Web music, .wav of the future? By Toyin Akinmusuru Weekend Magazine Editor The act of listening to music has never been the same since the invention of the MP3 audio format. The ability to highly compress audio and still have the great sound quality associated with CDs, made it possible to easily pass music files over the internet and revolutionized the way people look at sharing and distributing music. (MP3 file sizes are less than one 10th of that occupied by the standard CD audio format.) The new revolution in music is Web-casting - listening to music streamed from a website. More people have Internet connections higher than 56K, allowing users to access much larger files. Better compression technologies are making these files even smaller, making listening to Metallica online just as good as playing their latest CDs in your computer. Many companies have been aggressively pioneering technologies to help the average person listen to (and even broadcast) music through the web. Here is a quick look at some of the major contenders. SHOUTcast.com The oldest music-caster is SHOUTcast, a product by NullSoft, the same people that created the popular WinAmp MP3 player. Building on the success of WinAmp, Nullsoft created a plugin that would allow DJs to stream their MP3s and allow others to listen to these streams with their WinAmp player. The latest implementation of SHOUTcast also has support of the AOL-owned Instant Messenging systems, ICQ and Aol Instant Messenger. The functionality of SHOUTcast is not just limited to the Windows operating systems, although WinAmp is only available on that platform, SHOUTcast also supports the Macintosh and various Linux and Unix operating systems. Live365.com Another entry into the foray is Live365.com, which has similar services to SHOUTcast, making it easy to broadcast and listen to music after installing their software. Like SHOUTcast, Live365 supports multiple platforms, releasing downloads for both the Macintosh and Windows operating systems. A major benefit to perople using Live365 is the ability to save files on their servers. Wannabe DJs can upload up to 365 MBs of MP3s onto the Live365 servers, and set the order of their music's streaming. That's over 70 MP3s an up-and-coming performer or band can use to showcase their songs. This service is on top of the ability to do live music-casting from any computer. Live365.com also seems to be the biggest broadcaster of streaming MP3 audio content, estimating 30 percent of the total streaming MP3 audience. My.MP3.com The most controversial online musc-caster is the My.MP3 service, provided by MP3.com. The service does not currently allow DJs to conduct live streaming of their music - or even upload their original works, as the other two companies do. The My.MP3 software reads CDs inserted into a computer and compares them to a library of MP3s held by MP3.com. Based on the CD, artist and song title, the same MP3 is pulled from the online library and added to the user's streaming list. My.MP3 is supposed to only work with original CDs (burned CDs or MP3s won't work) forcing users of the service to have bought the album. The MP3.com library as over 45,000 CDs in inventory and is increasing everyday, increasing the likelyhood of being able to use the My.MP3 service. Because of the constant library expansion, it is possible to have a CD stream today that was not in the database yesterday. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed a copyright violation suit again MP3.com for compiling their music library without RIAA consent. In an open letter to MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson, RIAA President Hilary Rosen called the expansion of the MP3.com database a brazen violation of copyright law. The future of this service will be determined in the courts. Napster.com The last member of our group is not a company that even engages in any type of streaming media. Napster has gained noteriety and membership on being a repository for MP3 files. The downloaded software allows users to connect their files to the Napster network, making it easy to search other people's hard drives and download wanted MP3s from those remote computers - and vice versa. This in essence creates a giant database even larger and more diverse than anything offered by the above companies. The problem for Napster is the lack of control the company has (also a strong point) over the files being transferred by its users. Anyfiles - MP3s, movies, images and even applications, can be uploaded and downloaded through the Napster system. The RIAA has also sued Napster for copyright violations, claiming that Napster created an environment ideal for the trafficking of illegal MP3s, a case whse outcome will be closely linked to that of the MP3.com suit. As the technologies and bandwith to send and recieve music are constantly changing, the ways in which digital music will evolve is still uncertain. One thing is for sure - you'll never hear music the same way again. Originally on page 2B in the 1-27-2000 issue of the Daily.