Yeah, this seems to be the only question. The interface is wonderful and it's instantly useful to me, but I can't imagine this will be allowed to stand as is.
Though I would have said the same thing about YouTube...
Hey guys - This is Sachin chiming in from the Anywhere.FM team. So we are a legit service. There are several digital music locker services that allow you to upload your music and play it anywhere. This model has been followed by all these companies and is allowed because you are playing your own music online. In terms of the sharing and Friend Radio features, we are actually paying radio station licensing fees to the music industry.
How do the new internet radio fees effect you guys? If they nail you by claiming each person listening is listening to a unique radio station, the fees could become insane.
Not only that but a vast majority of people use pirated mp3's. If you guys explode in popularity the RIAA will absolutely come after you regardless of how great your service is. How are you going to deal with that?
It is not really a valid argument to claim that everything is legit because other companies are doing it.
I love the site and look forward to trying it out when I get home. Your UI is beautiful.
Well, how is your model different from my.mp3.com? As you might recall, they did a website where you could upload your own music and play it from any Internet computer, but were sued and eventually settled for $200m.
MP3.com stored all the music online. You gained access to a CD MP3.com had ripped by proving you owned the CD. There was no uploading involved.
The question is whether Anywhere.fm has a responsibility to police their network for illegal MP3s. It's logistically impossible to do so, but that doesn't mean the courts won't come down hard on them if they are successful.