Mashboxx and Pay P2P

[SlyckTom]

"Pay P2P" has become a common catch phrase these days in the file-sharing community. "Pay P2P" networks are an interesting breed – at least the concept is. One of the major drawbacks of server oriented services such as iTunes or Napster is its lack of community. "Pay P2P" attempts marry the industry-sanctioned nature of iTunes while still appealing to those who admire the community feel of file-sharing networks.

That is where networks/clients such as Mashboxx come into play. MashBoxx dubs itself as "the first peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network authorized by major record labels." How is such a feat possible?

MashBoxx utilizes SnoCap's Digital Rights Management mechanism. SnoCap's "digital licensing and copyright management system" allows content owners to distribute and specifically control what material is distributed on P2P networks. Although Mashboxx users can download non-authorized material, preference will be given to DRM tracks.

"Despite early resistance from the recording industry, consumers continue to demonstrate their keen interest in music file-sharing applications," said Wayne Rosso, CEO of Mashboxx. "At the same time, consumers have expressed a willingness to pay a fair fee for the music they want, which addresses the recording industry's concerns..."

You may ask what exactly a "fair fee" is. According to the Mashboxx press release, the user is expected to pay $.99 per track. During the <a href=http://www.p2pforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=8712&highlight=mashboxx target="_blank">P2PForums'</a> interview with Mashboxx CEO Wayne Rosso, the exact price tag per track remained in question. "...I'm not really sure that songs will be $1 each," Rosso stated, "Maybe less." It appears this statement was accurate.

To ensure the music industry receives their fair share, Mashboxx will utilize Peppercoin to process currency exchange.

"As the market for digital music and other content continues to explode, P2P networks like Mashboxx must establish a profitable payment system that also satisfies consumers' desire to use their preferred and trusted credit and debit cards," said Mark Friedman, president of Peppercoin.

Unlike Clickshare, which has only received a lukewarm reception from commercial P2P companies, it appears that Peppercoin has made greater headway. So far, FastTrack is the only other P2P network with a quasi-existent payment method in place. However, with numerous "Kazaa Lites" and the deterrent of RIAA lawsuits effectively in place, it does not appear the music industry wants much to do with this network. If successful, Mashboxx and Peppercoin may be the first P2P entities make "Pay P2P" more than just a running joke. We'll see.

[DaBlade]

Even if EVERY single free (as in freedom) P2P network gets taken down, and my only options for P2P would be iTunes, Napster and these pieces of shit, I'd still refuse using it. Why? DRM. Removes your rights, and hands them to the greedy conservative scumbags that are the RIAA.

BTW, Great article, Tom

[JaKo30]

i agree 500% Ill never lower myself to those garbage sites. There will "always" be an alternative on the entire web to get what u want w/out be bullied and controled by the tyrant slimebags known as the riaa. If I have to record songs from internet radio onto my hardrive and then burn it (even with DJs talking) ill do that before itunes, and "napster" LOL

[eagle55]

greedy conservative scumbags that are the RIAA.

actually since hollywood is primarily liberal, wouldn't that make the RIAA mainly liberal?

[Nick]

Nice article. I agree with the other comments entirely. As far as I am concerned, if something gets on my hard drive it belongs to me, no strings, no clauses, no conditions.

[AussieMatt]

Ok Time to start collecting Porn everyone so we can seed Waynes network with it .

One thing Wayne does support is collective licencing but he hasnt convinced the entertainment indusrty who he has meetings with on a regualr basis that colloecive licencing without any DRM restictions is the solution. Also the indusrty needs to support lossless formats before anyone will take them seriously.

MashBoxx isnt for the hardcore filesharer and maybe it will keep the newbs and leechers off esablished or emerging filesharing networks

One thing Wanyne if your reading, which Im sure you are .

How are you going to compensate people who offer Mashboxx Files for upload from thier harddrive that they own and also offer thier upload bandwith which they pay for ?

They wo'nt share they will Just remove Mashboxx files from thier shared folder to thier pertable Music Player . Is the download folder set as default to share?

There should some sort of credit system like Weed for people who offer files to others on the network.
Will Mashboxx Offer a Similar Credit system? In other words will you give users heavy discounts for the network using the user bases system resources?

Basicly what incentive are you going to give us to bother joining your DRM laden,Proprietary ,Industry sanctioned network.

[Drake]

I hope someone manages to crack Mashboxx and somehow disallow snocap from functioning with a Mashboxx lite version.

[Psycho Ced]

Pay p2p will always be a joke, unless they have flat and fair rates, like usenet.

[AussieMatt]

Pay p2p will always be a joke, unless they have flat and fair rates, like usenet.

I think MashBoxx is also offering a subscription service but its still DRMed and tied to one PC and your devices and based on Windows Media Format (correct me if Im wrong on the format )
So basicly a Lossy DRM format. Sorry No sale Wayne .

