This was four years ago. Now there is something even better out there. Though it is currently restricted for use to UK residents only, you can still receive an invite from someone who already has an account. This new service, is called Spotify. This software allows users to listen to music, on demand, like you do on a digital cable service or in a hotel room with movies, only it costs nothing.
Spotify will help to prevent piracy because there is no physical copy of the music file on the user's computer at one time. Since the data is streamed to the user's computer using P2P technology and directly from a server.
Ironically, one of the software engineers for Spotify is Ludvig Strigeus. Strigeus, is the creator of uTorrent, a very popular BitTorrent client, which is a service used by many to pirate music today. You quickly realize the similarities of the two pieces of software when you use them. Certain aspects such as the lightweight client and the user friendly interface.
As Spotify is a free service, they do offer the ability to purchase a Premium account, or buy a Premium Day Pass. By doing this the user will not hear, nor see, any advertisements while using the Premium services.
Once software comes out of beta and is released to the public, world wide, there will definitely be a significant reduction in music piracy.
Hey Mike, if you shared those tips about music pirating, would the big guys come after you??
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Spotify...when do you think that it will be available in the United States? I wonder what that would do to Itunes sales...
ReplyDeleteHey Mike, it's me again. I have an idea for a post for you, for non-techie types. The Mac laptop I bought cheap from RPS last year died and I don't want to invest a ton in repairing it...I'll investigate the Apple store angle but maybe you could write a post on advice for buying a new laptop. I don't need a Mac (don't use most of the apps anyway) but I do need one that can convert my mac word files and photos, music, etc. All I really need in a laptop is word and internet. Could you do a post on how to do shop around for a laptop, and where the good deals might be?
ReplyDeleteMike, I'm having a tech problem! I'm trying to post to my blog but when I type, it all comes out as question marks!! Like, I type Long Branch and it turns into a line of question marks...do you--or anyone else reading this--have any idea of why this is happening and how I can fix it??
ReplyDeleteI had no clue about any of this things you were talking about in your post.. that's really interesting... has iTunes said anything?
ReplyDeleteWow. I remember when Napster came out a few years ago it was such a huge deal. Now piracy is on a much larger scale. The idea that you explain, however, could revolutionize the way we listen to music. And it's free!
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm "old fashioned" but I prefer purchasing songs from itunes. I don't know...I like my MAC products.
ReplyDelete@Siobhan: I don't think it is illegal to share those tips, but i'm sure if they saw it they would give me a hard time.
ReplyDelete@Emma: I'm not sure when it will be available in the United States but i'm guessing that there is either some legal issues or connectivity issues(loading times for songs). iTunes' sales shouldn't be affected because this tool doesn't enable you to download the music and many people like to take their music with them. This is just a simple way to either preview the music before you buy it, or casual listening. Also, yes iTunes is a "Apple" product, but the music is not. There are many ways that we get receive forms of media, from newspapers, television, to internet. This is just a new internet based method.
@Sue: If there is something specific you didn't understand I can elaborate on it. At the moment iTunes has not said anything, and I don't think they ever will. If anything, it could potentially improve their sales because people will be able to preview the entire song before they buy. And now, iTunes music is now high quality and DRM free. DRM free means there is no rights protection on the music, so you can copy and share the music to whomever you'd like to. You are also able to put the music on multiple MP3 devices(such as an iPod) or multiple computers.
@Jeff: It is free with advertisements but will also allow for people buy a premium subscription to eliminate ads. Napster revolutionized the way we steal music today. It started as P2P (Peer-to-peer) and grew into a larger form of P2P, enabling users to get data from multiple sources at one time to increase speed.
Oh, Mike I forget to tell you! My brother used to be an anti-pirating sleuth. He worked for a company that would track down people who illegally copied and sold music, games, movies, and shows. He would pretend to be a potential buyer, and then would hack their system and catch them! It was one of his favorite internships/jobs during college.
ReplyDeleteOh that is a fantastic idea to be able to preview the ENTIRE song. I always get annoyed with iTunes when I can only hear 30 seconds of as song.. sometimes I don't even know if it's the right song I'm buying! I wonder why iTunes didn't do that..
ReplyDeleteill admit i dont buy on iTunes i also agree it is a little overprices, compared to Limewire which is free... half of this stuff I never heard of, not a big technology person
ReplyDeleteThis sounded cool....it actually sounded like Pandora...idk if you have heard of it but it is like an internet radio...it is pretty cool
ReplyDeleteI actually buy my music from iTunes....the thing that I love about it is that I choose what song I want to buy from a cd instead of buying the whole thing...also with this service do you get your own copy of the song?
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