Megabox | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 20 Jan 2014 11:03:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Megabox | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Kim Dotcom offers early tweeters Baboom beta access https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-offers-early-tweeters-baboom-beta-access/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-offers-early-tweeters-baboom-beta-access/#respond Mon, 20 Jan 2014 11:03:33 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=172997 Kim Dotcom may not be having his Party Party today, but he is looking to give people that tweet out promotion for his new music service, Baboom, early beta access to the site, which is supposed to offer fair royalties to artists and give them a new way to interact with fans and for the …

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Kim Dotcom may not be having his Party Party today, but he is looking to give people that tweet out promotion for his new music service, Baboom, early beta access to the site, which is supposed to offer fair royalties to artists and give them a new way to interact with fans and for the latter to listen the music they love for free.

The site officially launched – though not the public – a few hours ago, with Kim Dotcom's album being the first to go live. However Dotcom quickly followed up the launch announcement with the following tweet:”Make the following tweet to get a beta invite to #Baboom: “Checkout Kim Dotcom's #Baboom at http://Baboom.com””

baboom
The Baboom landing page is pretty swish looking site

He also noted a few minutes later that within the first hour of the site going live – with only his album up for listening – over 78,000 songs had been played. Not a bad start for sure.

Until beta invites are sent out, there is a demo version of the site that can be trialled, but as noted above it only has one album on it at the moment – Dotcom's own new release, Good Times. However it does give an idea of the site's functionality. There's a music player that works continuously as you navigate the site, along with a tab dedicated to album and song choice. There's also a video section to watch Dotcom (and in future other artists) in action, a photo section for images and a download tab so you can distribute music too.

baboom
While launching a site with your own album seems a bit self serving, Timerlake did it with MySpace and I'd still rather listen to anything Dotcom put out than Rebecca Black

There's also social networking built into every facet of the site, letting you see the latest tweets from Dotcom, Mega and Baboom on the founder's timeline.

Perhaps the biggest selling point for artists with Baboom however, will be that it allows them to earn revenue from their music being listened to, which could make it easier for independent artists to break even and for bigger ones to distance themselves from music labels – if the site takes off that is.

KitGuru Says: The question is, will this be successful? Baboom blends social networking with music, video and imagery, something that seems very similar to the revamped MySpace (though Baboom's revenue sharing is a bit different), which while looking impressive and contemporary hasn't made much of a splash since its relaunch. Do you guys think Baboom will be any different? 

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Forget Megabox, Kim Dotcom is talking music with Baboom https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/forget-megabox-kim-dotcom-is-talking-music-with-baboom/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/forget-megabox-kim-dotcom-is-talking-music-with-baboom/#respond Mon, 09 Sep 2013 11:36:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=151635 We've heard a lot about Kim Dotcom's Megabox in the past, even seeing a video teaser of some skinny jeans working on it back in September last year, but now apparently that name is dead. Following on from Dotcom's resignation as director of encrypted backup service MEGA, he's renamed his upcoming music platform Baboom. This …

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We've heard a lot about Kim Dotcom's Megabox in the past, even seeing a video teaser of some skinny jeans working on it back in September last year, but now apparently that name is dead. Following on from Dotcom's resignation as director of encrypted backup service MEGA, he's renamed his upcoming music platform Baboom.

This is just the latest refresh in a long running development. Dotcom's been hacking away to create an open platform for musicians to have control over their content and interact with fans for almost two years, placing the initial building blocks at the end of 2011.

Partly due to the US government holding the domain name Megabox.com and partly it seems to distance himself from the Mega brand, Dotcom has now confirmed to TorrentFreak that the new site will be called Baboom and will be found at Baboom.com.

“I am really excited about Baboom. I can’t wait for artists to see what I have created for them. Their entire career can be managed on Baboom. Artists never had more freedom, transparency and control,” he said.

We've also been given a sneak look at Baboom, with the caveat that some design elements may change in the future.

baboom
Artists shown at the moment are just placeholders, but Dotcom does purportedly have some big names on board. 

