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Mac P2P Music Sharing with iTunes is Online
kraksmoka writes "Spymac.com has already found a way to take the new features of iTunes 4 to new heights. Today they opened up a new section on their site entitled Spymac Music, which is a database of shared iTunes libraries. Anyone who wants can submit their music library to be shared. Currently it sports a search engine capable of searching title, album and artist. " I wonder how long this will last.
This blows my mind. Surely it was intended for people to submit their own personally composed music library.
we all know about the lawsuits slapped on the college kids concerning LAN search engines. at first i figured the RIAA will surely sue Apple. Now i'm not so sure. Anyone familiar with the size of Apple's legal department?
... This is simpely an extension of what was provided by apple : You can have ANYONE with iTunes 4 stream your music over if you wish to, they only made an online DB with it... Guess it's time I finally afforded a mac...
In Canada, we don't fancy things like socks
It's not sharing, it's streaming from what I understand. I'm wondering if people who have it active will have to pay royalities to artists since it might be considered "broadcasting".
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
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...The server just says, "Hey, this guy posted his music library index online - take a look. By the way, his IP address is X.Y.Z", When I tried to test it out, his address was not responding. No different than Google if you ask me. But the users might start getting sued.
There were already some posts about this here a few days back.
:)
I did try some other sites listed in those posts and I have to say that this is balancing on the dangerous zone. I could see the RIAA going after this specifically for that fact that there is little difference (if any), as far as they're concerned, with users 'broadcasting' stuff via iTunes vs. any other streamer.
I will not be suprised to see a few things happen:
1. all these public iTunes sharing sites will be shut down (or at least the biggest ones) via RIAA court orders
2. most of these public iTunes sites will simply turn off due to bandwidth limitations
3. Apple with either disable this feature in an update or publicly state that it is not meant for public sharing. Or some statement to that affect
That said, coupled with Rendezvous on a local lan, this is a pretty kick ass feature.
something else along these lines came out a few days ago
www.shareitunes.com
My guess: 10 minutes from the start of the slashdotting :)
This is not P2P file sharing, it's not piracy, and it has already been discussed to death in the media over the past 2 weeks.
Shut up and eat your vegetables!!!
Actually I believe the correct legal term is "copyright infringement". The use of the word "theft" is just propaganda from the record companies to make it sound more evil. There is no way that file sharing could be legally classed as "theft" under current law (in the UK, and presumably in the US as well) as it does not involve depriving anybody of material possessions.
Whether you think it's wrong or not, at least call it "music theft" which is what it is. If you're so convinced it's right then there's no need to sweep it under the rug as "sharing", "freedom", "fair use" or anything like that.
What word or words would you use to describe the act of obtaining a book from the library?
How about obtaining a CD or movie from the library (many libraries have extensive collections of CDs and movies, as well as books)? Does the fact that this revised situation involves music change your definition?
Now, how does leaving out the "library" part of the above picture, change the situation? Does sharing something become "theft" because individuals do it directly, rather than through a public-ish organization?
Although I partially agree with you, that people should call a spade a spade, not all music "sharing" counts as a euphemism for "stealing". As a better word, considering how most people I know use downloaded music, you might want to consider the phrase "free advertising".
And if "advertising" bothers you as yet another euphemism for "piracy", perhaps you can explain to me how Clearchannel differs from your typical pickpocket-on-the-street.
Repeat after me:
You can't copy this files. It's streaming. It's not sharing in the sense of sharing files, it's sharing in the sense of sharing music that can be listened to only while the person sharing is online.
You can NOT copy the files.
Got it? You're not sharing files, you're sharing a playlist of streamable music, that's it. Person turns off sharing or goes offline, you can't play them. You can't copy them to your local disk. You just can't.
You can NOT copy the files.
So please do a little research before you jump all over this as music piracy. It's not a bug, it's a feature that Apple has proudly advertised.
Remember, the files are streamed and not copied to the client. There is no way within iTunes to copy music from a shared library to your own machine.
./'ers not think that Apple would have thoroughly investigated this before allowing sharing over the wider internet? "I know, lets negotiate with Universal, BMG, RIAA et al and then when we've got everything sorted, we'll really piss them off with a sharing feature!"
:-)
iTunes Music Sharing is limited to five concurrent clients, whether using Rendezvous or IP. I believe that this means it is exempt from the RIAA webcasting restrictions.
Tools such as Audio Hijack will allow you to record the audio stream to an AIFF in real time, but this isn't Apple's problem. Audio Hijack has many other legitimate uses.
Do
Think before posting
This is great, I find an artist on a buddy's shared playlist, but I flip over to the iTunes Store, and that artist isn't in their selection. Foiled! Guess I'll have to fire up Kazaa.
I think this streaming thing is pretty good for music proliferation, but it would help if Herr Jobs would kick up the Store's encoding crew a notch or two. Many of the artists I'm interested in aren't there, but the feedback function gets used frequently.
Also note that it has been said the streaming feature has a maximum of 5 connections. I don't think this was an overlooked loophole in the DRM plan.
as long as the iTunes share is not passworded
... didnt do their home work
... ive done this from canada to the uk ... it defo works!
then yes you can dl the mp3's directly from iTunes
its basic but works ok and creates fully tagged mp3s
queue up files
google for "itunesdl" or "itdlgui"
anyone who thinks that you cant ALREADY do this with iTunes
for testing purposes only
[wink][tongue]
do acts of random kindness and senseless beauty
I hope Apple patches this hole...
Actually, this is not a hole in Apple's software. It is an advertised feature. If you want to blame someone, blame Apple, not the people using their software in a way it was designed to be used.
SIGFAULT
- Reminder: Sharing music is for personal use only
I don't know the legal definition of "personal use" but in these terms I would consider it to be about limiting streaming in much the same way you would limit distribution of your purchased CD collection.I really like this feature and I thank Apple for treating its customers like grown-ups. I'd hate for abuse to force them into dropping it.
Contrary to what the headline says this is NOT P2P, it's basically a client-server connection via iTunes-- so how the hell ELSE do you expect people to connect to a server if they don't have the IP or domain name, brainiac? This service is basically a message board for people to say, "Hey, check out my music library, it's at [address]."
You're also forgetting that these are all Macs running OS X we're talking about-- this is not the 'major security hole found every week' Windows crowd putting their boxes on a "Soon to be 0wn3d" list.
~Philly
Posting my iTunes Library URL to something like Spymac Music is like leaving my CD collection outside my house, with a sign that says "Copy Me"
No it's not; it's like leaving your CD collection outside your house with a sign that says, "Listen to me."
You know, like libraries do with books. Like was generally accepted as the norm from the start of civilization until about 100 years ago.
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Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
1) The files aren't copied, they are streamed.
2)It isn't covered under the internet broadcasting laws as each iTunes client can not send to more than 5 clients at a time.