Impristine, where have you been? Liquid Audio is like Liquid Gold here. . I don't classify MPPP in same sector. MPPP is a retailer of direct delivery music [most of which is free] and nearly all of which is by garage bands and wannabes.
Liquid Audio developed a streaming audio system, where revenues are generated on a per song basis. . .and songs cannot be pirated, as they can with MP3, due to proprietary encoding and watermarking. The record industry is liking this and already LQID has many top name artists represented in their catalog. They also retail music directly to end user, but my gamble is on other factors. . . like the coming personal players. . .and LQID has a 2 year head start on MSFT, LU, AT&T and other late comers.
Those three have tried their own streaming audio, but have had limited success. . . The big difference is this. . .the MP3 format compresses the audio. . .this compression is not very appealing, especially to those using hi-fidelity audio equipment. . . whereas Liquid Audio's Liquifier keeps the audio at 16-bit linear CD quality. So when you buy a disk from them, it is identical in sound to the same CD you would buy at Blockbuster.
Now Liquid Video is a new competitor to Real Video. . .and has the same encoding so that royalty payments get paid to the artists [charged to customer] and so pirates are kept to a minimum. The recording industry and the TV/video/film industry will ONLY embrace technologies that allow for payment to the artists, writers, etc.
MP3 will survive, but will never graduate much beyond garage bands. . and perhaps a few 'has beens'. Now GP3 is the next generation of MP3. . .which will account for royalties. DIMD will be manufacturing personal players for this format. . .and Universal Music Group has embraced it, but as I understand it. . .the format still compresses the audio. . .which is unsuitable to a major chunk of the population.
SIDEBAR: Listening to compressed audio is like watching a movie at 6 or 8 frames per second. . .you see motion, but it is no longer fluid.
Now if Liquid Audio's players hit the streets for Christmas, we could see some real interest in their format. . .and even more major record company catalogs Liquified.
Now all of that would be great for the future of LQID. But my personal feeling is that they will be bought out soon by someone big. . .like perhaps LMG.a [Liberty Media] or LDIG [Liberty Digital] . . which is the Next-Generation Internet arm of A.T. & T.
MPPP is in the sector of E-Music E-Tailing. . .like EMUS. . . .but LQID is in a broadband internet development sector. . . akin to Real Networks. . .yet does have a division in the E-Music/E-tailing sector.
That is about as CD clear as I can make it.
Rande Is |
