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Forget sending around MP3s using Web-based email. MP3.com and i-drive have teamed up so that you can share files over the Net for free.
MP3 files may be hot and a fraction of the size of CD tracks, but they can still end up eating a significant chunk of hard disk space. I-drive hopes to capitalize on the problem by offering users free space on their servers to save and trade tunes.
On Thursday, online music hub MP3.com announced a deal with i-drive to offer its members 50 MB of storage -- or about one hours worth of jams -- to share their favorite MP3.com downloads.
"This relationship is a natural," said Jeff Bonforte, founder and chief exec of i-drive.com. "MP3.com has changed the way people think about music and i-drive is changing the way people think about files."
I-drive, which offers Web-based storage space for users to upload any kind of file -- digital photographs, Word documents, MP3s -- to share with friends who have access to the i-drive, is also trying to earn a niche as an ad-supported free Web service, similar to Web-based email. I-drive also has automated features for downloading files at night or during a PC's idle time. The service also has a synchronization option for matching folders on a desktop with what's on the i-drive.
MP3s have no built-in copy protection or encryption, making it easy to copy, share, and trade files with others. MP3.com users who either don't have their own Web page or lack the know-how to upload files from a computer can use i-drive to trade with fellow music fans, said Bonforte.
The deal with MP3.com lets users "sideload" files, meaning that instead of downloading files from a Web site to their PC and then the i-drive, the file can be sent directly to i-drive.
I-drive competitors include driveway.com, which claims 1 million users, and companies like X drive. MP3.com is the first music site to dabble into the storage game.
But if the Web storage business model proves successful, the big portals will be quick to rush in and increase competition, according to IDC analyst Malcolm Maclachlan, "The portals are going to figure out a way to do it and keep it simple. It's not rocket science."
But Bonforte said there are about 10,000 i-drive accounts being used. I-drive has announced partnerships with universities like Stanford, and has been talking to just about all the portals.
Although MP3.com offers legal, free downloads from unsigned bands, the number of illegal MP3 files zooming around the Net could result in customers posting pirated files to i-drive's servers. Bonforte said the company will not be actively policing its site. He added that they shut down i-drives that store illegal content.
Bonforte said it easy to detect a site that is using up a lot of bandwidth, which would indicate a lot of people are downloading files from it. He said the company has only seen less than 1 percent of its users post illegal files. I-drive's user agreement states that the company assumes no liability for any of the data stored on its Web site.
"Obviously, each time there is a twist in technology, there is a new twist in the law," said Steve Bazerman, partner at Bazerman and Drangel, an intellectual property and new media law firm in New York. If i-drive is "purely [administrative] in function, this a tendency to let [such companies] off the hook," he said.
"I don't see it as dangerous to this business model," said Maclachlan,. "The idea is really cool."
Bonforte said his company has addressed security concerns in building the service. "It is obviously an issue, especially with universities" that i-drive works with, said Bonforte. I-drive uses SSL, its servers are behind a firewall, and each database has its own level of security, he said.
But some privacy advocates see Web-based storage as having security problems similar to Hotmail -- Microsoft's Web based email service that was cracked, exposing people's accounts. "No security is perfect," said David Sobel, general counsel at EPIC. "There are always potential vulnerabilities."
Sobel pointed out that any sensitive information hosted by a third party is more easily obtained by law enforcement through a subpoena to a third party than by getting a search warrant to get access to the material from the original source.
