WAG: will probably price mid 20s (16-18 is current range), open 60-70, hit 80+, close high 60s. Wouldn't be shocked to see 100s at some point, though larger float (currently 12M) IMO will likely restrict higher moves.
That said, MP3.com's MAIN value is: it owns the www.mp3.com url. Period. Other than that, no barriers to entry into being an MP3 portal. They don't own anything proprietary - like front end rippers, coding algorithms, or mp3 players. And they aren't even an MP3 web search engine. Still, they'll likely get tons of eyeballs and advertising dollars as a result of their name. And Mp3 seems on track to be the standard compression format (vs. RNWK a2b and Liquid Audio)
Aside - anyone interested in ripping, Fraunhofer's professional is (currently) the highest bitrate coding technique (up to 320kbps), but Xing's AudioCatalyst's VARIABLE bit rate coding algorithms seem to be particularly effective. Since not all aural soundscapes are equally complex, it is smart and efficient to compress using non-linear coding - higher BRs when complexity requires and lower BRs when not.
Check out: xingtech.com |
