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A CNET Special Report
By Matt Rosoff
(8/4/99)
At some point during the last year, distributing music over the Net began to look like a mainstream business.
MP3, the audio format that once boasted a few thousand geeky devotees, now makes headlines in major newspapers. Audio sites are planning fat IPOs and boasting major-label recording artists. Hardware manufacturers are churning out portable gadgets to play Net-based audio files, and consumers appear interested. Tech stalwarts such as AOL and Microsoft are investing in music sites and working on new formats. And even the big record companies, reluctant to embrace online music at first, are taking their first tentative steps.
Amid all the hype, it's easy to lose sight of some legitimate questions. Will Internet-based audio really replace your CD collection as CDs replaced the records of yesteryear? What are record companies and the tech industry doing to protect their royalties? Will MP3 continue to rule, or is another format likely to replace it in a couple years?
Read on as we cut through the noise.
The New Boss
As big money continues to pour into MP3-related hardware, software, and Web businesses, we take on the million-dollar question: Will MP3 replace your CD collection?
The Old Boss
MP3 has no built-in copyright protection, and the traditional music industry doesn't like that. But what does it propose as a solution?
The Contenders
Sure, MP3 is hot today. So what? Remember that Herman's Hermits outsold The Beatles in 1965. Look out for Liquid Audio, Microsoft, and the rest of the pack!
| Matt Rosoff, senior writer for Special Reports, smiles and grins at the change all around him. |
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