Thursday, April 24, 2008

Sony swallows Gracenote

Digging deeply into its corporate pockets, Sony has bought Gracenote for USD260million.

The Gracenote technology isn't that spizzy, so it's clear that what Sony has forked out for is the database of CD album and track names. Indeed, although Forbes claim that iTunes wouldn't be able to function without Gracenote might be a little overstating the case, it is clear that Apple make much use of the database; it's also intresting to note that an RIAA parent company will now get a little heads-up when CDs are ripped on most internet-attached PCs around the globe.

Now that the CDdatabase is a proper business, does that mean we can complain to Sony when it misidentifies a Slingbacks CD as Who Let The Dogs Out?


5 comments:

ian said...

Slingbacks! All pop, no star!

Unknown said...

Would a CDDB request and an IP address be sufficient to get a search warrant in any jurisdiction?

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

Given that Sony believe that ripping CDs to your own PC for your own use is a breach of licence, they'd probably think so.

Anonymous said...

The rootkit gang now has control of CDDB. This is frightening. Time to stop using software with dis-gracenote inside.

Anonymous said...

iTunes is one that still uses CDDB. But you can circumvent it if you edit your hosts file.

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