Too many questions about this.

- Will it be possible to download (not share/upload) Sony *and* Non-Sony music from outside PlayLouder. If so will it be only from authorised sources? So iTunes is OK, but AllOfMp3 isn't?

- Will non-Sony music be stopped when sharing outwards

- Playlouder have an agreement with Sony. What if you share your whole library and 3/4 of it is non-Sony. Do you still get sued?

- Which networks and ports are they watching? What if I use Soulseek, Usenet, Bittorrent, Next Greatest P2P thing?

- If I use Bittorrent they probably can't fingerprint the file until they have a significant part of it. Which means they will have to run a BT client. So will they seed?

- And most importantly, does Audible Magic work? And since it can't be 100%, what % false positives and negatives?

- I like obscure music from obscure labels and at least some of it is non-label direct from the artist. Will they get paid too?

I'm sure you can think of many more.

It may be a brave experiment but ultimately this boils down to market forces and whether the market considers them to be good value. And in these days of £15 entry level broadband and cable broadband jumping shortly to 10Mb, £26 for 1Mb doesn't look competitive.

I also don't feel comfortable with a centralised distribution of royalty money whihc is perhaps my biggest objection to Voluntary Collective Licencing. The obvious candidate to administer this is the Performing Rights Society. And they don't have a stellar record for getting the right money to the right people.


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[ 26-Aug-05 6:29pm ] [ , ]