Anything Under the Sun!!!

SpiralFrog.com, a site supported by ads, which would provide free music and video download, is being launched in U.S. and Canada. This site would pay a certain percentage of their ad revenue to record companies and in turn, would be a legal downloading site. This is being done in view of reducing the popularity of illegal sharing and downloading sites.

So, what are the pros and cons of such a site???

Pros:

1. A legal way of downloading
2. Reduction in piracy
3. No threats of adwares or spywares
4. You cannot post copies or videos taken from SpiralFrog

Cons:

1. You need to register on to this site and if you don’t login every month, whatever you have downloaded gets locked and you can’t play it.
2. Not compatible with Apple’s Mac or Ipod.
3. Universal Music group is the only major label that has licensed its music to SpiralFrog.
4. So, right now only around 800,000 tracks and 3,500 music videos (though they are planning to increase that number in sometime).

Don’t know if a Pro or Con:

1. Doesn’t allow the user to burn tracks onto a CD.
2. The tracks carry copy protections, like iTunes, etc.
3. Users are allowed to copy their downloads to no more than two portable music players or compatible mobile phones at one time.

There are also other issues which the site might face. For example, how many users would actually go through the ads? Would the ads generate any revenue? Another setback for the site is the delay in its launch (it was supposed to be launched by the end of 2006). Apart from all that the users of this site would be music lovers, who would want a hassle-free and faster way to download. So, it’s for us to decide whether sites like these are meant to stay or not.