. The supernode functions in Napster-like fashion as a local search hub, building an index of the files being shared by each peer connected to it, and processing search requests on behalf of those peers. Supernode queries other supernodes to fulfill a search request, but does not query peers serviced by other supernodes (such a step is unnecessary because the supernodes index all files available among the peers they service). The effect of this architecture is to create a relatively small peer-to-peer network of supernodes, each of which in turn functions as a miniature central server for hundreds of other users. As in Napster and Gnutella, file transfers in the FastTrack system are purely peer-to-peer, and involve neither the central server nor any supernode.
Significantly, the FastTrack system encrypts all communications (a) between a peer and the log-in server, (b) between a peer and its supernode, © between a supernode and the central servers, and (d) between supernodes [we do not know the nature of the encryption]. However, peer-to-peer communications associated with downloading a file are unencrypted. Presumably, the encryption scheme was created, and is controlled, by the developer of the application - FastTrack. By encrypting the communication, the developer has ensured that the network remains "closed" and accessible only through the KaZaA, Morpheus, or Grokster applications (and any future licensees of the FastTrack technology).
KaZaA, MusicCity, and Grokster each operate a central log-in server. The addresses of these servers are hard-coded into the application. At log-in, the peer sends one packet of data to the server, and the server returns two packets. The transmissions presumably involve log-in information from the peer and acknowledgement and confirmation from the server. This function appears to be similar for each of the three entities. In addition, Vidius reports that, at least with the KaZaA application, there is a communication regularly every 12 hours between the log-in (.37) server and the user (whether in peer or supernode status) [we do not know the nature of these communications].
Notably, the log-in server is not essential to a peer’s use of the network. If the log-in server is not available, the application nevertheless attempts to connect to a supernode using the list contained in the registry (whether it is the preset list for a new user or the most recent update for a repeat user).
After log-in, the peer then attempts to connect to a supernode, using a list of supernode addresses stored in the software application. That list is supplied by the application developer, and is identical across KaZaA, Morpheus, and Grokster. The list includes IP addresses at universities and other institutions such as the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The list of supernodes has changed with each new version of the application. In the newest version of the application, the list also includes an IP address at Disney, rnd11-200.rd.wdi.disney.com. The IP addresses listed in the registry do not all function as supernodes at any given time; in fact, most do not. After logging in, a peer works through the list in its registry until its finds a supernode it can connect to. When the peer connects to a supernode for the first time, it receives an updated list of supernodes, which overwrites the preset list in the registry. [we do not know how the suprnode obtains this updated list of supernodes to distribute]. The list of supernodes in the registry is then updated every time the peer connects to a supernode. Thus, a peer always has the most recent possible list of computers that have functioned as supernodes, thereby increasing the odds of a successful connection during the next session. After initially making contact with a supernode, a peer may be shunted around the network as the system attempts to match the peer with the most appropriate supernode.
If the registry is somehow corrupted, the application causes the peer to contact another server controlled by KaZaA, supernode.kazaa.com (213.248.112.38). This address is also hard-coded into the application. This means that the KaZaA network maintains a dynamic list of active supernodes [we do not know how this happens]. Upon connecting to that server, the peer will receive a list of known supernodes. All three applications direct the user to the KaZaA (.38) server in this circumstance.
KaZaA operates another server in addition to the log-in (.37) server and the (.38) server described above. That is alpha.kazaa.com (213.248.112.34), the address of which, as with the other two, is hard-coded into the application. The (.34) server communicates with supernodes [we do not know the nature of the communication]. During an interval when a Vidius machine was acting as a supernode, there were 12 different attempts by the (.34) server to connect to the supernode. Vidius reports that in a completed transaction the (.34) server sends approximately 1600 bytes of information to the supernode. In addition, as noted above, a supernode makes periodic connection with the KaZaA log-in (.37) server. Vidius hypothesizes that there is a loop between the (.34) server, the (.37) server, and the supernode, which is highly suggestive of some sort of control mechanism - the nature of which must remain unknown until the substance of the communications can be analyzed.
