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My.MP3.com releases Beam-it Beta for Linux
kurowski writes "My.MP3.com has released a Linux port of its Beam-it software. It relies on a closed-source library, but the (command-line) Beam-it front end comes with source and is GPLed. Way cool! (By the way it acutally works, too.) " We've been playing around with something similar in our office for a while - it's a lot of fun to have.
If I reverse engineered this closed library. Would I get into trouble like that DeCSS chap? I would like to find, out of general interest, what attributes relate to which album by send lots of pseudo randomly generated data sets upto the server.
threadeds blog
MP3.com apparently is doing what the Big Recording Industry failed to do, which is create a market for music and audio entertainment distribution. They use modern technology to make the method of listening more flexible, rather than being confined to either tapes or a dozen songs per CD that can only be played in bulky, battery hungry players. They promote a market of listening to a large library of music on the run.
Compared to what the Big Recording Industry had in mind for us (nothing,) its a great change.
Beam-It is software that reads the ID of audio CDs when you insert them in the drive and checks to see if that CD is present in MP3.Com's database. If it is, the tracks on that CD are added to your personal My.Mp3.Com account so you can listen to them in streaming MP3 and RealAudio format -- no file transfer is required, so you can "beam" a CD instantly. About 8 out of 10 CDs I own were known to Beam-It, so now I can listen to them anywhere through a Web browser.
Another feature I tried out is Instant Listening. If you buy a CD from a company participating with Mp3.Com, it is added to My.Mp3.Com the moment you purchase it. Instant Listening is a great excuse to buy an album over the Net -- there's nothing like receiving instant gratification while shopping in your pajamas.
The only downside to Instant Listening is that the MP3.Com partner I purchased from, Jungle Jeff, took 10 days to send the CD.
Instead of suing MP3.Com, the RIAA should be looking at how My.MP3.Com facilitates impulse purchasing at online music stores. The recording industry already has a monopoly on the artists most people want to hear. They can reap even more rapacious profits on CDs sold electronically without the overhead of distribution, packaging, store promotion, and other brick and mortar costs.
Rogers Cadenhead (Web: http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench)
Okay,
I'll admit. Its cool to be able to go home, go through my CD collection and instantly have access to those same Songs at work (where I have a high speed connection). I do have a few problems with the service though:
1) Why would I want some company to be able to catalog what CDs I have and which I don't? (I haven't seen their privacy policy yet... but should I expect direct mail asking if I want the "Latest CD from such and such"?)
2) What about when I'm stuck behind a firewall somewhere and don't have easy access? I'd rather have a CD full of MP3's (I just finished burning one that had 15 CDs worth of music).
3) Are small volume and no-name CDs going to be available? (or am I going to have to make my own MP3s of them if I want to carry them around?).
4) How much bandwith is it actually going to take?
They seem to have very little information available until you create an acount and give them your e-mail address. Something about that bothers me.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
As I understand it, beam-it reads your cd and sends an A-ok message to my.mp3.com saying that you have the ability and fair-use right to listen to said CD.
Now, unless they're doing some good encryption inside the client, couldn't one just sniff one's local cablemodem neighborhood for connections going to the beam-it IP range and capture those packets, then send them out from your machine after a bit of modification and get rights to any CD your neighbors have rights to?
Now, don't get me wrong--I'm all for a very powerful interpretation of what is fair use and what isn't; but MP3.com should take reasonable precautions.
Side-note. What if, for every collection of unlicensed MP3s you downloaded by a particular artist, you send that artist a check for $10 directly, not through the record company.
"Are you beginning to see the possibilities?" (Strange Days)
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
There's no uploading involved. It checks your CD-ROM drive & verifies if you have a physical copy of a CD. If you do, then it gives you (password protected) access to the MP3s of it.
What I mean by that is that since the GNU GPL does not allow linking to proprietary libraries, unless the library in question is a core part of the os, (and then only if the GPLed app is not distributed with the os itself), it would seem that nobody except for the copyright owners are allowed to distribute this app.
I did not check this out on the website myself, since they apparantly wanted me to register, which I will not do on principle. So could someone with less scruples than me go and check this out?
The net effect of this could be that eg. Debian will not distribute Beam-It, in the same way that they will not / can not distribute KDE.
I would like to stress again that I could not check this out for myself, so could someone else please do it? For all we know, the orginal poster simply expressed himself inaccurately. Thanks...
I was wondering how long it was going to take for MP3.com to do this -- given the fact that the Linux community tends towards a more zealous and open defense of the manner in which Beam-It approaches the issue of ownership of information, it really behooves them to support the OS.
Also, I'm amazed at what a bunch of bad-asses they're being. Lawuit filed, they didn't run and hide, they ramped up their advertising and encouraged people to sign up their friends. Sure, this is good for their business, but I'd like to believe that it also shows some sense of the politics of turning people onto the issues of ownership that this all raises.
Maybe I'm giving them too much credit, but there seems to be a real understanding of the fact that their business is predicated on certain assumptions about who owns the music, and how they ought to be able to use it, that are pretty progressive.
god is just pretend.
