p2pnet - rss feed: John Buckman’s WeedShare obit
p2pnet.net news:- When the news that WeedShare was dead hit the virtual streets, over in Holland, Marco Raaphorst was neither upset nor surprised.
“I was expecting this to happen because there were a couple rather nasty disadvantages when using that service,” he blogged.
Now, “WeedShare was a fascinating idea, simultaneously appealing to major labels, peer-to-peer advocates, and let’s-destroy-the-music-industry radicals,” posts Magnatune founder John Buckman on OpenBusiness.
“WeedShare used DRM to do something new and different. What WeedShare did was take music and encode it into a Windows WMA format, and then let anyone copy it as they wished. The DRM on the WMA files permitted 3 free listens before you had to buy, and you could share your music with anyone. When someone new got the file, they could listen 3 times as well.”
Ironically, notes Buckman, “it was DRM and Microsoft in particular that killed WeedShare, adding:
WeedShare always depended on Microsoft’s technology, so for instance their WMA files only played on Windows, and the lack of Mac or Linux versions was always a sore point.
Some time ago, Microsoft released a new version of the Windows Media Player, and it no longer worked with WeedShare files as it had in the past. Suddenly, WeedShare didn’t work, and if Microsoft didn’t change things, they couldn’t work.
I don’t have any inside details on this, but I suspect this move on Microsoft’s part was all part of the Vista launch, and the launch of Zune.
My suspicion is that Microsoft broke DRM and WMA compatibility for competitive reasons, so that all the existing other WMA shops would suddenly be obsolete, and everyone would have to buy music through Microsoft and the Zune player. Quite famously, when the Zune came out, Microsoft announced that it would not work with old WMA files, and other WMA file vendors would not be able to sell music that worked on the Zune. WeedShare was not the only victim the WMA format change and incompatibility.
Says the WeedShare site:
“Unfortunately, due to compatibility problems with recently released media players, the Weedshare service is no longer available,” going on:
You can still play Weed files you have bought, but it is not possible to preview or buy new Weed files. We recommend that you save Weed files you’ve purchased to CD so you will have permanent copies.
If you have remaining funds in your Weed account, you can make a withdrawal by sending e-mail to info@weedshare.com stating your account name, the e-mail address associated with your account, and the approximate date of your last transaction.
We wish to thank the many talented and forward-thinking artists who have made their music available through Weedshare, and the thousands of people who have bought, sold and shared Weed files.
(Thanks, Jonas)
Also See:
nasty disadvantages - Weedshare and DRM, June 12, 2007
OpenBusiness - Weedshare, R.I.P., June 12, 2007
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