By Evan Ackerman
For those of you who didn’t get all of your music for free when Napster was around and instead bought a bunch of CDs that you never listen to anymore comes a website called Bopaboo. It’s basically a marketplace for “used” MP3s, which lets you sell music online, whatever that means… You can upload an MP3 (DRM free, of course) to their website, and then sell it to others. For real money. Bopaboo acts as a broker and takes a percentage of the cost of the song, which you can set yourself but starts as low as $0.25.
The sketchy part is that since there’s no DRM on the MP3s, nothing really stops you from being an uberl33t haxorz and making a copy of the file for yourself while selling the original on the site. Nothing really stops you from doing that over and over and over, as far as I can tell. Oh, well, one thing will stop you, I guess:
If You sell any Used Published Item, you represent and warrant to the purchaser that your copy of the Used Published Item is a digital copy of the original work that You purchased directly from the applicable publisher or agent of the publisher or from another person who was authorized to sell that copy to You and that You have not previously sold any copies of such work. You further represent and warrant to the purchaser and to Bopaboo that, upon the completion of such sale, You will delete any remaining copies of the Used Published Item that may exist in your possession, custody or control. You agree that any transaction you make is final and you agree to indemnify and defend Bopaboo against any and all claims arising out of any transaction…
Sure, I’ll delete ’em! Pinkie swear!
My guess is that Bopaboo is going to argue that the selling of MP3s is the responsibility of the users, and it’s not their fault if the user doesn’t destroy the CD or has stripped the DRM from the file. And since selling used CDs isn’t illegal, I suppose there isn’t anything inherently wrong with selling the data off of them when you’re done with it. But at the same time, I can’t imagine that the Man is going to let this service last very long. In any case, it’s now in beta, and you can apply for an invitation to buy and sell here.
I rather buy from a trusted source like Amazon, etc, or just buy the CD and rip it myself. I think the record industry wouldn't really like this service since their artist won't be geting royalties.
At least someone is trying to get people to pay for music in innovative ways – if completely ineffective. Here's an interesting related article.
At least someone is trying to get people to pay for music in innovative ways – if completely ineffective. Here's an interesting related article.
At least someone is trying to get people to pay for music in innovative ways – if completely ineffective. Here's an interesting related article.