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Skypecasting - P2P File Sharing

Posted by Zonk on from the hello-can-you-hear-my-warez? dept.

shashark writes "Technologically savvy users are merging these technologies to "Skypecast", using Skype's service to distribute recordings across the internet for free. This allows expert users to run their own mini-radio stations, which can be accessed by any Skype user. Skype does not actively support these uses, but encourages its users to find new applications for their service. Other possibilities discussed by Skypecasters at Unbound Spiral or Moodle are to turn an MP3 player into a radio station for any of Skype's 29 million registered users to dial up using their Skype line. Instructions also are available on how to record a personal soap opera and use Skype to distribute it en masse. Even more ominously, some Skypecasters record Skype calls and post them on the Internet."

24 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. RIAA? by Bananatree3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I sure hope the RIAA doesn't ask the Federal Govnerment for wiretapping rights to see if VoIP calls are really U2 songs. [shivvers in corner]

  2. Bad Link by fwice · · Score: 5, Informative

    That link should be .html, not .htm


    click

  3. Blame Game. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    " Even more ominously, some Skypecasters record Skype calls and post them on the Internet.""

    Remember: Blame the users, not the technology.

  4. Wiretapping by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Even more ominously, some Skypecasters record Skype calls and post them on the Internet.

    Wonder if the various wiretapping rules will eventually come into play. And if not, why not?

  5. Slashapple by lordsilence · · Score: 4, Funny

    Bringing you a friendly message from the Apple-zealot: In the name of the great Apple. We were first, and it's called PodCasting. Not mp3-streaming, internet-radio, skypecasting or anyother non apple-related term.

    1. Re:Slashapple by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Funny
      Not mp3-streaming, internet-radio, skypecasting or anyother non apple-related term.
      Settle down, they're just HypeCasting.
      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  6. RIAA and the options left -- by shashark · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Skype calls are encrypted end-end. Even if RIAA gets the wiretapping rights to see if VoIP calls are really U2 songs, it'll be hard for them to snoop in. And skype is just a beginning.
    With ever increasing options of sharing digital media, RIAA really has only two options left-
    * Get the govt to ban *any* kind of peer-peer activity. Might be a possibilty, esp given those money bags involved. Don't underestimate your govt. yet.
    * Embrace the change. Move out of media-brokerage business and let the artists provide their creations on whatever media they choose. Change Happens.
    --
    All your music are belong to us.

    1. Re:RIAA and the options left -- by acb · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There is a lot of pressure to "update" the IPv6 specification to establish a stratified internet of servers (which could be licensed and regulated) and clients (which would have low upstream bandwidth and be unable to act as servers), in the interest of protecting the content industry's business models.

    2. Re:RIAA and the options left -- by latroM · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Skype calls are encrypted end-end. Even if RIAA gets the wiretapping rights to see if VoIP calls are really U2 songs, it'll be hard for them to snoop in. And skype is just a beginning.

      It's not Free software, how do you know? The intelligence agencies probably have their own back doors built in. I wish that skype will die and that it will be replaced by some open and free standard. Like the gnomemeeting guys said, skype is hype

    3. Re:RIAA and the options left -- by arodland · · Score: 4, Interesting

      No, some people (who, by the way, work for Skype) told you that Skype conversations are encrypted end-to-end. But because the source isn't available, and the Skype developers believe that obscurity is the best security, you have no way of knowing that. For all anyone knows, it could be that there's no real encryption at all, but that the data is just whitened by a PRNG so it looks encrypted. It could be that there is real crypto going on, but the key-exchange is boobytrapped so that Skype and/or the appropriate TLAs have snooping power. It could be that any one of a number of flaws makes what was intended to be an effective algorithm vulnerable. We don't know any of these things, but the fact that the people who wrote the encryption software in the first place don't trust it to remain unbroken in the face of public scrutiny means that you shouldn't trust it either.

  7. bitrate? by radarsat1 · · Score: 3, Informative

    i don't use skype so i don't know... but i assume, it being a telephone-oriented service, that it has a hard-limited bitrate?

    usually telephone conversations only need 8 KHz recordings, in mono. If converted to mp3, this would result in FAR inferior-sounding recordings for music than CD-quality.

    but, like i said, maybe this is not a limit.. i don't really know.

    in any case, why do people always have to take a decent service and twist it into something the authorities will find "questionable"? It's like they are trying to help discourage VOIP or something by exposing its potential for misuse. Use it for what it was intended -- telephone conversations -- and no one will care. I imagine the current P2P technologies are better adapted for spreading music anyways.. but i guess the rule is, if there's a crack, someone will always fill it. humans are weird.

  8. I call bullshit by Sanity · · Score: 5, Insightful
    What is the point of this? Skype's codec is optomised for voice, not audio. There are perfectly good open source tools like Icecast which have been around for years and which work with codecs designed for music. I also doubt Skype will scale up to be able to support more than a small number of listeners at a time.

    This sounds like some marketing droid at Skype trying to invent a phenomenon by pretending that it already exists.

    1. Re:I call bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      "There are perfectly good open source tools like Icecast which have been around for years and which work with codecs designed for music."

