August 31, 2009
Volume XXVII, Issue 9
GGF Shareholders Approve Pirate Bay Acquisition
Excerpted from PC World Report by Mikael Ricknas
Global Gaming Factory (GGF) shareholders voted to acquire file-sharing site The Pirate Bay (TPB) at a meeting in Stockholm on Thursday.
That a majority of the stockholders in GGF gave the acquisition its blessing shouldn't come as a surprise since GGF CEO Hans Pandeya and his family control a majority of the shares.
But several questions need to be answered before the new version of TPB promised by Pandeya - one that will compensate copyright owners - comes online.
The big issue is whether GGF will be able to put up the $7.8 million the company has agreed to pay for TPB. Trading in GGF shares has been suspended since August 21st because AktieTorget, the stock exchange where GGF is listed, had not received sufficient information about the funding of the TPB acquisition.
AktieTorget's disciplinary committee will take a closer look at GGF, and advise the stock exchange on whether the company should continue to be listed. Trading will not resume until the board has made a decision based on the committee's advice.
However, according to Pandeya, the funding to secure the deal is in place, even though a number of investors have left the venture because of recent turbulence in the media.
There is also the question of what will happen to GGF's planned acquisition of software technology company Peerialism, whose peer-to-peer (P2P) technology it plans to use in the new TPB infrastructure.
Copyright owners are also taking a wait-and-see approach to GGF's plan for a legal version of TPB.
"I'll believe it when I see it," said Cato Strom, CEO at Tono, an organization that represents composers, lyricists, and music publishers in Norway. It is also fronting a lawsuit to get Norwegian ISP Telenor to block access to TPB.
Incoming CEO's Manifesto for New Pirate Bay
Excerpted from Wired News Report by David Kravets
Hans Pandeya, the Global Gaming Factory (GGF) chief executive whose shareholders approved GGF's purchase of The Pirate Bay (TPB) on Thursday, has written a manifesto of sorts concerning file sharing, morality, and the rule of law.
The five-page paper, Thoughts about The Pirate Bay, amounts to a veiled invitation to the entertainment industry to license its material to the Swedish site that, for the past five years, has been offering free copyrighted content to tens of millions of file sharers.
He concludes, however, that file sharers of unauthorized copyrighted works are not morally weak. They just need the new TPB to show them how to pay:
"The view that unauthorized file sharing is free because our morals are low and a stick is needed to keep us on the right side of the law is generally accepted: measures have to be taken to force us on the right track and threats must be issued; we need to be watched because our nature is to steal.
The thought never seems to have occurred to us that we love TPB and file sharing, not because it is free but because it is all there - music, movies, TV shows, e-books, you name it - it gives us the freedom to access whatever we want. We would pay if someone could just show us how to pay on TPB."
Vuze HD Network Adds Playback on TiVo & PSP
Excerpted from Zeropaid Report
The Vuze BitTorrent client lets you drag-and-drop content from your Vuze Library or desktop for playback on a number of devices. Now it's added TiVos and PSPs to the list of options.
The way it works is that devices simply appear in the Vuze sidebar when they're available. All you have to do is drag-and-drop to the device of your choice, and Vuze auto-detects whether or not the video format is compatible with device you select, converts the file if necessary, and makes it available for playback.
All you have to do is sit-back and play your HD content. "Our goal is simple: empower you to watch your content on any screen you want," reads a post on the Vuze blog.
Adding TiVo makes for an interesting new option and pushes Vuze even further into the living room.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 In addition to the injustice of US penalties for infringing music being much higher than for serious crimes against persons and property, the DCIA also supports concerns raised this week by UK Internet service providers (ISPs), public interest groups, and trade organizations over new threats to force broadband ISPs to "cut-off" people suspected of involvement with unauthorized file sharing.
This latest scare tactic, which came as a result of intensive entertainment industry lobbying of UK Member of Parliament (MP) Peter Mandelson, showed no evidence of consideration of its unintended consequences.
Not every file-sharing program user should be automatically judged guilty of infringing entertainment content. Many people use such software to legitimately distribute large program files or documents to which they own the rights.
And at long last, some P2P services are being licensed by entertainment rights-holders.
However, if an ISP were forced to do the entertainment industry's bidding as threatened, it would have to engage in detailed surveillance of every data packet flowing across its network - a very likely privacy violation.
And not only would unjustifiable technical and financial burdens be placed on ISPs being coerced to act as security officers for the entertainment industry, but broadband network operators would also face new legal liabilities for terminating people's Internet access on questionable grounds.
