April 4, 2000

Now it's Mike Ovitz's turn to share some Internet music files. Wonder if he'll be receiving a call from the RIAA's Hilary Rosen soon.

Self-described “broadband entertainment portal” Scour.net has launched the beta version of its SX software, a downloadable freeware application designed to compete with controversial file-sharing programs like Napster and Gnutella.

The search interface sorts users with requested files by their connection speeds (as do Napster and Gnutella). Meanwhile, the “Media Library” separates downloaded (and uploadable) files into folders for music, video and images. A “Hotlist” option keeps track of favorite fellow users.

Users can opt to share all, some or none of their own files with the Scour multimedia database.

Meanwhile, profiles of a handful of artists appear on the SX main page, with free MP3s by those acts offered in conjunction with labels. Offline file-sharing, user chat and a Linux version are in the planning stages.

Like Napster and Gnutella, Scour's program is already raising hackles on some copyright holders, though the company's Copyright Infringement Policy attempts to shift all responsibility to its users. “We respect and want to protect content and copyright owners, as well as our users, and ourselves,” the policy statement begins. “Unauthorized copying, distribution, modification, public display or public performance of copyrighted works is an infringement of copyright holders' rights. You should be aware that some of the files other SX users designate to share may have been created or distributed without the copyright owners' authorization.” Yeah, and you shouldn't pull that tagoff yourliving room sofa, either.

Now that you've read the above, feel free to log on and grab those Chumbawamba B-sides. It's anarchy on the Web.