Stanford University sophomore David Weekly wants to wipe out the prepacked CD. Since discovering an extension of a compression technique called MP3, he distributes CD-quality rock and hip hop over the Internet. Weekly's not alone. MP3's impressive 12-to-1 compression ratio has spurred a flood of pirating activity.
When Geffen Records told Stanford about Weekly's site, the university shut it down. So Weekly formed Universal Digital Media LLC in hopes of striking a deal to legally distribute tunes. The way he sees it, studios are forestalling the inevitable. "The Net renders the need for physical distribution obsolete," he says. "Soon, we'll all sell custom digital packages of songs."
-Rachel Lehmann-Haupt
ELECTRIC WORD
Microsoft Morphs into a Service Company
The Music Pirates
