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JUST OUTTA BETA
Garage Bands Go Global
Release:Spring
With more pages than your local library, the Web has become the première medium for the dissemination of documents authored by the most obscure individuals. If Liquid Audio, a 30-person Internet software company based in Redwood City, California, has its way, self-publishing will take on a whole new meaning - and medium. Liquid Audio is ramping up a suite of tools and software that will allow mom-and-pop music mongers to preview, distribute, and purchase tunes over the Internet, as well as protect music if it falls into the wrong hands.
Employing proprietary compression tools, the Liquid Audio player and server can stream high fidelity music over the Net. This spring, Liquid Audio will enhance its existing line of music-on-demand products with encryption and watermarking technologies that will secure digitally purchased music. Software that will burn your downloaded songs to CD - assuming you've got a CD-ROM recorder - will also be available. The result is a fully functional system for listening to, buying, and recording music over the Net.
"These technologies are going to bring record stores, music labels, and bands online," says Tom Murphy, Liquid Audio electronic marketing manager. "We're not going to put the record stores out of business, but we will make more music available to more people. By eliminating inventory concerns, we give every indie label and garage band the ability to make its music available for purchase."
But will limited bandwidth stand in the way? It's difficult to say who will be willing to wait for a 50-Mbyte download over a modem or ISDN connection. And will Liquid Audio's watermarking and digital-signature technologies - which can trace but not prevent piracy - placate the copyright concerns of record companies and artists?
Similar problems stand in the way of most commercial Net ventures, so it's safe to say that there's a truckload of money to be made in solving them. But while you wait, Liquid Audio could help you make a few bucks off that demo tape you cut in college.
Liquid Audio: +1 (415) 562 0880,on the Web at www.liquidaudio.com/.
Release:February
Dialog and Nexis information services are finally interfacing with the Web. While each company has several offerings in the works, Dialog Web will hit the streets soon and will serve up tons more info through your browser - even if you do have to pay for it.
Knight-Ridder Information Inc.: +1 (415) 254 8800.
Release:March
In his book Stuff: The Things the World Is Made Of , Ivan Amato argues that America may well rise - or fall - depending on the strength of its material scientists. The scientists that build new mate-rials - atom by atom - are a new kind of hero, crafting everything from synthetic diamonds to micromachines.
BasicBooks: (800) 331 3761, +1 (212) 207 7000.
Release: February
Conceived by the Drucker Foundation - the vanguard of the new economy
The Organization of the Future pulls together essays by acclaimed visionaries such as Jay Galbraith, Anthony Smith, and Charles Handy who ponder the public, private, and social future of human enterprise.
Jossey-Bass Publishers: (800) 956 7739, +1 (415) 433 1740, on the Web at www.jbp.com/ .
Release: March
Seems compact discs are getting better every minute. The CD-RW format allows users to read, write, and rewrite to discs. Whether this assures their future is another matter, but it's nice to know that in storage media at least, you've got some good choices.
Philips Electronics N.V.: (800) 235 7373, +1 (408) 453 7373.
Release: January
What does it say in this age of CG when the benchmark of sci-fi films is almost 20 years old and still going strong? Yes, Star Wars is back and digitally remastered.
20th Century Fox: www.starwars.com/ .
Release: March
Travel to Cyclone, Arizona, and help a forlorn teen find his missing friends in Sierra's new game, Shivers II: Harvest of Souls . It may sound rather ordinary, but Shivers II is pumped up by sweeping 360-degree views and an Internet chat feature that dovetails nicely with the company's expanding online game library.
Sierra On-Line: (800) 757 7707, +1 (206) 649 9800, on the Web at:, www.sierra.com/.