The idea behind the site is two fold. As well as providing managerial tools for artists and their staff, it also allows consumers to listen to music for free with no restrictions apart from a few adverts. Artists are then compensated for their music from advertising revenue. In Dotcom's eyes, this will reduce piracy, while at the same time making sure musicians feel like they're getting paid for their work. Of course though, in a fashion similar to Spotify, there will also be a paid for, ad-free version which is available for those that want it.

As it stands, there is no announced release date for Baboom, or at whether it will be affected by the outcome of Dotcom's impending extradition trial.

KitGuru Says: This doesn't sound wholly different from Spotify, apart from the fact that artists have more control over their music. However, if a platform like this was successful enough to garner large user numbers, it could really outmode a lot of services traditionally handled by record labels, making them even more redundant. Look out for some sort of legal action by the RIAA and BPI sooner rather than later. 

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Kim Dotcom’s Mega launch could break bail https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcoms-mega-launch-could-break-bail/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcoms-mega-launch-could-break-bail/#respond Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:49:29 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=113793 If Kim Dotcom launches the new Mega file sharing website as he plans to do on 20th January 2013 – the anniversary of Megaupload's shutdown – then he could be found in breach of his bail, which he was only granted earlier this year after stating that he had no plans to relaunch Megaupload or …

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If Kim Dotcom launches the new Mega file sharing website as he plans to do on 20th January 2013 – the anniversary of Megaupload's shutdown – then he could be found in breach of his bail, which he was only granted earlier this year after stating that he had no plans to relaunch Megaupload or a similar service.

The court documents, quoted by Techdirt, say that because Dotcom made these claims, “If defendant Dotcom intentionally misled the court in New Zealand about his intentions and capabilities in order to obtain his release from pre-extradition confinement, it seems Defense Counsel’s representation might endanger Dotcom’s bail situation or even subject him to additional charges.”

Kim Dotcom
Dotcom has taken on more of an activist outlook since his arrest

This doesn't directly address Mega, or Megabox, the two services that Dotcom is apparently working on with his team of hipsters, but this leaves it wide open for the Department of Justice to target any developments that remotely resemble the original file locker site and use it to consider it a breach of bail terms. This would not only be a problem for Mr Dotcom's current freedom, but would also harm his case and perhaps that of the US extradition trial due to take place some time in 2013.

KitGuru Says: Quite a few commenters on this development consider the DOJ to clutching at straws, since the wording is pretty vague and seems to be an attempt at a catchall for new Dotcom developments. It could be a sign of desperation on the part of the authorities. What do you guys think?

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Megaupload user to get a hearing https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/megaupload-user-to-get-a-hearing/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/megaupload-user-to-get-a-hearing/#respond Fri, 05 Oct 2012 18:12:28 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=110847 One of the users that has his data seized as part of the Megaupload takedown by US and NZ authorities, Kyle Goodwin, has been granted a hearing, that will allow him to fight for the retrieval of his data – something that the US officials are not keen on at all. The claim by the …

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One of the users that has his data seized as part of the Megaupload takedown by US and NZ authorities, Kyle Goodwin, has been granted a hearing, that will allow him to fight for the retrieval of his data – something that the US officials are not keen on at all.

The claim by the FBI and other organisations, is that ultimately Megaupload is filled with pirated movies, games and music. The argument from many of the site's users, is that in-fact they had a lot of legitimate personal files on there, including family photos, homemade music and important backups.

Mega Upload
Mega not uploading or downloading anything until the hearing

Currently all that data is sitting on the Megaupload servers, that have been held by US authorities for the past ten months, with no user able to access them. Back in May, Goodwin filed a motion with the support of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, asking courts to find a way to get the data back to Megaupload users. After several months of negotiations and increasing pressure from the EFF, Mr Goodwin now has a hearing.

“The Court stated today that it will hold a hearing to find out the details about Mr. Goodwin’s property – where it is, what happened when the government denied him access to it, and whether and how he can get it back,” says EFF attorney Julie Samuels (via Torrentfreak).

KitGuru Says: This is a case that could massively help out Kim Dotcom too. If the data is handed back to users, it makes Megaupload not look like the nest of piracy that the FBI and others claim it is, while if users aren't granted their data back, it could be argued that the users were the pirates, not the platform owner.