Innocent people, who may share Internet access with alleged offenders, would lose their access at the same time.
And, finally, what would stop the most persistent offenders, who are expert at hiding their identities online, from simply signing up with a different ISP?
Earlier government proposals had centered on UK media regulator Ofcom ascertaining technical measures needed for implementation of a measured approach by 2012, a much more realistic plan given the technological, consumer, legal, and political issues surrounding this problem, a commercial solution for which the DCIA very strongly advocates.
Leading ISP TalkTalk said, "We're dismayed by the u-turn on unauthorized file sharing announced this week by Lord Mandelson. Barely two months after the publication, in the Digital Britain Report, of largely sensible and pragmatic measures to tackle the problem, Lord Mandelson has it seems caved in under pressure from powerful lobbyists in the entertainment industry.
TalkTalk broadly supported proposals outlined in the Digital Britain Report to address unauthorized file sharing through education, letters to alleged offenders, and court-based action against serious offenders.
Introducing measures such as disconnection at the instigation of the Secretary of State will sidestep proper scrutiny, likely breach fundamental human rights, and result in innocent people being disconnected or, worse, prosecuted. What's more, they will not work.
Disconnecting alleged offenders will be futile given that it is relatively easy for determined file sharers to mask their identity or their activity to avoid detection. The evidence that is used to identify offenders is unreliable due to the prevalence of multi-users per account and WiFi-hacking, and so will result in innocent customers being cut-off from broadband.
We also believe that these measures will breach fundamental human rights to privacy, data protection, and basic freedoms from intrusion and monitoring. If disconnection is carried out in an extra-judicial way, alleged offenders will be denied basic legal rights such as right-of-appeal and the ability to see and interrogate the evidence. This is a view shared by consumer groups.
TalkTalk will strongly resist any attempts to introduce laws that would put obligations on ISPs to act as 'Internet police' and implement technical measures against our consumers."
Virgin Media added, "Persuasion not coercion is the key to changing consumer behavior; and a heavy-handed, punitive regime will simply alienate mainstream consumers. The government should be ensuring a balance of action against repeat infringers and the rapid development of new legitimate services that provide a compelling alternative to unauthorized file sharing."
And BT noted, "We were broadly supportive of the original plans, but these changes run the risk of penalizing customers unfairly. We believe the entertainment industry needs to play a larger role in tackling copyright infringement and so we will be making our views known to the government."
The Open Rights Group said, "This is the wrong moment to go in this direction. Online music revenues are going up, unauthorized file sharing is going down. Instead of letting the market solve the problems, the government seems intent on heavy-handed intervention that could include disconnection and other account restrictions.
This would be in direct contravention of its own goal of universal broadband access, as well as a curtailment of people's freedom of expression. Yet again, we see knee-jerk reactions and policy swerves, this time in direct contravention of the government's own consultation guidelines.
Those guidelines are there for a reason: to make sure government policy is balanced and considered. We will be making a formal complaint."
Consumer Focus said, "Cutting people off the Internet for allegedly infringing copyright is disproportionate. And to do so without giving consumers the right to challenge the evidence against them undermines fundamental rights to a fair trial.
It would be unfair to enforce this law in an area where millions of consumers are not clear on what is allowed and what is not. Unless a better solution can be found, substantial elements of the population will be criminalized. Unauthorized file sharing should not be condoned but millions do it daily. The rise of this activity is a consequence of the entertainment industry's failure to deliver products that consumers want. The industry should get its own house in order rather than promote punitive measures like this.
The government originally proposed to tackle unauthorized file sharing by sending warning letters and taking court action before technical measures can be imposed. This approach would be fairer, more proportionate, and better respect consumer rights."
The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) said, "The ISPA is disappointed that the government has chosen to take action to amend an open consultation before most stakeholders have had an opportunity to comment on the original proposals."
Even government officials voiced opposition to Mandelson's attempted intimidation.
Tom Watson, the former Labor MP in charge of government Internet policy, declared that acquiescing to Mandelson would be a "mistake that panders to rights-holders who have failed to find new business models for the digital age" and "lead to accusations that the government has been captured by the big entertainment industry lobby."
As noted by Conservative MP John Whittingdale, with whom the DCIA generally concurs with regard to measures intended to address unauthorized file sharing, Mandelson may have gone too far with this new threat, which is engendering opposition strong enough to delay the bill until after the next general election in the UK.
