DIGITAL MUSIC
Listen.com is tuning up to be the Yahoo! of downloadable music. The recently launched search engine, headed by Rob Reid, a 34-year-old former venture capitalist and the author of Architects of the Web, steers users to audio files in a variety of formats. Visitors can drill down through scores of musical styles and view critiques of bands written by a team of editors. "We're built by human judgment, not by computer algorithms," says Reid. The field is rapidly crowding with rivals, including tunes.com, but CNET's Halsey Minor thinks enough of Listen.com's chances to have invested $1 million in the company.
The search engine's biggest challenge may be waiting for the main act to begin - a secure digital music standard to prevent piracy. At present, the site avoids listing unauthorized music files and won't touch anything that resides on an anonymous FTP server. As a result, most files the search engine returns are either self-posted clips by unsigned artists, free teasers distributed by indie labels, or just plain lame. When G.E. Smith is listed as a "Big Shot" in Listen.com's Blues category, you know not everyone's been invited to the party.
Reid anticipates a flood of legal content going online for the Christmas season. With "mp3" replacing "sex" as the most frequently searched word on the Net, the demand for downloadable music is undeniably strong. But Listen.com has to capture many more eyeballs - and ears - before it can play on the same stage as Yahoo!
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