Another reminder about music sites that sound too good to be true arrived in my in-box Friday.
Earlier this month, I blogged about Zookz, a new site currently in beta testing that allows users to download an unlimited number of MP3 audio files or MP4 video files for a single monthly fee ($9.95 for audio or video only; $17.95 for both). This seems to be an amazing deal compared with similar services--eMusic, for instance, offers a limited number of downloads for a monthly fee, and all-you-can-eat subscription services like the Zune Marketplace disable some portion of your downloads if you stop paying your subscription. Zookz has no such limitations.
The company claimed it could do this because it's based in Antigua, which isn't subject to the same restrictions as the U.S. But apparently, the Antiguan government doesn't want to have any official association with the service. According to a press release that I and some other bloggers got Friday, "The Zookz.com web site is not operating under the authority or with the knowledge of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda." It continues, "Zookz.com is not authorized by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, or by the World Trade Organization, to offer entertainment downloads in contravention of international law."
I asked the company for their response, and they basically told me that they don't have to have the permission of the Antiguan government or the WTO. According to a statement from William Pepper, legal counsel for Zookz: "In December of 2007, the Appellate Body of the WTO confirmed the award of $21,000,000 annually to Antigua. This award imposes sanctions that allow the nullification of the TRIPS obligations for Antigua." If that lost you, he continues, "Zookz is the property of Carib Media Ltd. a company registered and conducting business in the State of Antigua and Barbuda, West Indies. Therefore there is nothing that requires Zookz to seek authorization from the WTO or the Government of Antigua to transact its business."
I'm not versed in international law, but in my experience, when lawyers start firing press releases back and forth, it doesn't bode well for the long-term survival of the businesses involved. As I blogged last week, if you want to check out Zookz, do it now.
Zune speculation is an armchair sport here in the tech sector of the Pacific Northwest (especially when we're all housebound because of a few inches of snow), and today Todd Bishop at TechFlash posted some interesting excerpts from the Zune team's job listings.
Based on his post, it looks as if the Zune Marketplace will begin to use the back end from Musiwave, the European provider of music for mobile phones that Microsoft acquired a little more than a year ago--and if that doesn't point to a Zune service for mobile phones, nothing does--and will continue to feature DRM (couched in ever-so-reassuring phrases like "to let consumers enjoy music in new and interesting ways").
But here's something else: Zune is coming to Xbox. There's a job listing for a user experience designer to work on the Zune Device UI, Zune PC Client and--hang on a second--Zune Xbox.
Zune Xbox? Of course. Both Xbox Live and the Zune Marketplace use Microsoft's own pseudo-currency, Microsoft Points. Xbox Live already lets you download video content and stream movies on demand from Netflix (if you're a subscriber).
You can plug any MP3 player into the Xbox 360 and listen to a mix of your music as you play. So why not take all these pieces to their logical conclusion, and let you access the Zune Marketplace from Xbox Live? Integration would be particularly useful for Zune Pass subscribers, giving them another device on which to use their unlimited monthly listens and 10 permanent downloads.
Tony Markellis played bass on this live Trey Anastasio recording, but you won't find that information very easily if you use one of the big downloading services.
Last night, I had an interesting experience that pointed out a drawback of digital music services compared with the tried-and-true CD (or LP, or cassette). For the last few years, I've played with a very occasional pickup band--maybe one party a year, preceded by a half dozen rehearsals, then everybody back to their jobs/families/"real" bands. This year, we're playing a St. Patrick's Day party, and in the past, we've done a version of the Phish instrumental "First Tube." We wanted a quick refresher, so one of the guitarists fired up his copy of Rhapsody, found a live solo version by Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, and we were on our way.
Until, in typical self-absorbed bass player fashion, the bass player (that's me) asked "so who played bass on this song?" I asked because I admired the bassist's restraint--he stuck exactly to the original bass line, which consists of three notes repeated in the same quick figure over and over and over again. (I lack such restraint.)
Rhapsody offered no answer. iTunes doesn't carry the album in question, but does have another live version of the song from an Austin City Limits compilation. Alas, no artist information there either. The Zune Marketplace offered a bio on Trey himself, but nothing about the particular band on this album. Yahoo Music has a full review from AMG, but no album credits. Instead, I had to go to the AMG site itself, find the live album "Plasma," and click on the "Credits" tab to find out that it was one Tony Markellis.
Hats off to you, sir. And a big bass raspberry to all the major music services--this information's available, it's coded in an online repository that's widely accessible, and none of you are offering it. Or if you are, it's so deeply buried that mere mortals can't find it.
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