Simplify Media - Kazaa w/o downloads for iTunes
By Vivek | July 2nd, 2007 at 02:07 pm ET
I think the smart team at Simplify Media borrowed a trick or two from Apple product strategy itself in their new product launch that enables users to share their music files with others.
The big-big difference here is that instead of being another p2p app, you can share the files from within iTunes player without ever downloading the music files themselves. All the music gets streamed from your friend’s PC to yours and the other way round too, for FREE.
Besides the above, the best part of the app is that it offers cross-format (mp3, wma, aac) as well as cross-platform (PC and Mac) support from the very start
So does that mean people sharing music without paying a dime to the man in the middle? Yes! I am pretty sure this is going to make Steve Jobs and RIAA real mad. Although I am not technically aware as to how the app works or if it can be blocked, but I do expect Steve to order a patch to try and block this activity.
As for the file types that can be shared with your groupies- you can share mp3, aac and wma files located in the directories you designate. Computers signed in with Simplify Media screen name and authorized by the iTunes Store can play iTunes purchased songs. Music file exceptions include DRM protected wma files, vorbis, and lossless formats like WAV and FLAC.
To get started both parties need to download and install the Simplify Media desktop/mac client and let the app take care of rest.
Links:
Simplify Media
on July 2nd, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Thanks for the review! You did a fantastic job summarizing our functionality. Our desire is to help others find new music, and we expect recording artists to appreciate this. I%u2019d add that a second, and thus far more common use case, is to allow you to enjoy your own songs on one of your other computers (think home and office).
If you or your readers have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact us.
Paul Joyce
Co-founder, Simplify Media
on August 2nd, 2007 at 12:17 am
[…] Simplify Media today launched a new build of their app that now supports Windows Vista. I had written about the startup when it had just launched it’s core downloadable application that enables sharing of music files from right inside the iTunes client. Platforms supported from the very start include Windows XP and Mac OSX 10.4. […]
on September 10th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
[…] I think Simplify Media really needs a new name. Something that is more representative of their smart music sharing app and the app they are integrating with, i.e. iTunes. Right now they sound so ……. Anyway, in case you haven’t heard about the startup, their downloadable app enables sharing music files right from iTunes music app located on PCs or Macs. I had written about them couple of months back. […]