[DaBlade]

greedy conservative scumbags that are the RIAA.

actually since hollywood is primarily liberal, wouldn't that make the RIAA mainly liberal?

The RIAA and MPAA always opposed change. From P2P to Betamax. From casettes to radio. Every time a new technology designed for media gets unvieled, they're always the first ones to criticize it. Why?

Code: Select all

Conservative \Con*serv"a*tive\, a. [Cf. F. conservatif.]
   1. Having power to preserve in a safe of entire state, or
      from loss, waste, or injury; preservative.



Conservative \Con*serv"a*tive\, n.
   1. One who, or that which, preserves from ruin, injury,
      innovation, or radical change; a preserver; a conserver.

            The Holy Spirit is the great conservative of the new
            life.                                 --Jer. Taylor.

   2. One who desires to maintain existing institutions and
      customs; also, one who holds moderate opinions in
      politics; -- opposed to revolutionary or radical.

   3. (Eng. Hist.) A member of the Conservative party.

^That's right. They're conservative.

[larytet]

it is not clear why i would pay $1/tack if there web sites like allofmp3, where i can download the same track for as less as $0.05/track without wasting my upstream.
I pay for upstream to make distribution cheaper (may be bringing server costs to zero) and then i pay the same money as in iTunes. i do not understand their business model, unless they are going to be (are hoping to be) the only legal place to download music from.

[KhalidBoussouara]

A paid peer to peer system should have the following:

Zero DRM for purchased files. DRM for previews which only let you listen to it once or twice before buying it is ok.

Payment to uploaders. This could be a small amount. However this would give quite a bit of money for heavy uploaders. It will also encourage people to share. Would take load off the central server. The company who implements it should get a bit of money as well for providing a central server which will be needed

High quality bitrates (192 and over with VBR being essential). Songs should be offered in a variety of zero DRM formats. One which should be there is FLAC which is lossless.

Easy payment options. People should be able to add credit to their account in a variety of ways. I'm 16 and don't have a credit card. If I could send of a cheque/top up in a shop/or some other method of paying then I probably would.

If they wanted to they could make a system like this but I don't think they will bother.

[DarT]

I won't be satisified with 'Pay P2P' until I can download losslessly encoded (heck, it's MY DAMN BANDWIDTH they plan to use), fully tagged (Including lyrics, and BPM) and completely DRM and fingerprint free (After extraction from whatever container is required).

I'm completely 100% against the RIAA getting so much as a cent from 'Pay P2P' as well, I want all of those proceeds to go straight to the artist (as well as some to their 'agent' who organizes payment if THE ARTIST at THEIR DISCRETION chooses so). The RIAA currently handles distribution and marketing, when distribution is no longer handled by them I fail to see why they should get paid, marketing can be individually handled with artists who require it.

[cacahead]

The only way I do and will ever pay for music is via my XM radio. Thats just cuz I hate DJ's and people always trying to sell me shit. I think of commercials as an audio pop-up ad.

This guy is out of his mind if he thinks people are going to be like, "yea charge me a dollar for something I could easly get for free, then use my bandwidth to make another dollar from another shmuck."

SMOKING CRACK

[cacahead]

One last thing.
This pay P2P joke should be added to the ripoff site list.
Just my opion.

[DaBlade]

One last thing.
This pay P2P joke should be added to the ripoff site list.
Just my opion.

Yeah. good idea. Add them to the scam site list.

[ashton]

MashBoxx is vapourware, sorry Tom but the folks at Snocap said they know that MashBoxx does not have any working p2p network or anything near working....

Wayne bites for press like Marc Freedman...

[SlyckTom]

What do they have? Have they at least gotten "Hello World!" out of the way?

[Wham]

Ya Know something. All one has to do is just read the postings here about pay P2P. If you think they are biased, ask your friend or even a stranger.
Just for the fun of it, I sat down an listed what a good P2P site would have to have to be satisfactory for me.
I came up with 16 items. Believe it or not, one of the items that this article talks about is on the list but it was dead last on the list. This item is a feeling of community. All I can say to this company and its ideas is that if you are baseing your fame and fortune on this, I think you will be very dissapointed and end up loseing your shirt.
You better get some more items on your list if you want to make it a go. But Good luck to you. The more compitition the better.

[oreoleo]

So what's the point, why wouldn't a user just want to download from iTunes or Napster, I mean what's the benifet, all u do is save them money on all of the expensive servers and you are like a slave to them and distribute the music to other users, I don't get the point of that unless they pay you.

[evilmegaman]

Hmm do they have a website?

[team_escape]

thanks, but no thanks. Illegal always fills my iRiver nice and good

This pay P2P joke should be added to the ripoff site list.

Amen to that

[ashton]

What do they have? Have they at least gotten "Hello World!" out of the way?

Doubt it...

[ashton]

Hmm do they have a website?

http//www.mashboxx.com/

broken image now too.

[Mel_Smiley_VIP]

I already pay my ISP for P2P service. The only other thing broadband is good for is videogames.