03/11/2011
If there is someone that the music business can consider its long time instigator, that would be Michael Robertson. Founder of MP3.com, Robertson’s company was sued by music labels ten years ago over a feature that allowed users to download a digital copy of any song they proved they owned on CD.
Subsequently, lawsuits were again filed against Robertson in 2007 over MP3Tunes.com, which allowed users to upload songs into cloud-based digital music lockers and then stream them to any computer or Smartphone.
According to the recording labels, Robertson needed a license to do that. This particular lawsuit was filed by EMI Music and it was reported that the judge will render his decision soon.
At present, the San Diego entrepreneur is casting another sonic grenade by unveiling his latest start-up, which he plans to launch on Feb 23. Called the DAR.fm, it is short for Digital Audio Recorder – sort of a centralized Web-based TiVo for Radio.
Users can go to DAR.fm to search the programming schedules of around 600 music, as well as talk-radio stations, nationwide and instruct the site to record up to 4 hours of broadcast.
The recordings, which come complete with advertisements and DJ chatter, are then stored into the password-protected account of the user. The recordings can then be accessed from any Smartphone, PC, or Internet-connected radio.
According to Robertson, “Radio is dying because it’s inconvenient and limiting. The content is not interactive, and it’s available on only a limited number of devices.”
