Slashdot Mirror
New File Sharing Networks
An anonymous reader sends in: "Most readers of slashdot have been following the exploits of the RIAA and their attempts to shut down Napster, KaZaA, Morpheus, etc. In response, it appears some live music fans have taken things into their own hands and started new file sharing networks made exclusively for trading live recordings of bands that allow that sort of thing. The main player, RNL has reached version 1.0, features a distributed architecture, supports linux, and is even GPLed. Another peice of interesting software is Furthur. Though still only in beta, Furthur has cool features like allowing a user to piggy-back another user's download to reduce the load of the uploader."
The new king of file sharing networks is DC "Direct Connect" from http://www.neo-modus.com/ Iv seen'em all but this was good enough to really impress , which is something these days! Current Amount of Public Users: 45301 Current Amount of Available Data: 1000.10 TeraBytes!! "Tired of other file-sharing communities such as Napster, Gnutella, and Scour? Tired of Napster Clones in general? Looking for something new? Get ready to change the way you think about peer-to-peer file-sharing. NeoModus®' Direct Connect(TM) offers a complete set of tools to locate any type of media."
For crying out loud, i'm shocked at how cynical my fellow slashdotters are. The arrival of FURTHUR is a MAJOR step in the right direction, both for the music world, and the P2P community. I've been using Furthur for about 6 weeks now and let me tell you it is *the* killer app for a music lover. I like it even more than the golden age of Napster. Why? BECAUSE THE MUSIC IS WAY BETTER. the bands on Furthur make Quality music, not more of that crappy commodity-pop-flavor-of-the-day. Could copyrighted material infiltrate the Furthur network? Perhaps. But it would take a lot of effort, and it would have to be masqueraded as a live show by a bootleg-friendly band. As it stands, I have HOURS and HOURS and HOURS of downloaded legal music from Furthur that I haven't even had a chance to listen to yet. I have so many downloaded Phish and Disco Biscuits shows to listen to that I haven't even bothered to search for illegally hidden Metallica album tracks. Furthur has almost DOUBLED my music collection in the last 6 weeks, legally and free! More than just a successful example of a P2P system, the Further model should shine as a glaring example of where the MUSIC INDUSTRY IS GOING. The bands on Furthur let their live music be FREE. Bands like Phish, the Disco Biscuits, Sound Tribe Sector 9, and of course the Grateful Dead, these bands embrace the "new economy" of music. In addition, these bands don't usually make a significant portion of their income from CD sales. These artists essentially GIVE AWAY their intellectual property (the music), and use it as an ADVERTISEMENT for their real-world products-- live concerts and merchandise. (which they make a way better percentage off of anyways). So it's understandable that the record companies are freaking out about file sharing. In this new business model of music, there's not much of a niche left for them! The record companies need to realize that file-sharing (both legal and illegal) is unstoppable. The PRODUCT for the record companies is no longer the music, but the packaging, the lyrics book, the art, and the service of distribution. They need to re-evaluate their position and figure out what niche they can serve in a world where intellectual property is practically free. That's what they got for shoveling crappy pop music into innocent children's ears! Furthur is here to stay. (Of course, so is illegal file sharing). But Furthur clearly shows the business model for "new economy" bands. And it's right on the money-- it's obvious to any true music fan, Phish is WAY cooler than Metallica. D-bad dylanhassinger@yahoo.com