Posted in Music & Music Players on June 27th, 2010 by admin
LimeWire has gone and done what a lot of people expected – and probably a decent number feared – they would. They’re trying to do a Napster and change to a subscription (and presumably a legitimate) business model. We sincerely hope that they won’t “do a Napster” and almost immediate have to close down, but we dear the worst.
So why has the filesharing giant decided to go on this rather odd path? Why the sudden change in heart? Well, multimillion dollar lawsuits certainly don’t help their cause, nor do the many more that are threatened by the RIAA and its minions. To say LimeWire’s digital hand has been forced is understating the issue: they have absolutely, 100%, completely and utterly no choice in this particular matter.
The plan for this service seems complex. It is a cloud based service with several integrated features… whatever that means. It will combine the best aspects of iTunes and Spotify, apparently.
We may sound a little cynical about this whole thing, but this cynicism is tinged with a resounding sadness. LimeWire represented all that was good and exciting about filesharing. LimeWire WAS the wild west. To see it pandering to the whims of big business is a little sad. We really hope that they pull through.