Mandelson's threatened government intervention in file sharing seems to be a case of too much too late, especially since the problem is finally beginning to resolve itself with licensed P2P music services - such as Spotify - reducing the frequency of unauthorized file sharing.
According to the NPD Group, in 2008 for the first time licensed downloads surpassed unauthorized file sharing in the US. And just this week, Variety reported that there is new revenue growth for digital music coming from online games. Share wisely, and take care.
New Technology Key to Gaming Sector Upturn
Excerpted from Reuters Report by Christoph Steitz
Luring new audiences by moving away from traditional gaming consoles is more crucial than ever as the downturn curbs consumer spending in a sector once seen as recession-proof, analysts and executives said.
The videogames sector at first looked set to ride out the recession as people cut back on going out and sought cheaper entertainment at home. But sales this year have slumped in the important US market.
Gathering at Gamescom, Europe's largest videogames trade fair taking place in the German city of Cologne, the industry's bellwethers said they hoped plenty of non-traditional customers would be among the 200,000 visitors expected.
"In the current environment, it's really about getting those people to play that have not been previously attracted to gaming," Ed Barton, analyst at London-based media research company Screen Digest, said.
"Nintendo's DS handheld, for instance, is owned by more females than males in Europe as it offers more than the usual massacring armies of aliens."
Analysts say a strong second half of 2009 will help the industry, and Electronic Arts (EA) executive Jens Uwe Intat told Reuters before the fair that the world's biggest videogames publisher expected an improvement in Europe.
Alongside new releases in blockbuster franchises like "Need for Speed," EA will launch a new fitness game later this year for the revolutionary Nintendo Wii with its motion-sensing controller.
"Target groups of novel game consoles will never use a classic controller," said Pascal Schmidt, head of marketing for Nintendo in Germany.
In March, Nintendo said it had shipped more than 50 million Wiis, outselling Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360. It is the second time Nintendo has caused a major upset in the industry, after its novel handheld GameBoy in the 1980s.
In the wake of the Wii, Microsoft introduced new technology in June that allows users to control a console through gestures.
"Extended target groups are of significant importance. They will grow in relevance and are indispensable in the long term," Oliver Kaltner, Microsoft's head of entertainment for Germany, told Reuters.
However, fans of traditional joy-pad gaming should not despair, Screen Digest's Barton said.
"I wouldn't say that the big developers are trying to replace the classic console with these new interfaces. Rather, they're trying to make it more approachable for people who have not grown up with videogames," he said.
Maybe that's why the so-called "Retro Corner," featuring early classics such as "Space Invaders" is so popular at this year's Gamescom.
"I just love playing those old games and consoles," said visitor Alexander Herzog, 36. "It's just something the new cannot duplicate."
Spotify Now Making UMG More Money than iTunes
Excerpted from PaidContent Report by Robert Andrews
Unlikely as it may seem, since other ad-supported music services have been facing challenges lately, P2P music streaming service Spotify may actually be bringing record labels a big pay day - at least in its native Sweden.
"In five months from launch, Spotify became our largest digital source of income and passed by iTunes," said Per Sundin, Managing Director of Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's largest major label, in Sweden. "It's a fantastic development, explained by the fact that Spotify really has exploded."
Spotify's arrangements with royalty collectors are closely guarded, so it's difficult to say exactly how much it's paying out. But bear in mind that Sundin referred to Spotify's streamed P2P service, not the white-label affiliate music retailers like 7Digital that power its buy-to-own downloads.
If true, this begins to pose some problems for Apple, and begins to validate Spotify's business model - if it can pay out more money from ad income than iTunes does from a la carte sale prices, that would be a watershed.
But it would also be surprising - bit by the ad downturn and ongoing royalty costs, Last.fm has introduced radio subscriptions in some countries, YouTube has pulled premium music in the UK and Germany while balking at royalty costs, and We7, too, is experimenting with premium offerings on top of its free core service.
So we'll keep our eyes peeled for now. Spotify has been courting labels for other territories and hopes to roll out in the US in Q3 or Q4.
Apple Approves Spotify iPhone App
Excerpted from Wired News Report by Eliot Van Buskirk
Apple has approved the iPhone version of Spotify's white-hot P2P music streaming application, which will soon show up in many of the world's iTunes stores - but not yet in the United States, where the service isn't available in any way, shape, or form. As expected, the app will be only for Spotify's premium subscription service.
An Apple spokeswoman confirmed to Wired that the company had OK'd the app, but said it's up to Spotify to decide where it will be available; it's a safe bet that it will only appear in iTunes in countries where Spotify is licensed - currently Sweden, Norway, Finland, Britain, France, and Spain.
