Michael Robertson, who already participated in one reinvention of the music business by founding MP3.com, is launching a new way to listen to talk radio and music.
His startup is called DAR.fm (DAR stands for &''digital audio recorder&'') and he demonstrated on-stage at the Launch conference in San Francisco today. Robertson compared the new service to what DVR does for television. Just as DVR lets you record many TV shows at any time, he said DAR.fm will allow you to record the radio shows that you care about.
The service browses radio stations that already broadcast their content online and lets you search that content by station or by show. Then you just select the shows that you want to hear, hit &''record&'', and at the appointed time DAR.fm makes the recording for you. DAR.fm allows you to listen to the recording when you want, either in your Web browser or on applications for iPhone, Android, and other phones.
It isna4ぎa4д just a single, undigested recording either &8212' Robertson showed that if you recorded a music station, DAR.fm would allow you to navigate between each song. In other words, it&'s Internet radio with control that you won&'t find in an application like Pandora. (Pandora, by the way, may be adding talk radio features in the future.)
But arena4ぎa4д there legal issues with these recordings Robertson said therea4ぎa4г legal precedent in the cable industry, with court cases protecting the right to make these recordings as long as viewers hit the record button, even if ita4ぎa4г a virtual record button hosted on a companya4ぎa4г servers.
Still, Robertson did close his presentation with a little speech about how the music industry hasna4ぎa4д changed. Or at least the legal departments havena4ぎa4д &8212' they still want to sue everyone. (MP3.com was one of the first companies sued by the record industry.) Robertson said hea4ぎa4г hopeful that there will finally be some changes as CD sales a4ぎAcratera4ぎ.
a4ぎAI swore to myself Ia4ぎa4m not going to do another digital music thing, and here I am,a4ぎ he said, turning to conference organizer Jason Calacanis and adding, &''Thanks, Jason.&''
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Companies: Dar.fm
People: Michael Robertson
Companies: Dar.fm
People: Michael Robertson
Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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