Napster heads north for Canadian service
ReutersMay 26, 2004, 5:31 PM PT
Online music provider Napster, which transformed itself from a pioneering song-swap Web site to a pay-for-use service, said on Wednesday it has launched a Canadian version of its operation.
Napster, a division of software maker Roxio, said it will offer its music subscription service and an Internet music store at [...]
China’s pirates spoil the game for console makers
ReutersMay 26, 2004, 9:55 PM PT
Electronics salesman Min Shushan can talk for hours about the merits of Sony’s PlayStation 2 versus Microsoft’s Xbox, having taken apart hundreds of consoles over the years to rig them for pirated games.
Customers at his glass-and-chrome specialty store in the heart of old Beijing can buy consoles made at [...]
Twenty Korean fileswappers to be charged
According to a report by Munhwa Ilbo on Thursday, Dongnyuk Law firm plans to bring charges against 20 Korean Internet users for violating copyright laws. Those netizens are accused of downloading and sharing singer Baek Ji-young’s music video “Concert for Adults” and several movies -including “Kill Bill 2”, “The Grudge 2”, and “Shin Yukiguni”- on [...]
Net traffic shows file-sharing undented
by Will Knight
The threat of legal action and hefty fines has done little to stop internet users around the world trading music and video files, according to a new study of network traffic.
The vast majority of shared files are copyrighted music or video, making the sharing illegal. In an effort to stamp out infringements, the [...]
Mixed Messages on Music Downloads
By Seth Jayson
If there’s anything we Americans like better than getting stuff for free, it’s dragging people into court to try to stop it. That’s the only lesson from the continuing war in online music downloads. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed another 500 file “sharers,” while a recent study concludes that [...]
File-swappers whistling a different tune
Fed up with spyware or fearing lawsuits, file swappers are going underground or giving up
by Liane Cassavoy
The number of surfers using Kazaa’s file-sharing software is down to 20 million people, compared to almost 35 million users less than one year ago, according to research from ComScore Media Metrix. But the steep decline doesn’t mean the [...]
‘Pirate Act’ raises civil rights concerns
A proposal that the Senate may vote on as early as next week would let federal prosecutors file civil lawsuits against suspected copyright infringers, with fines reaching tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The so-called Pirate Act is raising alarms among copyright lawyers and lobbyists for peer-to-peer firms, who have been eyeing the recording [...]
The RIAA’s Push for an Audio Broadcast Flag
Interesting post on Slashdot:
aaronsorkin writes “The Recording Industry Association of America has discovered that digital radio broadcasts can be copied and redistributed over the Internet, and so it is pushing the FCC to adopt an audio broadcast flag, which would likely prevent users from sending copyrighted radio programs over the Internet. But it could [...]
Downloads ‘fuel music recovery’
The beleaguered global music industry says it expects to seen an increase in music sales next year. New legal download services combined with an anti-piracy campaign have given the industry cause for optimism. Keith Jopling, head of market research at the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry, said: “We are turning a corner.” Global sales [...]
Oxfam opens door to music downloads (UK)
It may be better known as the purveyor of grunge style and ethnic throws to Britain’s student population. But Oxfam is about to reach the cutting edge of digital technology by becoming the first charity to launch its own music download site with backing from Coldplay and George Michael. The charity, which is already strongly [...]