"The current status is it's been approved, and we hope to add it to the more than 65,000 programs in the app store very soon," said an Apple representative. "We've been in constant communication working with the developer and have already notified Spotify that it will be in the app store very soon."
The company is planning to roll out in the US before the end of the year, and the iPhone app could pave that way - if it convinces more people to upgrade to premium, which eliminates ads and, in the desktop application, offers a higher bit-rate. If Spotify starts bringing the labels more revenue because of the popularity of the mobile app, they would have an even stronger incentive to allow the company to set-up shop here
Spotify's app will allow subscribers to listen to playlists on their iPhones, search the service, edit playlists, and so on. Basically, it feels like having an iPod with 6 million or so songs on it - actually better, because Spotify lets you collaborate with friends on playlists, with changes made on either the desktop or mobile version quickly propagating across everyone's accounts.
It will be capable of playing back selected playlists without streaming the songs over WiFi or a wireless network, thanks to an offline caching mode that, for some, will obviate the need to purchase individual downloads.
The version of the app we tested last month didn't include "buy" links to iTunes, but did include an offline playback mode that can only make mobile carriers happier, because it keeps music streaming off their networks.
The Now Playing screen couldn't be much simpler.
On the desktop, Spotify functions as a P2P streaming app, with some traffic moving upstream over your connection to power other users' listening experiences. That architecture is not currently feasible on cellular networks, but Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek told us in July that he wasn't worried about that because the company also has the capability to stream from its central servers. As for the bandwidth costs associated with that, revenue from the app subscription fee more than covers those.
This app is crucial because it could encourage far more users to upgrade to the premium version. According to Ek, the big idea here is that once you create lots of playlists in the free desktop app, you'll pay to take those playlists with you.
For specifics on the Spotify iPhone app, please click here.
Thousands Join British Quest to Support File Sharing
Excerpted from Telegraph Report
Pirate Party UK, the political party that supports online file sharing, has seen more than 4,000 people join its Facebook page in the last few weeks.
The party, which registered with the Electoral Commission at the end of July, predicted it would soon be the biggest party on the social networking site, overtaking the BNP and Labor, which each has more than 6,000 members.
Pirate Party UK intends to be the British equivalent of the Swedish Pirate Party, which attracted 7.1% of that country's vote at the last European elections, securing a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) seat. The two parties are affiliated but legally separate.
Organizers believe they can capitalize on the popularity of file sharing among young people who would otherwise not bother to vote. More than 60% of people aged 14-to-24 have downloaded unauthorized tracks, according to a report by UK Music, an umbrella group representing Britain's music industry.
Andrew Robinson, leader of Pirate Party UK, told The Guardian, "With government plans, outlined in the Digital Britain report, to fine people who have shared even one file up to £50,000 and an estimated seven million file sharers in the UK, this is a very big issue indeed."
Since registering with the Electoral Commission, it has gained 450 paid-up members, according to Mr. Robinson. Membership rates are being kept low, with those aged 18-to-21 having to pay only £2.
It is also harnessing the power of Twitter to recruit.
Besides supporting online file sharing among private individuals, which it describes as "the modern equivalent of lending a book or a DVD to a friend," the group also wants to reduce the "excessive length of copyright protection," end "excessive surveillance by government and big businesses," and ensure "real freedom of speech."
Former German MP Joins Country's Pirate Party
Excerpted from Digital Media Wire Report by Mark Hefflinger
Herbert Rusche, a former member of the German Parliament and co-founder of that country's Green Party, has joined the Pirate Party, whose aim is to reinvent intellectual property (IP) and privacy laws for the digital age, TorrentFreak reported.
Germany's Pirate Party already has one seat in the country's parliament, after Jorg Tauss left the Social Democrats party to join the Pirate Party. The Swedish Pirate Party is already represented in the European Parliament.
Media Companies' Best Customers are File Sharers
Excerpted from AdAge Report by Mike Vorhaus
Historically, an easy way to stoke the ire of a major media executive was to start talking about the surge in online file sharing.
We do lots of research at Frank N. Magid Associates to take the pulse of various media channels for customers, and recently a P2P company, Vuze, hired us to find out how its users' media habits compare with those of the average Internet user.
When we did, we found that those media execs may not have cause for all the quaking.
While we conducted the study on behalf of a client, I assure you we used the same sound, time-tested methods we use for any of our in-house, proprietary research.
