OK, two main stories this week. First up is Microsoft’s launch [leech] in all things audio with their first major play in digital content distribution.

In addition to creating a new audio format to compete with MP3 [those MS guy’s crack me up every time], they are building a sophisticated backend system into Windows 2000 that will be able to encrypt, manage, and track digital files as they are passed from one user to the next over the Net.

The new audio format, MSAudio 4.0, will be part of an upcoming Windows Media player, which will continue to support MP3 and other popular audio formats.

Gary Schare, lead product manager for Windows media technology at Microsoft, said the new Audio 4.0 format would not be part of the next Media player release, which will piggyback on this week’s Internet Explorer launch. Schare would not say when MSAudio 4.0 would make its debut.

Scott Sander, president of Sightsound.com, a company that holds a patent for selling music through online downloads, has consulted with Microsoft on a system for distributing digital music. He said MS Audio 4.0 will create files that are about half the size of MP3 files. Sander also said the security mechanism that Microsoft is developing in Windows 2000 will work with MP3 and other formats in addition to MSAudio 4.0. Shite, you can run, but can’t hide.

Second up is the surprise story that the makers of WinAmp and ShoutCast, Nullsoft have been sued for US$20M.

A little-known company called PlayMedia Systems filed suit on Monday against Nullsoft accusing the company of ripping off its code for decoding MPEG files. Nullsoft says the suit has no merit.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Los Angeles,

accuses Nullsoft and the company’s president, Justin Frankel, of copyright infringement, fraud, and breach of contract. It seeks a permanent injunction against the company, plus about US$20 million in damages.

They certainly seem to have plenty to shout about.

http://www.nullsoft.com/  

http://www.playmediasystems.com/