The only problem with this from the music publisher's perspective is the fact that there is no confirmation of ownership involved. By this I mean that all that is required for me to gain access to the latest Offspring CD is that I have one in my drive when I first run the software to gain access to it via MP3.com - so nothing prevents me from taking my 100+ CDs over to your place and letting you use them to get access to them. Then you come to my place with your 100+ CDs and I get access to your CD collection. You could form "lending clubs" that brought together many CD owners to build a library of several thousand CDs and let everyone have access to them. Alternatively, I could set up an account and 20 of us could all input our collection to the same account building a huge collection and then we simply share the account.
Its no wonder the music industry is upset at this - it threatens their existence if it continues as a trend. Basically they will be reduced to an industry of recording studios which produce the master recordings, distribution will be free of charge to most people, with only small percentage actually buying the CDs.
This may be just the thing to put the profits back in the hands of the musicians though - something long overdue IMHO. I hate middlemen generally.
Just my $0.04 Cdn
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
beamit -e userid -p mypass ; eject
It's a lot easier than ripping a stack of CD's, that's for sure. As to what it does... you can download some of the source and have a look. There is a binary-only shared library, no code for that, but the beam-it user program, says:
It appears that usually "beaming" works really quickly, and occasionally it's really slow with lots of net activity. I wondered if it's doing some kind of distributed cd ripping activity when it finds an unidentified CD. But maybe cdparanoia is just working hard on one sector of my scratchy CD's.
A quick look at the shared library shows some interesting things
nm
/usr/lib/libmsp.so: no symbols
strings
...
msppGetAttributeValue
msppEncryptMD5
MD5Init
MD5Update
MD5Final
...
Software has expired, please update
...
There's no uploading involved. It checks your CD-ROM drive & verifies if you have a physical copy of a CD. If you do, then it gives you (password protected) access to the MP3s of it.
Are the passwords unique or do they change on a fixed schedule?
Slashdot social engineering at it's finest
I think it's an overreaction. People have ALWAYS been able to share, borrow (from the library, even), trade CD's. Just because there is a way to get around security, doesn't mean the majority of people WILL.
_ .:*~*:._.
How about hidden cameras, magnetic strips, bag checks, etc. at retail stores. Just about anyone can figure out how to get around these security devices. But the majority of people still pay money for merchandise.
The RIAA has nobody to blame for piracy than themselves. The only times I have taken part in music piracy is when I simply have to have a piece of music that is "too obscure" to be considered for widespread distribution. When I do pirate music, I try to contact the musicians to pay them directly because it is not their fault the RIAA doesn't consider them "mainstream".
Okay, I think I'm done ranting now.
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
_.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._
ASCII art?? I thought it was a REGULAR expression
Never have I seen so much whining! A company puts its butt on the line, going up against the RIAA to provide this service. They provide huge amounts of bandwidth to accomodate full quality streaming (128kb/44KHz). Then they release a Linux client.
And what do we hear? "Hey, they want my email address-- I won't use anything that requires an email address" "They released it under the GPL but kept a library closed-- I won't touch it!" And last but not least, "How can we crack it so we can pirate all these CDs?!"
People, for once in your life stop looking a gift horse in the mouth and appreciate what someone has made available for you.
What I want is the server portion so anyone and everyone can create their own server as MP3 broadcaster.
you want live365. (I am not affiliated, but it's amazing what kind of free advertising you can get from people who like your service...) here's the deeper link
+&x
Since x86 is by far the dominate way Linux is used, I think you are safe to assume that unless there is a platform specified, it is x86.
Yes I know Linux is used on sparc/alpha/ppc/etc, but the reality is that x86 is what the vast majority use. No I don't have any hard evidence to back this up, do you have any to refute it?
I may be somewhat off course here, but it sounds to me like this would be an excellent opportunity for someone like myself to get back all of CD's that I've lost in the past due to scratches.
Essentially, as long as my CD's (which was of course bought legally) contents track is intact, I can add it to my database on mp3.com, and then capture the stream being sent to my harddrive, and voila, I have the mp3's. If I want, I can then just uncompress and write the files to my CD Burner.
I'll definately have to give this a shot.
Your Brain + EEG + LEGO Robots = Brainstorms
Naturally, there are caveats- for instance, I never did manage to get the Open Look window manager running on my linuxPPC system :) however, the basic point still holds, or used to.
If we're in fact going to use proprietary binary-only x86 software for everything, why not just use windows and have lots more of it?
My question is, is it possible to be logged in from multiple locations at once under the same account? I would assume mp3.com has restrictions as such to prevent someone sharing their account with many people.
"with only small percentage actually buying the CDs"
Can you actually download the songs? If not, its use is limited to the computer. I think it's very useful in the process of buying CD's over the net because it brings instant gratification - at least, while you are at your computer.
Follow up:
I just signed up and checked it out. It seems that you can not download the files. You must stream the mp3's. This could be circumvented through the use of recording software at the client end. However, this is irrelevant as it would be easier to just create mp3's from your own cd and send them over to a friend.
