HMV, Woolworths, 7digital, Digitalstores, Tescodigital, Tunetribe, and Play.com have all agreed to promote a new “MP3 compatible” logo that they hope will raise the profile of the open MP3 music format and inform users on what they can do with their DRM-free downloads.
The logo should also help consumers identify legal music stores from P2P.
The Entertainment Retailers Association created the logo and says it will emphasize that MP3s can be played in all media players.
7digital’s Ben Drury added that digital sales “have been booming because users love the freedom of MP3″.
“The beauty of an MP3 file is that once you have bought it, you don’t need to be a computer genius or a lawyer to make it work and you are not locked in to a relationship with a single retailer or hardware manufacturer,” he said.
The BPI is also standing behind the new proposal.
“This logo will not only help give consumers confidence that the music files they are buying will play on a wide range of devices, but will also help them know that they are legal and that artists are getting paid,” noted Geoff Taylor, BPI chief executive.
Result for: download site
The popular Chinese movie download site Jeboo has filed a lawsuit against the MPA for libel . The statement in question implies that Jeboo admitted to piracy as part of a past legal settlement. Jeboo claims it did no such admission.
MPA officials refused comment on the suit, which was filed in a Beijing court last week.
Back in September, Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures and Paramount
Five studios sued Jeboo in Shanghai for “supplying Internet cafes with computer software that allowed users to download and watch illegal copies of 20 Hollywood movies, including “Hitch” and “Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest.””
Earlier this month the MPA announced that Jeboo had settled with the studios and that the defendants “confirmed the cessation of infringing activities,”, apologized to the studios and also paid monetary compensation.
Company official Xie Jiangping says the settlement is confidential but that Jeboo never admitted to piracy. “We cannot tolerate statements that don’t reflect the truth,” he added.
Result for: download site
France’s largest retailer, the Carrefour Group has announced that they will be launching a movie download service that will allow customers to buy or rent movies and TV episodes.
The Group operates supermarkets and grocery stores around Europe that carry DVDs but wants to “expand its focus on entertainment, bringing it closer to customers.”
Carrefour’s international non-food chief, Christophe Geoffroy, said the “shopping experience would be simple and fast, with downloads taking about 3 minutes,” probably meaning that most videos could be streamed. He also noted that VOD (video on demand) market in Europe was not currently great but growth was expected. He cited analyst research which predicts “Europe’s movie download market will be worth over about 690 Euros (over $1 billion) by 2011.”
The announcement follows Tescos similar announcement last week in which they launched a music and video download site focusing on MP3 albums.
