 RAIN 12/19: RIAA drops lawsuit campaign against file-sharers ·Dec 19, 11:05 AM RIAA WILL RELY ON GRADUATED RESPONSES FROM ISPSThe Recording Industry Association of America will drop its campaign of mass lawsuits against people allegedly sharing music online illegally, according to the Wall Street Journal (here). Instead, the RIAA said it will try to rely on Internet service providers (ISPs) to curb music sharing through graduated responses. In preliminary agreements between the RIAA and ISPs, users who appear to be uploading music illegally would be told to stop through email. If they appear to continue, two or three more emails would be sent, perhaps with a slow-down in service. The ISP could eventually shut down service to the user altogether. The RIAA said it has agreements “in principle” along these lines, though declined to reveal with whom. The ISPs, “which are increasingly cutting content deals of their own with entertainment companies, may have more incentive to work with the music labels now than in previous years.” The RIAA has sued a total of 35,000 people since their lawsuit campaign against file-sharers began in 2003, including “among others, several single mothers, a dead person and a 13-year-old girl.” All in all, the Wall Street Journal calls the lawsuits “a public-relations disaster for the industry.” The RIAA has reserved the right to sue any heavy offenders who ignore warnings. PANDORA TIME’S #1 iPHONE APP OF THE YEAR, MAKES SPRINT SERVICE FREECalling it “the all-time best free app for music lovers,” Time Magazine named Pandora the #1 iPhone application of 2008. “Music quality is amazingly good for audio that streams for free over AT&T’s data network,” wrote Time author Josh Quittner (here). Also making Time’s Top 10 list of iPhone apps were AP Mobile News Network (#3) and Wikipanion (#5).Additionally, Pandora has also made its service to Sprint customers free. Users listening to Pandora on Sprint mobile phones previously paid a monthly service fee of $2.99. “Internet radio is rapidly expanding off the desktop and we’re thrilled that we can now offer Pandora for free to Sprint’s customers,” said Pandora founder Tim Westergren. Read the press release here. STREAMING MEDIA COMPANIES FORM INDUSTRY FORUM IMDAA number of streaming media companies have come together to form the Internet Media Device Alliance (IMDA), an industry forum geared towards creating industry standards for devices that connect to the Internet. The IMDA hopes a consistent standard for devices will “encourage the development of a wide range of compelling mainstream Internet media devices.” The IMDA has a steering committee which includes chairman Harry Johnson of vTuner, John Ousby of the BBC and Todd Beals of Audiovox. Read the official press release here. PHILIPS LAUNCHES NEW INTERNET RADIO-READY HOME NETWORK STREAMERSPhilips has launched the Streamium NP2500 and the Streamium NP2900 — two new home network streamers with access to Internet radio. The devices stream music from networked computers, access Rhapsody content (subscription required) and thousands of webcasts. The NP2500 goes for $229 while the NP2900 is $329. Both are available now. Read more at CNET here.share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