Vidius found that "netsplits" or disconnections sometimes occur on the FastTrack network. The system contains some mechanism to resolve such disconections by redirecting peers away from a supernode that has become detached from the network and back to a supernode on the network. Supernodes that are split from the network also eventually reconnect to it, but that reconnection takes 10-15 minutes longer than the reconnection of peers. Vidius believes that this timing differential indicates some control of the reconnection process that is external to the client application.
Among the supernodes on the new preset list is one at s1grokster.com, which resides at the same location as the Grokster log-in server. Those computer functions like an ordinary supernode, compiling indexes of available files and processing search requests. Vidius was able to connect to that supernode, and used it to find and download numerous movie and MP3 files.
II. Elements of Claims and Proof
1. Contributory Infringement
Liability for contributory infringement attaches to "one who, with knowledge of the infringing activity, induces, causes or materially contributes to the infringing conduct of another . . . [L]iability exists if the defendant engages in personal conduct that encourages or assists the infringement." A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004, 1014 (9th Cir. 2001).
Knowledge
FastTrack sought to obtain licensing from NVPI and was referred to individual members of the organization.
NVPI wrote to FastTrack and provided notice that its conduct was infringing and that it should obtain the necessary licensing.
RIAA wrote letter to MusicCity when it was an OpenNap system and placed MusicCity on notice of infringing conduct. The same principals contacted by the RIAA are still in place at MusicCity.
In discussion with General Counsel of Copyright.net, KaZaA CEO acknowledged exchange of copyrighted content and stated looking into filters, particularly for child porn.
Press has raised issue of exchange of copyrighted content with company principals.
Widespread presence of copyrighted materials on system.
Message Boards discuss available music, films, and software.
MusicCity employees participate in message board discussions and CEO acknowledges MusicCity controls message boards.
[should we provide notice by letters and when?]
Material Contribution
FastTrack creates and licenses software primarily used for the reproduction and distribution of copyrighted works.
FastTrack created and controls encryption that ensures that the network remains closed and insulated from outside monitoring.
Provides a dynamic list of available supernodes where content can be exchanged (possibly through the .38 server).
Continually updates the list of available supernodes and communicates that information to users (likely through the .34 server).
FastTrack, MusicCity and Grockster maintain log-in servers.
Maintains the s1grokster.com server which acts as a supernode (and by definition maintains a file index).
Resolves netsplits and other system problems (likely through the .34 server).
Vicarious Infringement
Vicarious liability arises when the defendant "has the right and ability to supervise the infringing activity and also has a direct financial interest in such activities." Napster, 239 F.3d at 1022.
Right and Ability to Supervise
KaZaA, MusicCity, and Grokster all expressly reserve the right to limit the number of files that users make available or access and to terminate users who infringe intellectual property rights or violate other laws.
MusicCity also reserves the right to remove or disable links to allegedly infringing material.
Network limits MP3 files to certain bitrate
MusicCity implemented a filter for child pornography.
Steve Griffin claims to have cooperated with police in limiting the exchange of child pornography.
Financial Benefit
Generate advertising revenue based on user base.
Steve Griffin expressed to head of Rock the Vote that he can’t stop infringements so he intends to make money from it.
Zennstrom acknowledged to the press that FastTrack is making money.
The services have a rapidly growing user base and according to CNET’s download.com is the most popular software on the net.
MusicCity obtaining additional funding from Timberline Venture Partners.
III. Recommendation
We have solid claims against FastTrack, MusicCity, and Grockster of secondary liability for copyright infringement. The claims are not as strong as those against Napster, but they are also not so remote as to be wishful.
Our claims would likely be strengthened by learning more about the designation of supernodes and the content of communications within the system. However, the encryption of this communication precludes further learning absent cooperation from one of these companies or court ordered discovery. In that regard, we recently learned that FastTrack is very interested in exploring alternatives to litigation and its principals are willing to sit down with the record companies to discuss ways of resolving any dispute. FastTrack is willing to sell the company and the technology, or enter into a licensing arrangement. FastTrack is also willing to implement filtering technologies to prevent infringements. We have also learned that MusicCity is looking for the litigation and would like for us to file suit.
