DeathKnell
Member
Once one of the gunslingers in the Wild West days of peer-to-peer file sharing (mostly of the illegal variety), Kazaa is poised to re-launch as a standard-issue music-subscription site, complete with the same DRM-protected tracks that so many of its former users did their best to avoid.
CNET News.com reports that Kazaa, a former giant in the P2P world (alongside the old Napster and LimeWire, among others) that had been forced to closed down due to a series of court rulings, is primed to re-emerge as a legal music subscription site—and indeed, a quick check of Kazaa.com shows that the service appears to be up and running.
The new Kazaa looks almost unrecognizable from its notorious predecessor, however. The days of free (and typically illegal) file sharing on Kazaa are long gone—instead, users must pay $19.98 a month for the privilege of downloading an unlimited number of music tracks.
The catch? The songs are DRM (digital rights management)-protected, and will only work on up to three PCs—not Macs, and not on any portable MP3 players. Once your subscription runs out, you won't be able to play your downloaded Kazaa tunes anymore.
By going legit, Kazaa is following in the footsteps of pioneering P2P service Napster, now an above-board music subscription site and MP3 store, and (most recently) torrent-tracking The Pirate Bay, a free-wheeling haven for file sharers that's set to go straight after being acquired by a Swedish software firm late last month.
Of course, it's ironic that Kazaa's new business model involves a practice—DRM—that the big music labels have long since abandoned. And with free (or next-to-free) music streaming sites like Pandora, Slacker, and Last.FM taking off in popularity, it's hard to imagine that a $20/month subscription service such as Kazaa will find many takers.
So, quick show of hands: Anyone interested in the new Kazaa?
CNET News.com reports that Kazaa, a former giant in the P2P world (alongside the old Napster and LimeWire, among others) that had been forced to closed down due to a series of court rulings, is primed to re-emerge as a legal music subscription site—and indeed, a quick check of Kazaa.com shows that the service appears to be up and running.
The new Kazaa looks almost unrecognizable from its notorious predecessor, however. The days of free (and typically illegal) file sharing on Kazaa are long gone—instead, users must pay $19.98 a month for the privilege of downloading an unlimited number of music tracks.
The catch? The songs are DRM (digital rights management)-protected, and will only work on up to three PCs—not Macs, and not on any portable MP3 players. Once your subscription runs out, you won't be able to play your downloaded Kazaa tunes anymore.
By going legit, Kazaa is following in the footsteps of pioneering P2P service Napster, now an above-board music subscription site and MP3 store, and (most recently) torrent-tracking The Pirate Bay, a free-wheeling haven for file sharers that's set to go straight after being acquired by a Swedish software firm late last month.
Of course, it's ironic that Kazaa's new business model involves a practice—DRM—that the big music labels have long since abandoned. And with free (or next-to-free) music streaming sites like Pandora, Slacker, and Last.FM taking off in popularity, it's hard to imagine that a $20/month subscription service such as Kazaa will find many takers.
So, quick show of hands: Anyone interested in the new Kazaa?
