AltaVista is taking a more in-depth look at Web media content with a new search engine launched this week that includes locating files in the controversial MP3 format.
AltaVista, a subsidiary of Compaq Computer, launched a photo search engine last October, and this newest iteration turns it into a more comprehensive media search tool. The AV Photo and Media Finder scans the Web for about a dozen different media formats -- WAV, RealAudio, RealVideo, QuickTime, ASF, MPEG, AVI among them -- and the company said it links to more than 17 million distinct photos, video, and audio clips.
Although MP3 is currently the second-most popular search term on the Web, the compression format also has been a source of contention due to the extensive amount of pirated music it has made available.
Earlier this month, the US recording industry said it was considering a lawsuit against the Lycos search engine for its new MP3 search engine.
Lycos is in the process of acquiring Wired Digital, the parent company of Wired News.
AltaVista said that its new engine is not specifically designed for MP3, but is just one of many formats that it supports.
"We recognize that MP3 is a search term that people are going to look up, and our emphasis is to provide all media formats. So if someone looks up MP3, that's their choice," said Tracy Roberts, a product manager for AltaVista.
As MP3 and other copyright and intellectual property issues are hashed out on the Web, the search engine's role in leading people to unauthorized materials may come under more scrutiny.
"We're very concerned about protecting copyrights and intellectual property, and do a couple of things in that area," said Don Dodge, engineering manager for AltaVista's search group. "If any site developer doesn't want their content indexed, they can put a robot exclusion on the site which prevents it from being crawled.... We're also working with Digimarc [a watermarking and tracking service]."
