Analog Strikes Back. A pair of M.I.T. students have invented a new way to share music that uses analog recordings and cable television to stay "within the odd boundaries of copyright law," reports John Schwartz in The New York Times. The operative loophole is that laws enacted to prevent distribution of digital files via the internet don't apply to analog transmission. The result, say its inventors, is "a new kind of library" that "takes advantage of the relatively less-restrictive licensing that the industry makes for... analog transmissions." In addition, it just so happens that M.I.T., like many other educational institutions, has "blanket licenses" for analog transmissions. Called Libraries Access to Music Project, or L.A.M.P., http://lamp.mit.edu, the enterprise is backed not only by M.I.T. but also with some research dollars from Microsoft Corporation. The two students, Keith Winstein and Josh Mandel, set up the system so that M.I.T. students, faculty and staff can both "choose from 16 channels of music" as well as "schedule 80-minute blocks of time to" program a channel. Some 3,500 CDs will be available initially, with the discs selected based on a student poll. Total cost of the project, so far is $10,000 for the equipment and another $25,000 for "the music, which was bought through a company that provides music on hard drives for the radio industry." "It's kind of brilliant ... they've sidestepped the stonewall that the music companies have tried to put up between campus users and music sharing," says Mike Goodman of Public Knowledge. Comments Keith Winstein, who is a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science: "We certainly hope that by having access to all this music immediately, on demand, any time you want, students would be less likely to break the law." The sound quality of the music is said to be "not quite as good as a CD on a home stereo, but ... better than F.M. radio." Plans are to make the new software available to other college campuses. Via Coolnews Read Full NYTimes article