We compared a random set of Vuze users with a national sample of Internet users ages 18-to-44, and results revealed that users of P2P technology spend considerable money on traditional media and entertainment.
They are, in fact, important and valued customers of the traditional media companies.
Our survey shows that the P2P user attends 34% more movies in theaters, purchases 34% more DVDs, and rents 24% more movies than the average Internet user. The P2P user owns more HDTVs and is more likely to own a high-def DVD player, too.
It's clear that it's not just about free content. P2P users are important to the revenue model of traditional media and entertainment companies.
ISP-Friendly BitTorrent Tracker Doubles Download Speeds
Excerpted from TorrentFreak Report
Since it was first released by Bram Cohen in 2001, BitTorrent has been a revolutionary invention and to date it is by far the most effective way to transfer large files online.
Now the Swedish company Peerialism hopes to make BitTorrent future proof. It is currently working on the release of a new open source BitTorrent tracker based on the OpenTracker software currently in use at most of the larger public BitTorrent trackers.
Andreas Dahlstrom, the CTO and Founder of the company explained to TorrentFreak that the key to solving BitTorrent's main problems is to make the tracker location-aware, so that peers first try to share files with other peers that are closer to them.
"In standard BitTorrent, the tracker chooses a totally random number of peers for you. There are some good reasons for this since random actually gives some nice and robust network properties, but in many cases, this will force you to download from peers far away from you," Dahlstrom said.
"This has two effects: slower download speed and unnecessary network traffic for the ISPs. And many network operators use traffic shaping, causing even slower download speeds," he explained.
The solution to this problem according to Dahlstrom is to make the tracker select peers more intelligently, based on their geographical location. The initial tests of this new methodology are very promising, as they result in faster download speeds for BitTorrent users, and less traffic going outside the ISP's network.
"We have built P2P algorithms which actually map the entire Internet. We can use this to let a BitTorrent Tracker assign you to the peers closest to you. The effect for the downloader is 30-150% faster downloads and 20-50% less traffic for the ISPs," Dahlstrom told TorrentFreak.
This sounds like a classic win-win situation. If it's implemented by most of the leading BitTorrent trackers, ISPs will have less trouble handling BitTorrent traffic and thus less incentive to slow it down. On the other hand, BitTorrent users will see a boost in their download speeds.
There is a minor drawback to the plan though. The new trackers will use more CPU and memory, which means that more power is required than with the current setup. The people who run the trackers will have to invest in new hardware.
"We work hard together with Ergeist, the creator of the original OpenTracker software, to minimize the extra load," Dahlstrom said. "We do believe the extra resources are well spent compared to the improved download speeds and less ISP traffic."
If Peerialism can deliver what it is promising, its new tracker will be one of the most significant advancements to BitTorrent in years. Although it is not the first to come up with the idea of location based peer allocation, the solution it offers requires no changes to the existing BitTorrent clients.
In addition, Peerialism is already working together with the developer behind the most widely used BitTorrent tracker software currently in use by The Pirate Bay (TPB), OpenBitTorrent, and PublicBitTorrent trackers. Thus, they are as close to the fire as they can be.
The open source tracker, currently codenamed OpenTracker 2.0, is set to be released in September. If some of the larger trackers decide to use it, we might see a huge drop in global Internet traffic instantly, along with faster download speeds for most BitTorrent users.
RightsFlow Closes Round of Funding
Excerpted from Billboard Business News Report by Ed Christman
RightsFlow, a provider of mechanical licensing, accounting, and royalty payment services for companies that sell or distribute music worldwide, has completed a $1.5 million Series A financing round with Originate Ventures of Bethlehem, PA. The new funding will allow RightsFlow to more rapidly expand its worldwide data and licensing network as well as develop additional products and services.
"It is no secret that physical sales of music continue to trend downward while the array of devices and delivery methods for digital tracks continues to grow," said Originate Ventures Partner Eric Arnson.
"We see this as a real growth opportunity for RightsFlow. Regardless of the distribution method, music publishing and copyrights are still an integral part of the music being used or sold. RightsFlow has built a successful business addressing the issues of copyright compliance and royalty accounting."
RightsFlow, based in New York, NY provides services to over 1,500 clients including such marquee companies as iMeem, E1 Entertainment (US & Canada), Muzak, INgrooves, CD Baby, IODA, YouLicense, X5 Music Group, Zebralution, Liberation, Disc Makers, Deezer, Cooking Vinyl/Rocket Science, IRIS, Liberation, and Artspages.
