DAR.fm - "Record, play and pause your favorite radio using DAR.fm"

Well, he has done it again.  Michael Robertson, founder of MP3.com, MPRtunes, and a number of other rule-testing music startups has rolled our DAR.fm.  Aptly a shortening of digital audio recorder, this service allows you to choose any radio show broadcast on virtually every radio station in the World and seamlessly capture that show for later listening.  Featuring more than 1000 stations from countries all around the world, this is certainly an interesting offering. Upon first look, I figured I must give this a try... so I signed up for their Beta.  Quickly I realized that the back-end for this site is none other than MP3tunes.com (one of Michael's other ventures).  The interface is simplistic and easy to use.  It isn't the most attractive UI, but it gets the job done.  After a few searches, I found myself saving shows that aren't available in my neck of the woods..  and after going back to hear my recorded shows- I found that the audio is not as terrible as I had suspected it might be.  The service works.  It isn't fancy, or extravagant, but it works.  A Hyundai if you will.

As I find myself clicking around and saving radio shows which will be available to me later at my new MP3tunes.com account, I cant help but wonder about the legalities of such a venture.  Michael's defense is that this is essentially DVR, but for Radio.  Which is a point I can see being very relevant, however in my experience- anytime a digital service uses or makes use of other people's content red flags go up, sirens and bells go off, and take down notices ensue.  I kind-of hope that doesn't happen in this instance as I am really excited about actually getting to hear the Henry Rollins radio show which is not available in Nashville.. but knowing Clearchannel, Viacom, Cumulus, etc I am certain this will not go down without a fight.  I say way to go Michael, for seeing a need, creating a product and filling a niche.  Who knows how long the service will withstand the legal bombardment it is likely to get, but for the meantime...  listen on!

It's in the Clouds- Amazon launches "Cloud Drive" (and music service)

Well it is now official.  Amazon.com has launched the Amazon Cloud.  This is FREE cloud based storage (much like dropbox), but with an emphasis on media it would seem.  Amazon is offering all users 5 GBs out of the gate with the option to upgrade your storage to up to a Terra-byte of storage. (Note: if you buy an album from Amazon MP3, they will upgrade you to 20 GB for free)

The cloud is accessible from any computer and features Android mobile capabilities for streaming the music from your Cloud via QR code.  One interesting thing to note about this storage solution is the caveat that all Amazon MP3 downloads do not count against your storage allotment.  This is an interesting sales point and is yet another spur in Apple's side (along with the obvious exclusion of an Ipad/iPhone app).

My reaction:

On first look, the service is pretty bare bones.  I have made several attempts to upload all of my Amazon MP3 purchases and it seems to want me to do so one file at a time <ugh>.  This coupled with the fact that I am already an avid user of dropbox and am also an iPhone user may hamper my willingness to convert to the Amazon cloud.  Once they enable me to better use this on my devices- it is a done deal though.  This said, I never pass up a good deal and FREE is the best deal- so I have acquired my 5 GB of storage and plan to make good use of it despite the minimal launch functionality.

Music in the Clouds?:

Let's face it folks, Amazon beat everyone else to the punch on the Cloud-Based music idea.  Even though, the idea is NOT new and several other companies have made runs at operating such a service dating back to 1999 with services such as "Myplay."  The big hangup with moving music to the cloud has always been the legality of such a move and the Major's reluctance to play nice in the sandbox regarding such an idea.  I am unsure whether Amazon got major label buy-in, or is operating with the blessing of their huge, well armed legal team under the idea that once the music is purchased, users may do what they want with it for their own personal use (which is what I agree with).  In any case, this marks a changing paradigm in the music industry.  Forget about being able to store your files in the cloud... being able to store your music and easily access it is going to be monumental.