iCommune for iTunes Shares Over Network

James G. Speth writes "I just released a free public beta of iCommune, a plug-in for iTunes that enables music sharing over the network. Your friends' music libraries appear in the iTunes source list. You can browse their collections, and choose to download or stream their music. It also allows you to make your own music library available to others." It's a bit buggy, but it is a beta. It shows a lot of promise. It also comes with an indexer (in Python, though I might write my own in Perl :-) so you can share MP3s to iTunes clients outside of iTunes on the server end (such as from a Linux box, in theory).

Comments

Watch out for RIAA

[the Dragonweaver]

It would be very smart to put a disclaimer with your beta saying that you do not endorse the sharing of copyrighted files without the permission of the copyright holder. It is best to be paranoid about such things because then you can distance yourself from the inevitable lawsuit.

From my personal POV, however, this is a great thing. File-sharing has introduced me to many artists that I would otherwise never have heard of, let alone bought. Some of my favorite artists are, in fact, ones I first heard in MP3 format. If only RIAA would see what a boon such prgrams are, rather than suing the creators of such programs...

Re:Watch out for RIAA

[mgs1000]

Or maybe he can just say he doesnt use Rendezvous because he didnt buy Jaguar(OSX 10.2).

Didn't Stebe Demo this?

[pauljlucas]

At the previous MacWorld (not Jan '03), I remember Steve giving a demo where one of his VPs came on stage with a PowerBook and that PowerBook's iTunes library appeared on Steve's desktop Mac. The VP closed the lid on the PowerBook and the library disappeared. All by Rendezvous. And yet I've not seen or heard anything about that feature since. The current iTunes doesn't do that.

Anybody else remember that demo? Anybody know what happened to that feature?

Re:Didn't Stebe Demo this?

[1 (smarterThanYou)]

The Rendezvous-enabled version of iTunes isn't out yet. Steve enjoys flaunting unfinished software that people drool over...like he's been doing with recently released Keynote, the presentation software he's been using at these conferences for almost a year now. I've only heard speculation as to the release of this new rendezvous enabled iTunes which people seem to think will be sometime before summer.

Re:Didn't Stebe Demo this?

[Have Blue]

Steve demoed an internal Apple version of iTunes that has this built-in. However, Apple's version will not copy, it can only stream.

Re:X=?

[Alan Partridge]

I thought we'd long accepted the idea that p2p doesn't cost the music business a dime, and that sales actually increased noticeably during Napster's heyday. My music buying certainly soared while Napster was big - I was getting access to so many different records that I'd only ever heard ABOUT before - it was wonderful.

Rendezvous developer question

[nsayer]

Wow. Rendezvous sounds like a really convenient way to do this sort of thing. I've recently delved into the universe of Java-Cocoa. Does anyone know if Rendezvous is conveniently available to a Java-Cocoa app?

Re:Rendezvous developer question

[tobes]

Not yet, right now you can only use Apple's implementation with Obj-C Cocoa. The spec is open though, so it would be nice to see someone make a pure Java version.

Re:Rendezvous developer question

[Anonymous Coward]

Over at O'Reilly's there's a 2 part article about incorporating Rendezvous in Cocoa apps:
Incorporating Rendezvous into Your Cocoa Applications, Part 1

Re:So where is the source?

[CaptCosmic]

But why does everything on Slashdot have to GNU/GPL/Open Source? If it were, there would be nothing about Apple, nothing about Microsoft, and nothing about any other commercial software. In that case, I would have even less reason to read Slashdot.

Slashdot is supposed to be about "News For Nerds". I find this article to be intriguing. Am I going to download the software? Probably not. But that doesn't mean I don't want to know about it.

Re:X=?

[NaugaHunter]

Somewhat related to the 'billion dollars a minute', where does this stand against Clear Channel's new Public Scare Announcement? Essentially it goes on in this manner: "Think about how many mp3's are on your computer. Now multiply that by, let's say, $1 each. Now multiply that by a thousand. That's how much you can be fined..." It makes absolutely no distinction about whether or not you are allowed to have them - if you've ripped them on your own, if they were installed by software, or even if they came on the computer when you bought it. If only I could get other stations in this office.

What do you mean Clear Channel owns them all? Well, that's a seperate rant.

Why?

[thatguywhoiam]

iPod with AirPort & Rendezvous

Why is everyone so obsessed with adding wireless capabilities to the iPod? Not a flame, really, I'm just trying to understand, what am I missing...

I want my MP3s on my stereo - i walk downstairs with the very small, very light iPod and plug it in. If I had a car, I'd get one of those iTrip things. Wireless just seems wasted when you can just walk anywhere with it, you know?

Again, unless I'm missing something...?

Re:Why?

[FatRatBastard]

Why is everyone so obsessed with adding wireless capabilities to the iPod? Not a flame, really, I'm just trying to understand, what am I missing...

Why I would like this is if I had a stereo reciever that could, via bluetooth or 802.11 read my iPod. Thus, no wires I can listen to my music whereever. If I'm at the computer I can pump it through iTunes, if I'm in the living room I can pump it thru the stereo. Yes, I can do this with wires currently, but it would be nice if I could do it wirelessly. Not a must have, but I'd plunk down cash very quickly if something like this was offered.

Re:hmm....

[Znonymous Coward]

The RIAA will ask to get a court permission to hack all Mac users

Hack??? Mac??? This isn't Windoze you know. Mac OS X is a secure operating system.

iCommune is not rendezous enabled it looks like

[terevos]

Besides the fact that I followed all the instructions for iCommune and it doesn't seem to work. This product doesn't seem to be Rendezous enabled.. doesn't seem that useful. Apple will come out with something much better soon I'm sure.

Re:iCommune is not rendezous enabled it looks like

[extra88]

Yeah, the Rendezvous thing Steve demoed last summer was great but unless your friends are also your roommates (or you live in a dorm with them), Rendezvous isn't going to do anything for you, it's only going to find servers on the same LAN as you. iCommune lets you access iTunes libraries anywhere on the Internet.

I'm curious to know what protocol this plug-in is using. HTTP? AppleShare? This also makes me wonder about the security implications.

As for the RIAA, as long as iCommune works in such a way that the people at the other end really are "friends" and not "some anonymous asshole," it can probably avoid the fate of Napster et al. It would also help its case if it dropped the download feature and only streamed. I don't think downloading and keeping copyrighted files from a friend's library is legal or ethical but streaming them would be.

Try Edna instead?

[djupedal]

"Edna allows you to access your MP3 collection from any networked computer. This software streams your MP3s via HTTP to any MP3 player that supports playing off a remote connection (e.g. Winamp, FreeAmp, Sonique, XMMS)."

A Python stand alone that will index music files and serve up dynamic pages...keeps stats too. Very nice :)

now how about...

[burns210]

a plugin for quicktime? Sharing movies would be a perfect extention of this software plugin.