The company was founded in October 2007 by Patrick Sullivan, who previously was VP of Licensing and Music Services for both The Orchard and its sister company eMusic; and Benjamin Cockerham; who was Director of Global Operations for the music services division of The Orchard.
BIGFlix Picks BuyDRM for Video Download Service
Excerpted from Conteninople Report by Ryan Lawler
Indian online video site BIGFlix has chosen to secure its video content with BuyDRM's digital rights management (DRM) platform.
BuyDRM's KeyOS Rights Management Platform is being used to enable content protection and download management for BIGFlix's paid download and streaming video services. The content protection piece allows customers to download and watch their films later, or they can start watching the film while it downloads in the background.
BIGFlix currently sells downloadable movies in Microsoft's Windows Media format, but that could soon change. BuyDRM CEO Christopher Levy says the company is analyzing other technologies, such as Microsoft Silverlight, that it could use to deliver videos.
BIGFlix, which is a subsidiary of Reliance Big Entertainment (the same group that is providing funding for Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios), hosts a wide range of new and classic Bollywood content, as well as Indian television and music videos.
The site has more than 1,500 video titles available in download-to-own and streaming video formats, and generates more than 10 million streams per month, according to the company.
GigaTribe Provides Secure File-Sharing Access to Schools
GigaTribe, the free community file-sharing software, this week announced its new back-to-school features.
In schools, videos are created in the classroom to train new teachers how to teach in real-life situations with real children. This material is very private, as school children would have to have their faces completely blacked-out if the videos were on a public network, costing schools a lot of time and money. Completely safe and encrypted, GigaTribe's private online network solves this problem by letting schools share classroom videos privately online with teachers.
Another back-to-school feature is the ability to share class documents - a great way to improve student interaction outside the classroom - as well as share course materials among teachers. Also, students can use GigaTribe to remotely access their computers while on campus, at the library, or other WiFi location to view and share study materials, videos, and photos with other students and friends online with GigaTribe's secure remote Internet access.
In addition, GigaTribe recently announced its new DivX video streaming feature, which students can use to instantly stream DivX videos online. With the new DivX feature, there's no waiting, so users can view videos while they are still being transferred, even if they are not completely downloaded yet. Entire personal video libraries can be remotely accessed through the GigaTribe secure "Private Area" without delay and watched when traveling or away from their home, dorm, or school, with only the need of a web browser.
"GigaTribe is clearly the best solution to share private files safely. It helps schools save precious time and money," said Alexis Leseigneur, GigaTribe CTO and Co-Founder. "GigaTribe is already must-have software for teachers and students alike, especially during the back-to-school period."
GigaTribe Ultimate is priced at $4.99 per month or $29.95 per year; GigaTribe Basic is available for free.
GigaTribe is community software used by more than 1 million people to share files privately over the Internet. GigaTribe's unique solution lets users share files directly from their hard drives, without having to copy their files onto someone else's server. This way, sharing files remains private, secure, and without a limit to the number or size of the files that users share.
Grooveshark 2.0: Simpler, Cleaner, Coming Soon
Excerpted from Digital Music News Report by Paul Resnikoff
Grooveshark is now launching a 2.0-level upgrade with a smoother and more intuitive interface. The underlying concept remains the same, and users can still experience lots of music - on-demand and totally free. But the enhancements include better song searching, easier content organization, and add-ons like background themes. The company offered a preview to Digital Music News on Monday.
The "new and improved" site is currently available only to VIPs, a nice nod to paying subscribers. The company did not say when a broader release will happen, though a smaller user group allows for better troubleshooting and monitoring within a more controlled setting. On that note, some functionality still seems spotty, including play-listing and e-mail-based song sharing. The VIP tier was recently launched as an ad-free alternative, though in actuality, existing ads are mostly non-intrusive.
So how does it feel? This is no Spotify, though the interface is much cleaner than its predecessor. In fairness, Grooveshark is a different offering, one that involves user-uploaded content, user-generated playlists, recommendations, and networking aspects. But even with that full deck, the newer interface is much simpler, more intuitive, and quite clean.
That means lots of well-organized songs lists, and easy, one-click song access. It also means quick access to song sorting, and easy tabs for accessing artists, songs, playlists, albums, and like-minded people. The name of the game is simplicity, and Grooveshark is definitely adhering to that principle.
On top of that, some extras are worth noting. At the bottom of the web-based window, users can see a string of recently-played songs, and those tracks can easily be saved into a playlist. Themes are a nice option, especially since they interfere little with the core experience.
