kazaa posts

Kazaa to launch a (legit) subscription-based music service

by Brad Linder Jul 20th 2009

Napster did it. Limewire did it. Now word on the street is that former den of pirates, Kazaa is returning from the dead as a subscription-based music service, complete with music from 4 of the 5 major music labels.

The service will set you back $20/month for access to over a million songs. Tracks will be available in Windows Media Audio format, with some DRM restrictions. For instance, you'll only be able to transfer tracks to a total of 5 devices.

Compare that to Napster's recently relaunched service that offers unlimited music streaming for $5/month, plus 5 DRM-free downloads a month. Sure, you could make the case that you actually get to keep your music if you sign up for Kazaa's new service. But the thing about DRM is you never really know what you can and can't keep.

TorrentFreak reports that the new Kazaa is pretty much related to the old P2P application in name only. The brand name has actually been taken over by a new company called Brilliant Digital Entertainment.

The service will only be open to users in the US at launch.

Tags: kazaa, music

Filed under: Business, P2P

$220,000 Jammie Saga: fined P2P user may appeal

by Ted Wallingford Oct 9th 2007

When we first heard about the RIAA's recent filesharing suit victory and the 220k dollar judgment against the user in question -- we thought, "You'd have to be mad to share enough songs to rack up a judgment that large."

Not so fast, jack. The offending copyright infringements totaled just 24--that's right, twenty-four copyright protected files on the user's drive. Breaking down to nearly 10 large per infringement; the defendant Jammie Thomas was hit square in the face with the book the court threw, wiping out her finances and sending her out of the courthouse literally in tears.

As an aside, we're left to wonder if the artists infringed upon could have generated the kind of revenue which would make such an enormous judgment possible if it weren't for the enthusiasm demonstrated by fans like Jammie. After all, a business needs its customers and, like it or not, rabid filesharers are also some of music's biggest fans, and the recording industry's bread and butter.

Nevertheless, Jammie, a MySpace user, has apparently raised nearly a thousand bucks to fund her appeal of the case, courtesy of her MySpace friends. She's also receiving funds from her Native American tribe, but not nearly enough to match the might of the RIAA, whose pockets have grown deep through record sales and insanely lopsided settlement agreements.

Declan McCullough of CNET wrote that the jury instructions given before deliberation may have been slanted in favor of a heavy statutory damage claim, as high as a hundred grand per incident. Is it just us, or does this kind of onesie-twosie infringement seem like it should be covered by a different set of fines? You can get a DUI with children in the car and still get off cheaper than Jammie Thomas did.

Tags: jammie thomas, JammieThomas, kazaa, law, music, p2p, riaa

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Macintosh, Beta

Joost signs up 1 million users

by Brad Linder Jul 25th 2007

Joost co-founder Niklas Zennström says more than a million people have signed up to beta test Joost. The service from the makers of Skype and Kazaa is still invitation only, but a few months ago Joost removed restrictions on how many invitations users could send out.

Of course, having 1 million registered users doesn't mean there are that many people using the P2P video application on a daily basis. Shortly after the company launched its unlimited invitation phase, Joost's servers were hammered by increased traffic, a problem that has since been fixed.

But it'll be interesting to see what happens when the service launches publicly. Zennström says that could happen by the end of the year.

Tags: joost, kazaa, online video, OnlineVideo, skype

Filed under: Internet, Video, P2P

Joost still in closed beta, but announces unlimited invites

by Brad Linder May 1st 2007

Internet video platform Joost is inching closer to a public launch. Last week the Joost announced partnerships with 32 advertisers. Today the company announced that it is allowing current users to send an unlimited number of Joost invitations to their friends.

This is sort of the Gmail version of a public beta. You can't just sign up through the Joost homepage yet, but it shouldn't be too hard to track down an invitation if you want one. Up until now, each user got a limited number of invites to distribute.

You'll need to download the latest version of Joost, which is 0.9.4. As of about noon, unlimited invites still don't seem to be available, but expect an update later today.

Tags: internet tv, InternetTv, joost, kazaa, skype

Filed under: Video, Windows, Macintosh

A peek inside Joost

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Apr 6th 2007

So what's all this hullabaloo about Joost anyway? If you aren't lucky enough to score one of the invites we're giving away, take a peep inside Joost with our handy video. If you're impatient, skip ahead about a minute, because Joost on a Mac takes a wee bit to shake the cobwebs off.

Click To Play

Tags: internet video, InternetVideo, joost, jost, kazaa, skype, viacom, video player, VideoPlayer, warner music, WarnerMusic

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Macintosh

Joost beta is available for Mac

by Brad Linder Feb 17th 2007

Two major updates from Joost, the online TV project formerly known as The Venice Project and created by the makers of Skype and KaZaa. First and foremost, there's a Mac client available. It looks and works exactly like the PC client. For now, it only works on Intel based Macs.

