I loveYouTube, but you have to face it, specific genre sites can be much better. If you want music Imeem may be much better, if you want comedy then go to specific comedy sites like Ebaumsworld and such. Similarly, if you want jazz, go to a genre site like My Jazz Network.

My Jazz Network is basically a very high quality content on demand site, focused on jazz alone. You can listen to anything you like, or listen in on live radios, compilations, you can even buy anything you like in the store.

If you are a jazz addict or someone venturing into this “scary” area of music, I can recommend this site. Beautifully done, you will have access to a huge array of talented artists. I found the sound quality of some radios under par, but with gems like Miles Davis, you’ll soon forget this.

continue reading "The ultimate online jazz community"

In a move that can only be described as desperate the RIAA, or better Cary Sherman, its President, suggested at the State of the Net Conference to bundle filters that check for copyrighted data with programs that would benefit the user such as antivirus applications to counter the problem with encryption that they are currently facing. He did not stop there though and suggested that the ISP would monitor, ehm, filter, the user as well through the likes of the modem for instance.

So, what he suggests is that everyone has to use filters on their computers to prevent copyrighted material from being listened to and traded. He knows that users would not want that kind of filtering on their computers but he thinks that they would accept it if the benefits would outweigh that disadvantage.

Basically he wants that everyone helps them to filter every user on earth to prevent unauthorized listening and spreading of copyrighted music. Here are some quotes taken directly from the video..

continue reading "RIAA is becoming desperate"

I always asked myself what the main reason for DRM - digital rights media - really is. It - maybe - can be used to stop legit buyers from giving a song to their friends or relatives but it surely does not step the spreading of music at all. Music pirates do get the music before any shop has them in their inventory which in turn means that everyone with a little bit of knowledge about P2P services can get their hands on the music.

If it’s not about preventing the music from being spread, what is it about then ? That’s the question. My thoughts are that someone sold DRM to the CEOs and Executives and that they, with their limited technical understanding thought that it would prevent music piracy. In the end, only the consumers who purchase music are screwed, as you can see in this fine example.

Sony decided to close down their Connect music store that tried to push once again a proprietary format. They miserably failed and that is probably the main reason for the closure. The problem for consumers however is that the music that they purchased from that store had DRM in it.

continue reading "Need Another Reason why DRM is bad ? Here it is !"

Seeqpod is a mp3 search engine. You type in a song name, artist or any other information you got and Seeqpod displays results found on other Internet sites. Much like Google does but only for music and with the difference that a player is available on the result page that can play videos and music found that way.

Registered users can save the songs in playlists to play them again at a later time, there is no open way to download the music found directly.

Warner Bros. Records has decided to sue Seeqpod, an unlawful music service that directly engages in, encourages, and facilitates the mass infringement of Plaintiffs’ and other intellectual property owners’ copyrighted works.

continue reading "Seeqpod gets sued for.. yeah for what actually ?"

Last.fm is now offering playback of full length music tracks and entire albums on their online music community website for users from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany with other countries to follow soon thereafter. Songs can be played for a maximum of three times before information about a soon to be coming subscription service pops up. Details about the subscription service which will will have options for unlimited playbacks are scarce at this point, it is only sure that it will cost more than the current subscription price of $2.50 monthly.

Artists get paid whenever a song is played by using revenue sharing, which means that they will be paid by a percentage of the advertising revenue based on the number of plays. Contracts with all four major labels made this improvement possible which could be a great step in the right direction.

A quick check revealed that the implementation has not been finalized yet but that you can access a lot of full length tracks already. Give it a day or two and everything will sort out. Users are a little bit confused for instance about existing playlists and embedded content.

continue reading "Play Full Length Music Tracks and Albums at Last.fm"