And the social aspects? Because of the limited user group, this is a hard place to make friends. VIP-land is mostly a ghost town, perhaps a bad indicator of future premium demand.
Transmission 1.74 BitTorrent Client Released
Excerpted from The H Report
Transmission developers have announced the release of version 1.74 of their popular cross-platform BitTorrent P2P file-sharing client. The latest release of the powerful, yet lightweight, BitTorrent client includes several bug fixes and improvements.
Transmission 1.74 features better data recovery if the client or OS should crash, a newer snapshot of MiniUPnPc, and several Mac specific updates.
In addition to two bug fixes and updates to the queuing system, 64-bit compatibility has now been added to the Mac version of Transmission. A progress bar has been added to the web client to show the current seeding process and a bug has been fixed that would display a random message when verifying a torrent.
More details about the release can be found in the release notes. Transmission 1.74 is available to download for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. Transmission is dual-licensed under the MIT License and version 2 of the GNU Public License (GPLv2).
BitTorrent Tracking Site Mininova Considers Appeal
Excerpted from eWeek Report by Brian Prince
Mininova, an alternative to BitTorrent tracking site The Pirate Bay (TPB), lost a key legal battle when a Dutch court ruled that the Mininova site will face fines if it does not take action to remove links pointing to copyrighted material from its servers.
A civil court ordered Dutch website Mininova to remove all files on its servers that point to copyrighted works within three months or face fines. Mininova rivals TPB as an Internet BitTorrent indexing and tracking site, and like its competitor has been at the center of controversy over the distribution of copyrighted material.
Following a separate court order, ISP Black Internet cut service to TPB August 24th in the face of possible fines. However, two days later TPB found its way back online. Despite the controversy, the operators of TPB say they are not backing down.
"Even though large parts of Internet and many old and famous trackers have fallen or may fall into the grip of the IFPI and all the odious apparatus of MPAA rule, we shall not flag or fail," said a TPB blog post.
In a statement, Mininova founder Erik Dubbelboer said he was disappointed with the court's decision.
"We are obviously not satisfied with this ruling," Dubbelboer said. "The result of this ruling for Mininova is that we have to reevaluate our business operations. At this time, we cannot determine what this will actually entail or imply. We will have to examine the verdict thoroughly first. We are considering whether to appeal this judgment."
All European Roads Lead Back to Skype
Excerpted from Wall Street Journal Report by James Mawson
As eBay looks to offload Skype, the executives who sold the Internet telecom firm to eBay have formed the hub of a European network of investors and executives that they hope will rival and even exceed the one in Silicon Valley.
The sale of Skype to eBay for an estimated $3.3 billion in 2005 became renowned as one of Europe's great venture-capital successes, with more than half the sale price going to employees, according to estimates based on filings for the Securities and Exchange Commission and in Luxembourg. While those kinds of gains have been seen in Silicon Valley, they were practically unheard of in Europe, making Skype alumni stars among European tech entrepreneurs and giving them a cachet in the US that few Europeans could match.
In the years since, ex-Skype employees have invested in others' firms and alongside one another. It will take years to gauge whether these investments were wise, but the scale and speed of the investments has raised hopes that the Skype deal was the boost European venture capital sector needed.
The most prominent of the venture-capital firms is Atomico Ventures, set-up by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis and their first employee at Skype, Geoffrey Prentice. Atomico - based in London - grew out of their personal investments in new companies, known as angel investments.
It is now raising money from third parties and has so far raised more than $143 million, according to people familiar with the matter, already giving it the heft of peers such as Amadeus Capital Partners and Mangrove. Staff at Atomico declined to comment for this article owing to regulatory reasons as their fundraising was only half complete.
Europe's venture-capital firms have worked under the shadow of private-equity firms over the past decade. From World War II until the 1980s, Europe's banks and governments supplied most of the Continent's venture investing. Private-equity firms 3i Group PLC and Charterhouse Capital Partners both began as government-backed venture firms.
In the 1980s, changes in taxes and regulations encouraged the formation in Europe of classic venture-capital funds, limited liability partnerships with a 10-year time horizon for their investment.
The European venture-capital peaked with the dot-com bubble, and then burst with it. A lot of established venture-capital firms - including 3i, Apax Partners, and Kennet Partners - stopped focusing on small companies. Instead they focused on more-developed businesses and on leveraged buyouts, where returns to investors have been better in Europe and economies of scale for the asset manager can be more easily found.
