more on MIT students develop alternative to file-swapping

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

From: tim gerard <tgerard () email com>

Hello Dave,

This is my 1st time replying to IP.  I was a student at UPENN several years
back just to give you a little background info.

Anyway...


I don't really see what the big idea is with the MIT LAMP system.  The N Y
Times is touting it as a new creative music 'on demand' system that has the
potential to curb the rampant p2p campus file-sharing that has cause
numerous legal and bandwidth issues.

The central problem with this characterization is that it is largely hype.
The system is only marginally more 'on demand' than regular radio.  It
broadcasts 16 universally accessible channels much in the way that satellite
radio works today.  The only advantage is that you get to see the playlist
ahead of time and perchance reserve time in the near/far future to become a
DJ on one of the stations.  The so called 'on demand' feature entails being
thrown in a queue of students/faculty so as to be able to listen to a
specific album at an unspecified time.

Other than price it would seem that this system has no advantage over
internet 'streamers' (such as rhapsody, e-music, and music-match) which
allow you to choose from either 100s of thousands of albums or artists for
instantaneous listening all for a small monthly/yearly fee.

IMHO, what made file-sharing so popular was not only the free access to a
huge selection of music but the near instant gratification one enjoyed as a
result of high speed networks.  The internet streamers allow all this with
the caveat of a nominal fee.  The MIT LAMP system, however, denies the
desire of music consumers to access what they want when they want it.  As a
result this system will do little if anything to ultimately curb either the
number and volume of files being shared or the concomitant lawsuits
generated by the RIAA.

Tim 

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