RealNetworks unveils Napster-like service
RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser gives a first public look at the MusicNet subscription service his company is building, describing features that resemble Napster's file-swapping service.
First look at legal Napster alternative Rob Glaser, CEO, RealNetworks |
MusicNet, a joint venture with major record labels from AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann and EMI Group, plans to let music fans search for, then download or stream, a broad range of music owned by those three labels, Glaser said. These songs could be downloaded from other MusicNet subscribers, as people would on Napster, as well as from central servers.
But there are key differences between the labels' effort and the popular file-swapping service. Only music that has been authorized by the labels will be available to trade. Any music downloaded via MusicNet will be "tethered" to personal computers, so it can't be burned to CDs or transferred to portable devices. Consumers will also get an occasional reminder to "relicense" their downloaded music, meaning they will have to keep paying monthly subscriptions to listen to downloaded music.
Although no demonstration was available of Sony Music Entertainment and Vivendi Universal's rival Duet service, Vivendi Executive Vice Chairman Edgar Bronfman said the service would be similar to MusicNet, offering streaming access to songs and restraining downloads as soon as "technically feasible." He said a Napster-like peer-to-peer service would also likely play a part in Duet's future.
The new MusicNet capabilities outlined Thursday are a technological step forward for the record labels, which have so far steered clear of licensing music to companies offering anything resembling Napster's file-swapping services.
MusicNet's peer-to-peer capabilities will be a far cry from Napster's old unregulated community, however. Only those songs already available for download from the companies themselves will be allowed to be traded through the network.
Instead of the old anarchic grassroots file-swapping, MusicNet is putting peer-to-peer to a new use that looks more like the Net-speeding capabilities of Akamai Technologies and its rivals. If a song that one member wants can be downloaded more quickly from another member instead of from the central servers, the system can go to this other member instead.
The idea of using peer-to-peer technology as a content-distribution mechanism has been taken up by a few start-ups in the technology community, including Zodiac Networks, but has not yet been used by major entertainment companies.
Although no details are yet available on the type of security that the service will use to protect songs against unauthorized copying, a representative said the MusicNet technology will be ready by the end of June. At that point it will go to distribution partners--which today include only AOL Time Warner's America Online and RealNetworks--that will then offer it directly to consumers.