Also, it is 128k, which is not CD quality, and I can easily tell the difference between it and my original CD (although, those of you with crappy stereo's or computer speakers probably wouldn't).
I have sent e-mail to mp3.com regarding the possibility of thievery by multiple simultaneous logins shared by multiple people. I await a reply. Hopefully it will be soon, so that I can reply on this story.
I have done my own personal checking of this, and so far it seems you can not use from multiple locations at once. Here is what I got when I tried to access from multiple IP's.
"We're sorry, we've noticed you are trying to stream from a URL that is no longer active. Please generate a new playlist and try again"
So it does indeed seem that they do have protection from this. As soon as I tried accessing from somewhere else, my original stream cut, and the new one didn't work as well. So, basically, the direction of your comment is invalid.
Bravo mp3.com.
I Forgot my password.. I have SO many to remember these days.. How about this.. Lets have one password for all the great slashdot readers.. lets make it somthing orginal. like cypherpunks and maybe the email could be root@slashdot.org and we will promise to only listen to the music for wich we barrowed CD's from our friends.. and unlocked. Good thing NO ONE works at a Sam Goodey or Maybe a Tower Record and has access to PC and alot of spare time or really extended breaks.. thats. I promise not to abuse the slashdot account.. and I know you wont either..
.2 winks are better than a nudge ay ay ay
nudge.. nudge.. wink wink..
Duh, another follow up. Something occured to me after writing this: Question: How easy is it to change back and forth between accounts on my.mp3.com? If it is fairly easy, what the previous poster said would be easily achievable. I could just beam up 20 cd's change accounts, then beam them up to my friend somewhere halfway across the world. This would, in effect, "duplicate" the cd's (as long as you are at your computer). I have sent another message to them regarding this loophole. This one does seem a serious problem as there is no e-mail or other authentication after "beaming" a cd up.
Since the purpose of GNU is to be free, every single component in the GNU system has to be free software. They don't all have to be copylefted, however; any kind of free software is legally suitable to include if it helps meet technical goals. We can and do use non-copylefted free software such as the X Window System.
This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix license. It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming effort will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the state of the art.
Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result, a user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for him. Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company which owns the sources and is in sole position to make changes.
Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment by encouraging all students to study and improve the system code.
Maybe that's why people are whining. They want what they are using to be free. It is manifestly NOT, if the library is hidden, otherwise, as I pointed out in a previously down-moderated post, there is no difference between this program being GPL'ed and me modifiying it and me modifying a program written to the windows API.
This is a shallow attempt to get the kudos of being free. Actually, I should rephrase that to allow for another possibility: this is either cynical or else half-assed.
If you can't see that a program that depends on a hidden library is a problem then maybe you should check out this discussion of library licenses:
LGPL, but in case you don't feel like reading it here's a quote about libraries:
Proprietary software developers, seeking to deny the free competition an important advantage, will try to convince authors not to contribute libraries to the GPL-covered collection. For example, they may appeal to the ego, promising "more users for this library" if we let them use the code in proprietary software products. Popularity is tempting, and it is easy for a library developer to rationalize the idea that boosting the popularity of that one library is what the community needs above all.
Don't you think that your line of argument will result in boosting the popularity of a non-free library?
First, one point. What 'hidden Windows API' are you now comparing this to? The thing the Beam-It authenticator uses (the CD-ID) seems to be a well-defined part of the standard for creating audio CDs. Until I understand that half of your question, I don't think I could provide an answer.
Welllll, it seems to me that you're nitpicking trivialities. But I'll answer you anyway. I should have said the "hidden code of the Windows API", obviously I can actually write to the API which is it's purpose.
So now that we've cleared up that obvious and trivial point. Let's address the problem. The question is whether or not a program which depends for its functionality on a library which I cannot access/modify/control/re-distribute myself is a piece of "Free" software. I don't think that it is. To take the extreme example what happens if I write a library, provide an API to it. This library contains one call, "RunProgram". I've published the API, you can stick whatever interface you like on it, you can GPL it you can feel that you've got freedom. I don't think that you have. Are you worried about it? Frankly your personal feelings are irrelevant. The point is whether or not this is Free.
If I am then it seem to me that you're making a sort of leveraging argument - we can use tools that possibly threaten and undermine our free-software to get access to free music?
in spite of the not-completely-open status of a particular piece of software, any piece, that software can still provide the means for an advancement of access to certain other, distinct type of information. In this case, the contents of any such hidden proprietary functionality is far less interesting to me than the contents of the mp3s themselves
But is it? It doesn't seem like it is if all I can do is stream it from mp3.com across the net. In fact I have a hell of a lot less freedom there than if I make my own mp3s. So, I'm not getting increased Freedom!
Am I totally nuts for thinking like this? I understand that everyones happy that theres a Linux player and we're popular and being catered to and that this is new media etc.... but what are we really getting? Let's look right-down this gift-horse's mouth and then go around and check the other end too.