And second, Joost has issued an update that improves video quality, as well as adding new video content. One of the main complaints from early reviews of Joost was the lack of videos worth watching. Now you can get:

National Geographic Documentaries
Content from the Indy Racing League
Classic cartoons including Rocky and Bullwinkle
Independent films from IndieFlix
Reality TV programs including Bridezillas
Comedy, video game tips and reviews, healthy living programs, and Bollywood music videos

Still not exactly major news at a time when companies like Wal-Mart are announcing deals to deliver video downloads from all six major movie studios, but it's a start. You still need to apply for a beta tester account or get an invite in order to use Joost.

[via WebTVWire]

Tags: joost, kazaa, skype

Filed under: News, P2P, Social Software

Morpheus p2p network loses in court

by Ryan Carter Sep 30th 2006

Another one bites the dust folks, well not yet. Morpheus, the p2p file sharing network owned by StreamCast, lost its case in court. The network, like many others is now in danger of being shut down because of copyright infringement charges. LimeWire was similarly sued by the RIAA in August, as well as Grokster, Napster, Kazaa, and many others. Some of these networks have been shut-down, had to shut-down, or have regrouped and come back reborn like Napster. Morpheus still holds out hope for some sort of appeal to work in their favor, but at this point the prospects don't look too good, at least from my small corner of the great and powerful blogosphere. Where Morpheus ends up remains to be seen, and despite their court loss, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel at least for consumers, with a few studios and companies starting to see that DRM-less music may be the way to boost sales.

Tags: court, downloading, file-sharing, Kazaa, LimeWire, Morpheus, music, p2p, RIAA

Filed under: Audio, Internet

Music downloads cost Oregon man $4080

by Ryan Carter Aug 9th 2006

Leslie Maxfield had no idea that downloading music was illegal. He has been called a "music pirate" and a "songlifter" by the RIAA. Of course Leslie and his family meant to steal from the RIAA, just like everyone who has been sued so far. I'm sorry, but this sort of thing really gets under my skin. There really is no way to distinguish legitimate and illegitimate sites, especially for someone who doesn't work in the computer industry. The other issue that I see here, at that our readers have commented on, is the fact that there is no way for people to do the right thing versus the wrong thing because the two aren't so clearly labeled. The RIAA goes after people, not to be sure the artists get their fair share, but to protect only their profits, without providing a way for the music fans to download music legally. Sure we have iTunes today, but the RIAA had nothing to do with the creation of iTunes, or other music stores. It was forward thinking companies like Apple who gave people an option in the first place. Many people think Limewire, Kazaa, and others are just new services that let you download music. There is obviously not an answer to this dilemma that supports fair-use and doesn't let people infringe. Someday we will find a solution to this problem, though I fear it won't be very soon.

[Via SeattlePI]

Tags: downloads, filesharing, kazaa, music

Filed under: Business, Design, Internet, Utilities, Web services, Social Software

The Venice Project

by Chris Gilmer Jul 24th 2006

The creators of the infamous Kazaa, and the now eBay-owned Skype, comes a new product that is sure to turn the industry up into a tizzy.

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis are at it again, this time developing a new communications software venture aimed at TV. The product, code named "The Venice Project" is a means of distributing video over the internet. The pair has supposedly amassed a team of developers from around the world to work on this life changing software application. And life changing it should be, given the giant impact both Kazaa and Skype have had on the world.

It should be interesting to see how "The Venice Project" does in this hungry field. They do have a ton of investment capital to fund this in order to make it to the top. YouTube has this market in their palms already. However Google, along with Video Egg, Brightcove, and Bittorrent are close behind.

Tags: file sharing, FileSharing, google, kazaa, skype, the venice project, TheVeniceProject, video, video sharing, VideoSharing, you tube, YouTube

Filed under: Internet

2005's file-sharing winners and losers

by Jordan Running Dec 26th 2005

Slyck News has put together a list of their picks for the biggest winners and losers in file-sharing for 2005. File sharing's winners? BitTorrent, Apple, LimeWire, The Pirate Bay, and open source. The losers? Sony-BMG, Kazaa owners Sharman Networks, Grokster, pay P2P, and, of course, perennial loser the RIAA. I'd personally add to the winners list Fiona Apple, whose new album, which is being acclaimed as one of the year's best, would never have seen a release this year without the attention its P2P leak garnered.

Tags: 2005, apple, bittorrent, file sharing, fiona apple, FionaApple, grokster, kazaa, limewire, list, p2p, piracy, riaa, rootkit, sharman, sony, the pirate bay, ThePirateBay

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