Thus, we recommend (1) filing claims against FastTrack, MusicCity, and Grockster, (2) immediately thereafter initiating discussions with FastTrack about resolving our claims in a way that will provide us with useful information and testimony against MusicCity, and if possible obtain FastTrack’s cooperation in shutting down or converting MusicCity and Grokster, and (3) continue forward with litigation against MusicCity, Grokster, and potentially Timberline Venture Partners.
But it's quite interesting, seeing how scared they are regarding P2P networks.
-------------------------------------------------------------
KaZaA Network Outline of Proof
PRIVILEGED & CONFIDENTIAL/ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
We have distributed various legal and technical memoranda that describe the KaZaA network and the potential legal claims against the entities offering this peer-to-peer service. This memorandum seeks to consolidate our current learning into a single document. Accordingly, detailed below are: (a) a brief overview of the relevant entities and the KaZaA network architecture; (b) the facts supporting our legal claims; and © a going forward strategy recommendation.
I. Overview of Entities and Architecture
FastTrack is the Netherlands based software company that developed the software code library used to create the KaZaA peer-to-peer networks. KaZaA was the first application to use the FastTrack code. FastTrack later licensed its code to MusicCity (MusicCity dubbed its system Morpheus) and Grockster. The principals behind FastTrack are Niklas Zennstrom and Janis Friis- - Two young technology developers who are primarily interested in the development of their technology and who have privately funded their operation. MusicCity is being run by Steve Griffin, but with heavy influence by Timberline Venture Partners, the independently managed Northwest Affiliate of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Timberline owns 65% of MusicCity and is very involved in running the company.
The FastTrack network designates (perhaps automatically) certain peers - more powerful computers with high-bandwidth connections - as "supernodes." [because of the system’s encrypted communication, we are unable to determine how supernodes are designated]. Several hundred "ordinary" peers connect to any one supernode. A supernode also connects to other supernodes. [because of the system’s encrypted communication, we are unable to determine how one supernode knows how to locate other supernodes]. Vidius found that when one of its machines was in supernode status, it was connected to approximately 25 other supernodes. The supernode functions in Napster-like fashion as a local search hub, building an index of the files being shared by each peer connected to it, and processing search requests on behalf of those peers. Supernode queries other supernodes to fulfill a search request, but does not query peers serviced by other supernodes (such a step is unnecessary because the supernodes index all files available among the peers they service). The effect of this architecture is to create a relatively small peer-to-peer network of supernodes, each of which in turn functions as a miniature central server for hundreds of other users. As in Napster and Gnutella, file transfers in the FastTrack system are purely peer-to-peer, and involve neither the central server nor any supernode.
Significantly, the FastTrack system encrypts all communications (a) between a peer and the log-in server, (b) between a peer and its supernode, © between a supernode and the central servers, and (d) between supernodes [we do not know the nature of the encryption]. However, peer-to-peer communications associated with downloading a file are unencrypted. Presumably, the encryption scheme was created, and is controlled, by the developer of the application - FastTrack. By encrypting the communication, the developer has ensured that the network remains "closed" and accessible only through the KaZaA, Morpheus, or Grokster applications (and any future licensees of the FastTrack technology).
KaZaA, MusicCity, and Grokster each operate a central log-in server. The addresses of these servers are hard-coded into the application. At log-in, the peer sends one packet of data to the server, and the server returns two packets. The transmissions presumably involve log-in information from the peer and acknowledgement and confirmation from the server. This function appears to be similar for each of the three entities. In addition, Vidius reports that, at least with the KaZaA application, there is a communication regularly every 12 hours between the log-in (.37) server and the user (whether in peer or supernode status) [we do not know the nature of these communications].
Notably, the log-in server is not essential to a peer’s use of the network. If the log-in server is not available, the application nevertheless attempts to connect to a supernode using the list contained in the registry (whether it is the preset list for a new user or the most recent update for a repeat user).
