[opendtv] Digital Music's Next Big Battle
- From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 12:40:49 -0400
Digital Music's Next Big Battle
The arrival of software that lets you search for and record digital
music off the airwaves could raise legal issues that will make the
P2P skirmishes look quaint by comparison.
By Eric Hellweg
September 7, 2004
If you follow technology long enough, every once in awhile you'll get
a jolt-the sudden This Is Big realization when you see something
new and grasp its potential to change the way you go about your life.
I've received these jolts when first hearing of voice over IP (VoIP),
when I first set up a home wireless network, and when I used Napster
and Gnutella for the first time.
Last week, I received another jolt. This time, the shock of realizing
amazing promise came when I checked out a new piece of software
called TimeTrax. Created by 35-year-old Canadian programmer Scott
MacLean, TimeTrax allows subscribers of XM Radio's satellite radio
service to record music off the radio, appending track title and
artist information to each song. Fans of indie rock could, for
example, cue their satellite radio receivers to an indie rock
station, click on Record in the TimeTrax software, go to sleep, and
wake up the next day with eight hours' worth of music by the likes of
The Fiery Furnaces and Spoon.
What's more, users can schedule the software to record a certain
channel at a certain time, much the same way people can program a VCR
or a TiVo to record a TV show while they're on vacation or at work.
Right now the service only works with XM Radio on a device called the
PCR, which the company sold so users could listen to satellite radio
in their homes instead of just in their cars. Since TimeTrax came
out, XM Radio discontinued the device, creating a lucrative market on
eBay where the $49 retail units are selling for more than $350.
MacLean says that the program has been downloaded about 7,000 times
in the two weeks that it has been available.
TimeTrax is on the forefront of what will likely be the music and
technology industry's next world war: the recording of broadcast
digital audio. "We're at the beginning of the next P2P," says Jim
Griffin, CEO of Cherry Lane Digital, a music and technology
consultancy. "Peer-to-peer is small by comparison." What has Griffin
and others interested is the concept that when radios all broadcast
digital music signals, programs such as TimeTrax will allow users to
search for and capture songs similar to how they do it today with
programs such as Kazaa. Instead of grabbing a song from someone's
hard drive, users will pluck it from the air via a digital radio
signal. It's a new situation, which in part is what makes TimeTrax
such an interesting case.
...
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/09/wo_hellweg090704.asp
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