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Kim Dotcom shows off Megabox teaser https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-shows-off-megabox-teaser/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-shows-off-megabox-teaser/#respond Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:38:35 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=109673 A new video appeared this morning on the MrKimDotcom Youtube channel, headlined “Kim Dotcom – Making of Megabox,” which plays out like a movie trailer, with shots going in and out of focus, a thumping musical backing track and sample footage of the new website in action, giving a hint as to it's true purpose. Similar …

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A new video appeared this morning on the MrKimDotcom Youtube channel, headlined “Kim Dotcom – Making of Megabox,” which plays out like a movie trailer, with shots going in and out of focus, a thumping musical backing track and sample footage of the new website in action, giving a hint as to it's true purpose.

Similar to the newly revamped and coming soon MySpace video we saw yesterday, Megabox appears to be a site focused around users having free access to music while giving artists better creative control, more ability to monetise their tracks and the ability for people to see where gigs are, buy tickets, interact through social networking and more. A big emphasis was put on the universal nature of the site, being easily accessible and catered to on mobile, tablets, laptops, desktops and a variety of other platforms.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw04ckfO-yA']

If you're the kind of person that wants to get to the meat of the content, you'll want to jump past the first 30 seconds or so which feature a bunch of programmers and artists first walking into the Megabox development HQ, before sitting down and actually getting to work. From there you get to see what they're developing, which appears to be quite an extensive music service. There's free accounts for users and artists -hopefully they'll fix the grammar error on the Account Type page before going live – with the artist option suggesting Megabox allows musicians to “Take control of your music career,” as well as offering “Unlimited Storage” for those uploading their music to the cloud.

In terms of user interactions, there's chat, social functions linked with Facebook, Twitter and other networks, as well as the ability to see who's listening to what and how they rate it. Megabox will also have featured and exclusive artists, suggesting there will be content on the platform that won't be available anywhere else.

In terms of release date, there's nothing concrete yet, only the text at the end “Coming soon,” though Dotcom has teased that we aren't far off the debut release. The description in the video was filled with the usual anti-authoritarian text that we've come to expect from him too: “This is what they don't want you to have. Unchaining artists and fans. Megabox is coming soon.”

KitGuru Says: There was a lot of information in that video so I'm sure I missed something. Sound off below or on the KG Facebook page about what you think and any other features that are worth noting.

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Kim Dotcom offering early Megaupload relaunch API access https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-offering-early-megaupload-relaunch-api-access/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-offering-early-megaupload-relaunch-api-access/#respond Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:00:57 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=106168 Developers of applications that involve “up/download & file managers, email and fax tools, VOIP and video” will be given early access to the relaunching Megaupload API if they simply send Kim Dotcom an email, according to a twitter post by the legally embroiled site owner. Since his arrest in January this year on a variety …

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Developers of applications that involve “up/download & file managers, email and fax tools, VOIP and video” will be given early access to the relaunching Megaupload API if they simply send Kim Dotcom an email, according to a twitter post by the legally embroiled site owner.

Since his arrest in January this year on a variety of contested charges, Mr Dotcom has been protesting his innocence. However he's also been making big claims about a comeback. Some of these have involved his comments to Barack Obama, in an attempt to get the president to admit government involvement in his arrest. Perhaps one of his most intriguing stories though, is the relaunch of file locker website, Megaupload – despite the fact that user data for the original site is still being held by US federal authorities.

Kim Dotcom
Once known mostly for his playboy antics, these days Dotcom portrays himself as more of an activist.

Speaking this morning to his 100,000 + twitter followers, Mr Dotcom said that the new Mega will offer unprecedented privacy, through “one click encryption of all your data transfers, on the fly, easy to use, free of charge.” Presumably the data would need to be stored somewhere a little more secure than it was before, as it's not hard to imagine the authorities in New Zealand or the US coming up with some reason to seize it all over again.

There's little word on when the incredibly popular – before closure – site will relaunch, but presumably some time later this year. There's also not been any hint as to when Megabox will be released either. The music based sales service will purportedly offer artists the chance to sell music directly to consumers, offering a 90 per cent commission – far better than current offerings from iTunes or Amazon.

KitGuru Says: Are you a developer that's contacted Kim Dotcom? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment here on the site or hit me up on twitter @jonwhoopty.

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