After log-in, the peer then attempts to connect to a supernode, using a list of supernode addresses stored in the software application. That list is supplied by the application developer, and is identical across KaZaA, Morpheus, and Grokster. The list includes IP addresses at universities and other institutions such as the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The list of supernodes has changed with each new version of the application. In the newest version of the application, the list also includes an IP address at Disney, rnd11-200.rd.wdi.disney.com. The IP addresses listed in the registry do not all function as supernodes at any given time; in fact, most do not. After logging in, a peer works through the list in its registry until its finds a supernode it can connect to. When the peer connects to a supernode for the first time, it receives an updated list of supernodes, which overwrites the preset list in the registry. [we do not know how the suprnode obtains this updated list of supernodes to distribute]. The list of supernodes in the registry is then updated every time the peer connects to a supernode. Thus, a peer always has the most recent possible list of computers that have functioned as supernodes, thereby increasing the odds of a successful connection during the next session. After initially making contact with a supernode, a peer may be shunted around the network as the system attempts to match the peer with the most appropriate supernode.
If the registry is somehow corrupted, the application causes the peer to contact another server controlled by KaZaA, supernode.kazaa.com (213.248.112.38). This address is also hard-coded into the application. This means that the KaZaA network maintains a dynamic list of active supernodes [we do not know how this happens]. Upon connecting to that server, the peer will receive a list of known supernodes. All three applications direct the user to the KaZaA (.38) server in this circumstance.
KaZaA operates another server in addition to the log-in (.37) server and the (.38) server described above. That is alpha.kazaa.com (213.248.112.34), the address of which, as with the other two, is hard-coded into the application. The (.34) server communicates with supernodes [we do not know the nature of the communication]. During an interval when a Vidius machine was acting as a supernode, there were 12 different attempts by the (.34) server to connect to the supernode. Vidius reports that in a completed transaction the (.34) server sends approximately 1600 bytes of information to the supernode. In addition, as noted above, a supernode makes periodic connection with the KaZaA log-in (.37) server. Vidius hypothesizes that there is a loop between the (.34) server, the (.37) server, and the supernode, which is highly suggestive of some sort of control mechanism - the nature of which must remain unknown until the substance of the communications can be analyzed.
Vidius found that "netsplits" or disconnections sometimes occur on the FastTrack network. The system contains some mechanism to resolve such disconections by redirecting peers away from a supernode that has become detached from the network and back to a supernode on the network. Supernodes that are split from the network also eventually reconnect to it, but that reconnection takes 10-15 minutes longer than the reconnection of peers. Vidius believes that this timing differential indicates some control of the reconnection process that is external to the client application.
Among the supernodes on the new preset list is one at s1grokster.com, which resides at the same location as the Grokster log-in server. Those computer functions like an ordinary supernode, compiling indexes of available files and processing search requests. Vidius was able to connect to that supernode, and used it to find and download numerous movie and MP3 files.
II. Elements of Claims and Proof
1. Contributory Infringement
Liability for contributory infringement attaches to "one who, with knowledge of the infringing activity, induces, causes or materially contributes to the infringing conduct of another . . . [L]iability exists if the defendant engages in personal conduct that encourages or assists the infringement." A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004, 1014 (9th Cir. 2001).
Knowledge
FastTrack sought to obtain licensing from NVPI and was referred to individual members of the organization.
NVPI wrote to FastTrack and provided notice that its conduct was infringing and that it should obtain the necessary licensing.
RIAA wrote letter to MusicCity when it was an OpenNap system and placed MusicCity on notice of infringing conduct. The same principals contacted by the RIAA are still in place at MusicCity.
In discussion with General Counsel of Copyright.net, KaZaA CEO acknowledged exchange of copyrighted content and stated looking into filters, particularly for child porn.
Press has raised issue of exchange of copyrighted content with company principals.
Widespread presence of copyrighted materials on system.
Message Boards discuss available music, films, and software.
MusicCity employees participate in message board discussions and CEO acknowledges MusicCity controls message boards.
[should we provide notice by letters and when?]
Material Contribution
FastTrack creates and licenses software primarily used for the reproduction and distribution of copyrighted works.
FastTrack created and controls encryption that ensures that the network remains closed and insulated from outside monitoring.
Provides a dynamic list of available supernodes where content can be exchanged (possibly through the .38 server).
Continually updates the list of available supernodes and communicates that information to users (likely through the .34 server).
