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KaZaA Wants to Be An Official Content Distributor
scubacuda writes "Detroit News: Nikki Hemming, CEO of KaZaA, says KaZaA wants to be the official online distributor for the entertainment industry. 'Realize that this technology is inexorable, and come to the table,' says Hemming to our friends Hilary Rosen and Jack Valenti."
"When users want one, they pay a royalty fee. If they want to share files, the system forces the next person who wants to get it to also pay the fee. '
so this is really where KaZaa 'comes to the table' and joins the establishment.
Kazaa is already an official distributor of viruses so sure, why not. I have become quite intimate with my Registry since installing Kazaa (and not in a good way). It's enough to make a guy go legit!
not of the end user. They have been actively trying to get their software onto machines without the users' knowledge.
And, do they not realise the Hillary Rosen stepped down from the RIAA? Keep up.
This is a great idea that KaZaA has been trying to implement for quite some time now. However, after seeing musicians challenge Apple to force selling of entire albums as opposed to just songs it's almost clear that the RIAA isn't willing to do away with its current business model to stop copyright violations. The RIAA wants everyone else to change but won't think about changing themselves.
Hilary: Hey, Jack, did you get that email from the Kazaa guys? :)
Jack: Yeah, what about it?
Hilary: Is that something we should consider doing?
Jack: Did I miss Hell freezing over or something?
Hilary: No, no, I'm just fucking with you
Jack: Phew, I thought you were serious there for a minute. Don't do that!
Is it me, or does it seem like the last stage of a P2P before collapse is attempting to go legit?
You don't piss in the face of competitors, laugh at them for it, and then expect them to actually WORK with you.
Unless you're Microsoft.
Kazaa's intention to distribute licensed content via its users rather than via a central server
Kazaa intends to reward users with 'points' which they can spend on more content or prizes, for distributing this content for them
What remains to be seen though, is whether users will be willing to pay for the kind of content that they are used to downloading for free, and could probably obtain for free elsewhere. Given that Kazaa's users are already used to this convinience, it seems unlikely that they will start queueing up to get their copyrighted files in legal form. This is especially true since the download of these new licensed files from other P2P users will likely be no faster or more reliable than other files of more dubious legality. Also by allowing users to handle the distribution, the door is opened for cracks that allow people to start handing out their already purchased content for free. I'm unsure how Kazaa intends to stop this from happening, and with the files already stored on a user's machine, any method they select should be fairly simple to overcome.
Nonsense. The ethics people follow does not arise from governmental actions. If you stop downloading and you tell your friends that "theft is wrong", the situation might change. However as long as you are promoting your ethical views through hypocritical anonymous ranting that promote government-organized regulations, the rest of the world can be rather certain that your views will not become any more popular than they already are.
The truth is that the majority of people don't care all that much about copyrights and it would take something completely different from what you describe to change this situation.
Napster, Kazaa and Gnutella, etc. are great for poor people (i.e. most of us) or for companies that aren't making any money off the downloads to serve large amounts of data without buying expensive infrastructure. However, for a business that actually expects to make money off the service, I think that distributed P2P is irrelevant. You lose control over quality of service and availability without saving that much money.
I don't see why the music industry would use Kazaa's technology and I don't see why users would want Kazaa's nasty DRM.
Aren't they that already?
If Kazaa plans on making money from using other people's bandwidth, isn't that going to be in violation of some ISP's service agreements? I know my ISP prohibts "commercial" use, so if I share files and for which I am paid in some form, wouldn't that in violation of that agreement?
Granted, they don't seem to mind p2p right now unless they get a notice from the RIAA/MPAA, but if Kazaa goes legit I could see them demanding a piece of the pie too.
What the hell is the difference?
Ryan O'Rourke
> Kazaa has basically made it's reputation spitting in the face of media companies.
.001% of the profits and if the user downloads anything but approved RIAA content we do a pop-up warning. After the second warning we wipe their drive. Deal?"
Perhaps, but they also share a complete disdain of anything that gets in the way of profits. I doubt kazaa would have any problems pushing the most draconian DRM app in their newest update. I can picture the hypothetical conversation right now...
"Okay, so we agree. Kazaa gets
"Umm, can't you do a little better?"
"Okay before we wipe the drive we'll do 20 wipes on their My Documents folder and media files so they can't recover them."
"I like, but its missing something..."
"It'll post their SSN and any personal info we find during install to a newsgroup too."
"And send a 'I quit letter' to their boss and a 'You were never a good mother' email to their mom?"
"Deal. No one reads these EULAs anyway."
KaZaA: Now Distributing All the Porn and Warez the World has to Offer for Only $19.95 a month!
And, if you order now, we'll also include a free 5-warez trial of UniversalKeygen v1.0!
This offer is not available in stores! However, the first 50 callers will receive a free plastic keyboard cover, mouse cover and even a monitor cover! NO MORE CLEANING UP THAT MESS AFTER VIEWING THAT FAKE BRITNEY SPEARS HARDCORE ACTION FLICK!
Just call 888.PIE.RACY
Trent Polack
www.polycat.net
I mean this most kindly, but in regards to what television is all about, I think you're missing the point.
The consumers are the little pigs that love to eat. And having "prime time" television and "late night" television et. al. you can easily seperate the little piggies into little groups. Young little pigs watch shows early on saturday morning. Sell advertising to some sugar-pumping cereal company. Middle age and older male piggies stay up later, and you can sell advertising space during late night shows for Trojan Condoms and Ford Pick-Up Trucks. Of course, lonely/unemployed/gold-digger pigglets watch soap operas during the weedkay, so you sell advertising space to Tampax and Slim Fast. Drink up little pigglets!
Throw a TiVo into the mix, and all the little pigs mix, and you don't know who is doing what and when! And the farm makes much less money.