Streaming

New Federal Law Would Outlaw MP3 Streaming

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has discovered that a provision buried in the new PERFORM act now being debated in Congress would essentially ban streaming via the mp3 format favored by most Efflogointernet broadcasters ranging from Live365 to KCRW.  The new statue would require more protective DRM style technology that prevents recording and copying if the broadcaster is using the statutory SoundExchange license.  The move may anger some consumers used to the time-shifting that unrestrictive technology allows.

Restrictive technologies can lead to consumer distrust and stifle technological advances.  This is particularly true in a market segment as new and rapidly changing as internet broadcasting.

We’d love to get reader comments on this topic which we will share with industry leaders and politicians.

Bruce Houghton on 04/27/2006 in Streaming | Permalink | Comments (8)
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8 Comments

  1. This is one of the ultimate idiot trick to stomp ‘podcasting’
    How much did the Radio lobbyist and DRM companies pay for this sort of stuff anyway?
    disgusting.

  2. Wow. Thers’s about 100 different shareware programs can record any sound through their computer anyway. Some legislation can stop this? Clearly a nowhere-near-enforceable joke. When are these people going to realize that the dam’s already broken?

  3. You asked for comments, here’s comments… (although I feel like I’m yelling at a 12 year old who’s having a snit fit):
    Hey Labels! Simmer down and stop crying! How many times do I have to tell you? Stop acting like a spoiled brat! Play nicely.
    The other kids have brought their toys, you need to share also. There is plenty for everyone. If you keep acting like this, the other kids will stop playing with you altogether. Or worse, they’ll eventually gang up and really hurt you.
    And stop running to your parents every time something doesn’t go your way. Learn to work it out with the others. Mom and Dad can not fix everything for you, and the other kids will really hate you.
    (If you need this rewritten in simpler words for the Major Label heads, just let me know.)

  5. Jeff Conaway

    To join songs, try the old DOS command COPY, like this: copy /b song1.mp3 + song2.mp3 + song3.mpg mysongs.mp3. That should work great.

  7. Peter Aurness

    MP3’s to PCM Wave and then encode them back into MP3 is never a good idea, you’d loose too much quality (compression x 2).

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