The Napstermath...

[Regs]

Judge: Kazaa can be sued in U.S.


By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 10, 2003, 9:44 PM PT


A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that record companies and movie studios can proceed with a lawsuit against the parent company of Kazaa--the most popular online file-swapping service--in the United States.

In a 46-page decision that became public Friday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson said a lawsuit against Sharman Networks could proceed, since Kazaa software had been downloaded and used by millions of Californians.

Sharman Networks is headquartered in Australia and incorporated in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. The company had filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing it was not bound by U.S. laws since it did not have substantial contacts with California.

"Given that Sharman's (Kazaa) software has been downloaded more than 143 million times, it would be mere cavil to deny that Sharman engages in a significant amount of contact with California residents," Wilson wrote. Also, he said, "many, if not most, music and video copyrights are owned by California-based companies."

The Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America applauded the decision in a joint statement.

"We are pleased that the court denied the efforts of Sharman Networks...to avoid being subject to the suit. Sharman Networks...should be held accountable by U.S. laws, which clearly indicate that what they are doing is illegal, and that they should not profit from it," the trade associations said.

Sharman Networks could not be reached for comment Friday.

This week's ruling came after Wilson heard oral arguments in Nov. 2002, and could mean that the Kazaa lawsuit will be rolled into a larger one involving Streamcast Networks and Grokster, two rival file-swapping companies that use the same underlying technology as Sharman.

Wilson said the case was different from a similar one involving a Texas man who was sued in California for distributing a DVD-descrambling utility online. The California Supreme Court said in November 2002 that Internet distribution of software did not subject someone to California jurisdiction. The U.S. Supreme Court briefly put that decision on hold, then backed out of the case this month.

Potentially, there goes another one

~Regs.

 

[Luch]

There will always be another

Regs,

Try Grokster. It's very useful.

 

[d~tox]

Given the option of paying 2400 Yen for the new Massive Attack, vs. pinching it online, I think you can guess the outcome.

I'd like to support those fine punters of Bristol, but.. sheesh.

Kazaa.. what'll I do without ya?

 

[Regs]

Kazaa Lite

~RegswelcomingbackD~Tox!

 

[d~tox]

dope dupe

Originally posted by Regs
Kazaa Lite

~RegswelcomingbackD~Tox!

Good to be back, Regs. Oh, the stories I could tell. Or not.

* * *
True, there will surely be something to fill the void left by Kazaa, AG, Napster, etc etc.

Sidenote: every man, woman, child, and pet goldfish over here has owned a MiniDisc recorder for umpteen years. Digital duplication and redistribution is part of the lifestyle.

Has anyone seen these new 'unduplicatable' audio CD's on the shelves? All you need to do is play them (realtime) into your recent-model MD and USB the songs to your PC for worldwide transmission. Not exactly nerdproof.

d~t

 

[BJB]

having trouble getting kazaa lite to run?? anybody got some tips.

it gets to the download screen but just says connecting......

 

[Aves]

Originally posted by BJB
having trouble getting kazaa lite to run?? anybody got some tips.

it gets to the download screen but just says connecting......

same here

 

[TheRob]

No problems for TheRob. In fact, I'm downloading Nascar Thunder as we speak.

 

[Keeper]

According to the Kazaalite install notes:

TO INSTALL KAZAALITE (KAZAALITE.COM EDITION)

First go into the folder marked "first stage", once in there run the installation of Kazaalite BUT do not install the supertrick (it wont work well)

Once the installation is complete goto the "second stage" folder. Click on the shortcut name "KaZaA Lite default folder quick access" this will take you into the default folder of Kazaalite.
Copy the Kazaa.exe on the second stage directory into c:\program files\Kazaa Lite\ (default install dir for Kazaalite) and overright the older exe.

Thats the program installed all you need now is the host file.
Follow the instructions below

INSTALLATION OF HOSTS FILE

Put the file in the following dir:
Linux /etc
Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\
Windows NT/2000/XP c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\
c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\

Follow this correctly and you should have no trouble.

 

[Regs]

Is everyone still hooked on Kazaa or have a few "signed up" for some of the pay-as-you-go services?

Napster heads north for Canadian service


Last modified: May 26, 2004, 5:31 PM PDT
By Reuters



Online music provider Napster, which transformed itself from a pioneering song-swap Web site to a pay-for-use service, said on Wednesday it has launched a Canadian version of its operation. Napster, a division of software maker Roxio, said it will offer its music subscription service and an Internet music store at www.napster.ca. As part of the launch, it is offering a free seven-day trial of service.

The subscription service will cost $9.95 Canadian ($7.26) a month and let users listen to an unlimited number of songs. The store will sell individual songs to burn to CD or transfer to portable players for $1.19 Canadian each, or $9.95 Canadian per album.

Napster said the site will offer Canadian music fans access to more than 300,000 tracks from record labels including BMG, EMI, Sony Music Canada, Universal Music Canada and Warner Music Canada.

As part of the launch, Napster struck a marketing alliance with Montreal-based Molson, the country's oldest brewer.

The service will compete directly with Puretracks.com, a closely held pay-as-you-go music download store launched in October that has already sold one million songs.

Puretracks differentiated itself from similar U.S.-based music services by charging in local currency and providing a wide selection of Canadian musicians. It sells many individual songs for 99 Canadian cents.

Both Napster and Puretracks will have to contend with free file-sharing sites such as Kazaa.com.

File-sharing received a boost in March when a Canadian court ruled people who swap songs on the Internet in Canada can remain anonymous. The Federal Court of Canada rejected a request from the country's biggest music producers that it order Internet service providers to identify music swappers.

Story Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.