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Mercora - New Radio P2P Network

Posted by Hemos on from the excellent-ideas dept.

jtids writes "The maker of P2P Client, Shareaza, is working on a new Radio P2P project called Mercora. This network gives users the ability legally webcast music to other users on the network. Users can also share images, send instant messages, and join groups where they can participate in forums and chatrooms. Although the program itself is still in beta, the project looks promising."

13 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. To Trade by thebra · · Score: 4, Informative

    Mercora, a derivation of a Latin word meaning "to trade" and is run by Chief Executive Srivats Sampath, former CEO of McAfee.com

    Wired ran an article on this last year here.

  2. No linux client by barcodez · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you are running linux, bsd, mac or anything but windows you're out of luck there is only a windows client. I don't care enough to get this working under wine.

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  3. legally? by fozzmeister · · Score: 5, Insightful

    doesn't that depend on what you broadcast?

    1. Re:legally? by Frequanaut · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not only on *what* you broadcast, but also *when* you broadcast.
      From the legal disclaimer: You may not "Webcast specific sound recordings within one hour of the request by a listener or at a time designated by the listener"

  4. What about royalties? by roche · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I thought it was ruled a year or so back that all webcasts have to pay royalties to the artists if they boradcast the music over the net. How can this be legal if that is still the case?

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    roche
    Bah Humbug!
    1. Re:What about royalties? by eSims · · Score: 5, Informative
      From the FAQ:

      Is broadcasting music on the Mercora network legal? Yes. Mercora has obtained the necessary licenses so that you can broadcast music on the Mercora Network legally.

      Specifically, Mercora enables the webcasting of music according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 114 (required Adobe Acrobat to read). Mercora has obtained the statutory license for the non-interactive streaming of sound recordings from Sound Exchange, the organization designated by the U.S. Copyright Office to collect and distribute statutory royalties to sound recording copyright owners and featured and non featured artists. Mercora has also taken care of all U.S. musical composition performance royalties through its licenses with ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. Most song writers are represented by these agencies but there are some who are not affiliated with them, and you will need to obtain their permission before you can webcast their music. Mercora also ensures that any broadcast using the Mercora client adheres to the sound recording performance complement as specified in the DMCA. Read more about broadcasting on the Mercora Network.

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      I .sig therefore I am!
  5. Legal ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful


    legality is based on country of origin and content broadcasted, not the technology

  6. A quick question by GillBates0 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Why is it that webcasts/streaming MP3s are legal, when (as far as I know) none of the private "radio" stations listed on Shoutcast etc have licenses to broadcast? Are they (RIAA etc) banking on the client software to not allow stream ripping?

    I remember that webcast sites (in essence indexes to internet radio stations) were attacked by the BIG R sometime back...anybody have an update on that?

    It seems streaming MP3/RealAudio(lower quality ofcourse) would be the next way to share music, what with Kazaa etal becoming extinct. Ofcourse, Bittorrent, and these webcast stations have the same problem - they need to have an index page to publicize the tracker/links.

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    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  7. P2P Webcasting? by lharmon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sounds like Konspire2b, but not open source, and only for windows.

    Besides, the guy who wrote konspire is also the guy who wrote MUTE, so I think he knows a thing or two about P2P.

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    From the Gentoo desktop of Luke Harman
  8. Excellent by thedillybar · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I listen to music (usually with Shoutcast) at work everyday. Some of the best stations I have found are often small and full during the day. I've always thought it would be nice if I could lend some extra bandwidth to keep the station going. The station itself should only stream to users who will re-broadcast the stream. And whoever will rebroadcast using the most bandwidth has the highest priority. If you can't rebroadcast, you simply end up somewhere farther down the food chain, but in the end more people get to listen.

    It seems like warez channels have been doing this forever. Once someone gets something, it spends a few days getting passed around all the high-bandwidth providers before it goes to the "public."

    I'm glad to see more legal, but free (as in beer) music available. But how long before someone writes a "MyTunes" (or something similar) that allows you to download music (illegally, I'd imagine), off of this service?

  9. Rules of Webcasting...it's basically useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The website gives you the impression that you can webcast the files you have to your friends. However, the restrictions on this (to be legal) make it basically useless to how the majority of people would use this anyway. Read below for the restrictions:

    You are not allowed to do any of the following things:

    * Publish advance program guides or use other means to pre-announce when particular sound recordings will be streamed or the order in which they will be streamed (this is because we are a non-interactive webcasting service)
    * Webcast specific sound recordings within one hour of the request by a listener or at a time designated by the listener
    * Webcast audio content for which you do not have the legitimate legal rights for use (music you have ripped from CDs that you own or music you have downloaded from a legitimate online music store like Apple iTunes is considered legitimate, music downloaded using file-sharing programs like KaZaA are not legitimate)

  10. Like Peercast by iantri · · Score: 5, Informative
    This sounds something like PeerCast.. is that true?

    I've tried PeerCast before -- neat idea, but it simply isn't practical -- not many people have enough bandwidth to relay a 128kbps stream realiably, and every time I tried it I got nothing but stuttering and skipping.

  11. How is this different from PeerCast? by Kaimelar · · Score: 4, Informative
    The maker of P2P Client, Shareaza, is working on a new Radio P2P project called Mercora. This network gives users the ability legally webcast music to other users on the network.

    How is this different from PeerCast? I glanced at the Web site, and didn't see anything that was revolutionary -- looks like PeerCast combined with IRC to me.

    Though, perhaps they have fixed the problems PeerCast seems to have with bandwidth -- I've used it off and on, but it seems to always suffer from lag. Perhaps that would go away if there were more users, or perhaps it's just inherent in the design of the network -- I've never bothered to look at the technical details.

    Anyway, I think the more exposure Webcasting has, the better. More variety, smaller players that can appeal to niche audiences, and lack of corporate interests playing to the lowest common denominator for the highest advertising profits are all advantages Webcasting has over traditional, ClearChannel-dominated radio. At the moment, at least. :-)