FastTrack, MusicCity and Grockster maintain log-in servers.
Maintains the s1grokster.com server which acts as a supernode (and by definition maintains a file index).
Resolves netsplits and other system problems (likely through the .34 server).
Vicarious Infringement
Vicarious liability arises when the defendant "has the right and ability to supervise the infringing activity and also has a direct financial interest in such activities." Napster, 239 F.3d at 1022.
Right and Ability to Supervise
KaZaA, MusicCity, and Grokster all expressly reserve the right to limit the number of files that users make available or access and to terminate users who infringe intellectual property rights or violate other laws.
MusicCity also reserves the right to remove or disable links to allegedly infringing material.
Network limits MP3 files to certain bitrate
MusicCity implemented a filter for child pornography.
Steve Griffin claims to have cooperated with police in limiting the exchange of child pornography.
Financial Benefit
Generate advertising revenue based on user base.
Steve Griffin expressed to head of Rock the Vote that he can’t stop infringements so he intends to make money from it.
Zennstrom acknowledged to the press that FastTrack is making money.
The services have a rapidly growing user base and according to CNET’s download.com is the most popular software on the net.
MusicCity obtaining additional funding from Timberline Venture Partners.
III. Recommendation
We have solid claims against FastTrack, MusicCity, and Grockster of secondary liability for copyright infringement. The claims are not as strong as those against Napster, but they are also not so remote as to be wishful.
Our claims would likely be strengthened by learning more about the designation of supernodes and the content of communications within the system. However, the encryption of this communication precludes further learning absent cooperation from one of these companies or court ordered discovery. In that regard, we recently learned that FastTrack is very interested in exploring alternatives to litigation and its principals are willing to sit down with the record companies to discuss ways of resolving any dispute. FastTrack is willing to sell the company and the technology, or enter into a licensing arrangement. FastTrack is also willing to implement filtering technologies to prevent infringements. We have also learned that MusicCity is looking for the litigation and would like for us to file suit.
Thus, we recommend (1) filing claims against FastTrack, MusicCity, and Grockster, (2) immediately thereafter initiating discussions with FastTrack about resolving our claims in a way that will provide us with useful information and testimony against MusicCity, and if possible obtain FastTrack’s cooperation in shutting down or converting MusicCity and Grokster, and (3) continue forward with litigation against MusicCity, Grokster, and potentially Timberline Venture Partners.
The obnoxiously greedy record companies represented by the RIAA will NEVER get a single red cent from me. Fortunately I live in a large city with an enormous cd collection in our libraries.
QUOTE
But like everything else, there's a catch; and in this case, several. The processing of such high-quality samples requires a lot of grunt. Right now, you need a powerful computer to replay the tunes downloaded from the Net. A Pentium-90 at minimum is recommended. A fast hard drive and plenty of memory (16MB minimum) is also a necessity. A special program, called a player, is also mandatory. This can be downloaded off the Web and costs about to register.
ROFLOL!!! Gee, I better save up for a speedy P-90 with a whopping 16 megs of RAM! And I gotta get together $50 bucks for that "special program" to play MP3s too! 
P90... no way.
I used to playback MP3's on my 486 100 Mhz. With Winamp configured to mono downsamlping, the sound wouldn't skip. But I couldn't do anything else at the same time.
I even encoded MP3's with that CPU. I ripped my CD's via the analog output on my 4x CD-ROM, and spent almost an entire day encoding. MP3 producer had no queing, so I would encode all the files at the same time. At 128 kbits of course.
Later came my K6-300 and the Xing encoder... *shiver*
Yea... those were the days. (not really)
I used to playback MP3's on my 486 100 Mhz. With Winamp configured to mono downsamlping, the sound wouldn't skip. But I couldn't do anything else at the same time.
I even encoded MP3's with that CPU. I ripped my CD's via the analog output on my 4x CD-ROM, and spent almost an entire day encoding. MP3 producer had no queing, so I would encode all the files at the same time. At 128 kbits of course.
Later came my K6-300 and the Xing encoder... *shiver*
Yea... those were the days. (not really)
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.