What a week for MP3. First up, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has initiated criminal proceedings against the Norwegian software company FAST, alleging that FAST’s software is used to download copyrighted music illegally posted on the Web after it is found by the Lycos specialist music search engine, MP3 Search.

The IFPI is also looking into the possibility of taking legal action against Lycos, and an IFPI executive says: “These unauthorized files include material from virtually every artist you can think of, from the Beatles to Madonna. We can’t tolerate a situation where a search engine as sophisticated as this helps people to access hundreds of thousands of pirated files.”

http://mp3.lycos.com/

Then can the survey from the Recording Industry Association of America, that claimed MP3 files may be a contributing factor to the decline in music purchases by 15- to 24-year- olds.

The survey, which accounts for trends in genre, gender, age, buying outlets, and other variables, concludes that there has been a drop in music purchases among younger customers, contrasted by significant growth among those age 35 and older.

“The continuing drop-off in the proportion of purchases accounted for by 15- to 24-year-olds (32.2 percent in 1996 versus 28 percent in 1998), once the mainstay of the market, is puzzling. Potentially the rise of the Internet as a free entertainment center, and the accompanying availability of free MP3 music files, could be contributing factors.”

http://www.riaa.com/

And finally, MP3-Go arrives hot to trott from Scotland. This all-in-one system includes a CD-ripper, portable unit, and Internet access device to download songs, sans PC. The MP3-Go system is in prototype stage, and is expected to be available by Christmas in the US$300-400 range, according to Malcolm Thomson, a spokesman for Memory Corporation, which developed the system.

“This is pretty unique, and a major selling point is that it’s a non-PC based system,” he said. “This is another piece of hi-fi, so you don’t have to be PC-literate to use it.”

The MP3-Go system is comprised of three separate units: a central storage and compression unit, a portable player, and an Internet-enabled device for downloading MP3 files. The combination provides a complete system for ripping CDs into the MP3 format &£45;- or downloading files from the Net &£45;- and then dropping them into the portable device for customized, day-to-day music selections.

http://www.mp3-go.com/