      Maybe the average user does not know anything about Icecast? Maybe they'd find it hard to use (I don't know, I have to admit I've never tried Icecast myself, though I do use Skype). But yeah, the quality would worry me, too. Still an interesting thing.

      "I also doubt Skype will scale up to be able to support more than a small number of listeners at a time."

      Could be. But the arcticle says this: "Skype's peer-to-peer infrastructure--similar in construct to Kazaa, Morpheus and other file-swapping programs--makes it well-suited for turning Net phones into a broadcasting system".

      So, maybe the infrastructure is smart enough to handle multiple simultaneus users (because Skype supports conference calls, for example)? Does anyone have more information about this?

  9. They already have wiretapping rights by John+Seminal · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I sure hope the RIAA doesn't ask the Federal Govnerment for wiretapping rights to see if VoIP calls are really U2 songs.

    Didn't the government already rule that wiretapping applies to internet communications?

    And having a phone would only stregnthen that argument for requiring ISP companies to have technology which allows for wiretaps.

    But I don't see how VoIP will help P2P, it is just between 2 people, not like Napster was, or BitTorrent where one person shares, and anyone can d/l.

    --

    Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."

    1. Re:They already have wiretapping rights by jonbryce · · Score: 3, Interesting

      VOIP will help P2P because VOIP programs such as Skype support conference calls.

      You have a conference call where everyone listens into some song being played and they make their own recording of it.

  10. Its simple by Sanity · · Score: 5, Funny
    What advantage does this provide over running something like a Shoutcast station?
    The advantage is that this has "Skype" in the name, which is great if you happen to work in Skype's marketing department.
  11. This just in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Humans come equipped with aural input devices, called ears. These devices are NOT protected against copyright infringement activities! Looks like we need to get into the brain and change the bios around a bit to fix that.....

  12. Spypimps by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why did shashark ebmed the links to Unbound Spiral and Moodle (defanged here) in dw.com.com SPYWARE links? Is this the sleaziest submission scam yet, which actually forces us to install spyware to follow a frontpage Slashdot link? Are all those jokes about soulsucking NYT registrations really true about shashark? This should be the abuse that finally forces Slashdot editors to check the links on submissions.

    "dw.com.com is advertising-oriented spyware (adware) that downloads and displays new advertisements in a popup window while a user is browsing the Web. dw.com.com is difficult to remove, as it does not provide an uninstaller."

    --

    --
    make install -not war

    1. Re:Spypimps by shashark · · Score: 4, Informative

      My mistake. I copied the links 'as is' from here

      http://news.com.com/VoIP+calls+get+podcast+treatme nt/2100-7352_3-5645776. (Read last paragraphs)

  13. Re:redirects? by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Informative

    dw.com.com is SPYWARE.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  14. Re:redirects? by Evan+Meakyl · · Score: 4, Informative

    MOD THE PARENTS UP!

    The correct links are:
    Ubund Spirals:
    http://www.henshall.com/blog/archives/001056.html
    Moddle:
    http://moodle.org/login/index.php

  15. -1, Completely uninformed by Sanity · · Score: 3, Interesting
    But skype is p2p, so that instead of you streaming directly to your audience, listeners may stream from you AND some other listeners, obviously minimizing the bandwidth required of the originator.
    I know how Skype works, and it does not do this. It may be P2P in the way that it finds when users are online, but conference calls are one-to-many, just like Icecast. This is why, last time I checked, Skype must limit conference calls to at most 4 participants.

    PeerCast does try to do what you describe, but last time I checked it didn't do a very good job of it.

  16. Legal status of internet radio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does anyone know how legitimate internet radio in North America really is?

    Radio stations pay a fee to broadcast music. The companies that broadcast the music you hear in stores pay the same fee. Churches pay a fee so that people can play and sing music. What makes internet radio different? There is an established system where you must pay to broadcast other people's music in public.

    I'll probably get modded as a troll but it is a serious question.

  17. Good Call by wirefarm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The point of this is that someone wanted to use the word "Skypecast".

    Look at the the "bullet points" from the article:

    >>A growing number of people are sharing the digital music on MP3 players and other music devices using freely available software and Skype, a free Internet phone service.
    How are mp3 players part of this? Sure, you could rip the stream from skype, tag it and save it, then transfer it to your iPod, but it would be a pain and sound pretty bad.

    The enthusiasts are borrowing heavily from another personal broadcasting phenomenon called podcasting, in which digital recordings are posted on a Web site for download to a variety of music players, including desktop PCs and portable gadgets like Apple Computer's wildly popular iPod.
    They're borrowing more heavily from kids who used to play songs for each other over the telephone, with similar results.

    "Skypecasters," as they call themselves, use Skype's peer-to-peer telephone network to distribute recordings over the Internet directly to each other for free. ...In a way that has little to do with any of the advantages of modern peer to peer distribution, as Skype uses P2P merely for point to point, one to few transport.

    This is a case of someone tossing around buzzwords without understanding the technology, in an "iPods! P2P! Skype! Isn't it all just so neat!" kind of way.

    I give it a week before some bonehead is yammering on about how "BlueCasting" is all the rage.

    --
    -- My Weblog.