P2P Meets Net Broadcasting

From Cnet.com: "A new generation of start-ups is… allowing Net radio listeners to draw their programming at will from one another’s hard drives."

"At the head of a movement that could transform online radio, Live365 and start-up Grouper are the latest to blur these lines between Internet radio and online song-swapping, with an alliance aimed at turning the older companies’ stable of amateur broadcasters into the hubs of peer-to-peer communities. "

"The model looks to Apple’s iTunes software, which lets people on the same network, such as in a dorm or office building, listen to songs from one another’s music collections. Grouper’s peer-to-peer service lets people stream songs at will to one another over the open Internet."

"The company’s alliance with Live365 is helping extend an advanced vision of Net radio already being pioneered by Mercora, another peer-to-peer radio service. By letting groups of listeners tap into one another’s music collections, the companies hope to come close to providing on-demand radio services, while abiding by the strict legal rules governing online broadcasting…"

"According to current copyright law, Net radio services are allowed to play any songs without getting permission first, but they can’t let listeners choose when they want to hear a specific song, and they can’t play [multiple] songs by the same artist back-to-back."

"Enter peer-to-peer. By allowing songs to be streamed from other listeners’ hard drives, companies like Grouper and Mercora hope to work within the rules but still provide something close to an on-demand experience…"

"Record labels have so far taken a hands-off approach to these new services… Certainly, music labels have not been shy about suing Webcast services they believe are crossing legal lines. Several years ago, they filed suit against a handful of services they said were giving listeners too much control over the choice of music."

Read the entire CNet story here.