Until relatively recently, venture-capital-backed European firms have lacked the kind of scale in their home market that their peers enjoy in the US. They have also struggled to export technology and make connections with overseas investors as many Israeli businesses have done.
"Entrepreneurs now have operating experience and the capital to put back into the ecosystem to fund the next generation of start-ups," said Saul Klein, who joined Index after being Global Vice President of Marketing and e-Commerce for Skype. "In Silicon Valley and Israel, these cycles and generations have been built, but in Europe the scene is maturing and just needed time."
Atomico has formed links with former Skype employees as they land at fledgling tech companies and established venture-capital firms - including Index Ventures, based in Switzerland and London and Mangrove Capital Partners, based in Luxembourg.
Last month, Atomico, in conjunction with Mangrove, invested $4.2 million in the first round money for Jolicloud SAS, an Internet operating system for netbooks. Last summer, Index led a $12.5 million second-round venture investment in online video-dating service WooMe, with participation from return investors Atomico and Mangrove.
"If you have been in something successful that happened in just two or three years it is exciting and you want to continue in the same way," said Michael Jackson, a partner at Mangrove and former Chief Operating Officer at Skype. "As board members and investors in start-ups, we can have a lot of influence by imparting wisdom or inspiration and the success Skype has had engenders respect."
Other influential Skype alumni include Faisal Galaria, who earlier this month joined online music company Spotify as Global Head of Business Development.
An offer from Atomico has become hard for Europe's older venture-capital firms to match. "The bigger VCs are afraid of competing on early-stage deals with Atomico because an entrepreneur will pick Niklas," said one European venture-capital investor. "I have a better investment record but I cannot compete."
An association with Skype is a draw because "very few entrepreneurs in Europe have the mindset or knowledge to build a $1 billion-plus company," said Tariq Krim, founder and chief executive of Jolicloud. "Whereas there are 10 or more $1 billion, US-based, Internet-only consumer companies - and another 50 or so on track to get there - in Europe it was only Skype."
Howard Hartenbaum, who backed Skype after flying up from Luxembourg to meet the Scandinavian founders when they had sold music-download software company Kazaa in 2002 to Sharman Networks said the Skype founders' experience meant they could talk with entrepreneurs on the same level as US top-tier VCs.
"For US syndicates, people are what matter," said Mr. Hartenbaum, who has subsequently joined US-based VC August Capital. "Niklas and Janus are the leading entrepreneurs in Europe as they have done recent, big and disruptive deals and have built relationships with top-tier US venture-capital firms Mayfield Fund, Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital."
UK-based Brent Hoberman, who having sold lastminute.com to US peer Travelocity in 2005 has since set up venture-capital firm PROfounders Capital, part of Oakley Capital with other entrepreneurs, has also done deals with Mr. Zennstrom, which he called "a positive experience."
Silicon Valley had long been the logical step for Europeans who sought success in venture capital, but some Europeans are returning. Michael Birch, founder of UK-based social networking company Bebo, which was sold last year to Time Warner's AOL for $850 million, moved to Silicon Valley even though Bebo primarily served a UK audience. He is now back in Europe and helped Mr. Hoberman found PROfounders.
Atomico has made much of the fact that Skype and Kazaa had a global impact. While praising Silicon Valley as an inspiration, Mr. Zennstrom has criticized it for having limitations. In an opinion piece for Newsweek in 2007, he wrote that Silicon Valley's "insularity" had become a disadvantage. "Right now, from Stockholm to Shanghai, new hubs of development are flourishing as a result of ambitious entrepreneurs who are cultivating ideas targeted toward the global consumer audience."
Atomico has set up an international network for investments in Asia and Latin America using former Skype employees, Kelly Poon and Carlos Pires e Albuquerque respectively.
Even if their networking has been impressive, the ex-Skype staff's record as venture capitalists can't be judged for some time, given the 10-year horizon over which venture-capital funds traditionally run.
And not all their post-Skype ventures have run smoothly. Internet television software company Joost - set up by Messrs. Zennstrom and Friis in 2006 and backed by Index and Sequoia a year later - had to change its business model after facing financial difficulties.
"It is different working together versus investing together; it is a different skill set and the results are still unknown," said Mr. Klein from Index. "As founders of a business, it is all-consuming 24 hours a day, but as investors you are more detached and the shift takes time."
However, he remains optimistic: "Venture capital was a network-effect business where good returns breed good returns and new funds and good entrepreneurs attract good entrepreneurs."
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