Paul Andersen ([email protected])
Mon, 01 Feb 1999 09:25:17 -0800
URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/02/01
/BU13718.DTL
Lycos will launch a new Internet directory today dedicated to searching for
songs in the popular MP3 format.
The new MP3 Search service can look through about 500,000 MP3- compressed
audio files on the Web that Lycos has cataloged, said Rob Frasca, Lycos
vice president and general manager.
Lycos decided to jump onto the MP3 bandwagon after noticing a consistent
increase in MP3 searches on its search engines. The term MP3 consistently
ranks in the top five of all searches on Lycos and is a solid No. 2 on the
more tech-oriented HotBot search engine, Frasca said.
Major record labels are complaining that many of the popular songs posted
in the MP3 format, a compression standard that shrinks the size of audio
files for easier computer storage and transmission, are pirated.
Frasca said the new search site provides links to download MP3 files but
that for now it will not distinguish between legally and illegally posted
songs. However, MP3 Search -- found at ftpsearch.lycos.com -- can
eventually flag songs that have digital copyright codes or other
technologies that the music industry choses.
Meanwhile, Diamond Multimedia Systems, the San Jose company that is
marketing a controversial portable MP3 player called the Rio, launched its
own new Web site at www.rioport.com that also has links to MP3-format
music. Diamond is trying to promote legal music that artists have made
available in the MP3 format.
�1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page B5
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