Video Sharing with Peer-to-Peer Computing

by Roger Wyatt
Fall 2001

Even in this Moore's Law-driven Internet world, where rapid change is the norm, the "Napsterization" of video is one change that makes us stop and take notice. Heard of Napster? Sure you have. It's a techno-legal hairball that's clogged the courts as hordes of music fans tear up the Net, uploading and downloading MP3 sound files, trading everything from Paula Abdul to the Zombies. Well, it's about to happen for video. Scour is the name and video is the game. With Scour you can search other member's hard drives (and they can search yours), by title, actor, genre or many other keywords that come to mind. It's a whole new way to stock up on video content by sharing movies over the Internet. Actually, this is the second go-round for Scour. Its first incarnation, detailed on page 44, lasted from 1997 to 2000.

Peering How Is It Done?
Peer-to-peer computing is like digital crabgrass; it's all over the Net. With Napster, DivX ;-) (yes, the winking smile is part of the name) and MP3 files everywhere, peer-to-peer (P2P) is everywhere the Net goes. P2P dumps the entire notion of client computers accessing centralized server computers for content and interaction. Instead, the peer-to-peer concept allows direct connections between all networked machines. The result: all computers become peers of each other. Like many Internet concepts, P2P is actually an old idea; telephones are P2P. Each caller can send and receive calls from any phone on the entire network.
The peer-to-peer concept could become a serious challenge to centralized Web portal services, such as Yahoo. P2P is very interactive.

Implications
P2P holds great promise for Smart TV & Sound readers who are often early adopters of new media technology. P2P computing means fast, easy, comprehensive downloading of video and other rich media content via the Web. Don't expect all this access to happen for free. But when it's all said and done, users will be able to identify, download and access video for modest fees. After that, it will be an easy matter to burn a CD-R or DVD-R for easy playback.
True, a feature-length program might be something best downloaded overnight, but since it could be encoded in just about any codec that the Windows Media Player .wmv format supports, it can be a high-quality MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 file. That means full-screen and 30 frames-per-second. In many ways, the future of Digital Entertainment is emerging from these P2P online activities.
What is available today? For starters, there's DivX ;-). It's the original DVD-quality codec based on MPEG-4 video compression with MP3 audio. Under the hood, it's an improved version of MPEG-4. Its main advantages over MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 include much smaller file sizes (1:10 compression) and high-quality video and audio (48kHz). Fast? With DivX ;-) encoding and a DSL or cable connection, one can download a two-hour movie in about an hour.

The Rise and Fall and Rise of Scour
One interesting example of peer-to-peer sharing is Scour (www.scour.com). Currently in Beta, the full service is expected to launch sometime this fall. In many ways, the story of Scour mirrors the experience of the entire P2P movement.
Before Napster, there was Scour, which turned on its Web site in 1997. The company got rolling with early backing from powerful Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz. It packed a technology that allowed its users to swap digital music and video files directly between themselves, without needing any central server. That's peer-to-peer.
Before long, Scour had millions of registered users happily trading mostly music files back and forth across the Net. Pretty soon, there were competitors to Scour, Napster being the best known, offering similar services.
Then in July 2000, storm clouds covered all of Scour's bright blue skies. That cloud came in the form of a $250 billion lawsuit filed against them by the Recording Industry Association of America, the National Music Publishers Association and the Motion Picture Association of America for copyright infringement.
These lawsuits were part of an overall action by content copyright groups against the emerging P2P service industry. Similar services like Napster and MP3.com were sued as well. Of course, with all this legal mud wrestling going on, investors were scared off, and that started a chain reaction that led to Scour closing down.
In December 2000, the bankrupt online search engine and file-sharing company was auctioned off in federal bankruptcy court. CenterSpan Communications of Hillsboro, Oregon bought the assets for $9 million.

The Road Ahead
CenterSpan's goal has been to relaunch Scour as a legal source for music, video and images. It has now rebuilt the Scour Exchange with its next-generation P2P distribution technology. Artists' digital rights are also a main focus. The new Scour is a source of legal, downloadable entertainment because CenterSpan has integrated DRM (digital rights management) support directly into a P2P digital distribution channel. Files for download on the Scour Exchange are wrapped in a secure DRM package that allow its distribution to be tracked and controlled by CenterSpan. A system built out from Microsoft's Windows Media DRM system is utilized. Users will need Windows Media Player 7, with the DRM flag preference enabled.
What will users find when they register for Scour? According to Andy Mallinger, CenterSpan Communications' Marketing Vice President, "Scour is a place for people to discover and access entertainment." Scour consists of three elements. First, there is the Scour Exchange, currently in a beta version. Once users have activated their accounts, they use Scour Exchange to search and download music and video. Participation in the beta is free. As of this writing, according to Mallinger, about 500,000 people have signed up for Scour.
The second component is the Scour.com Multimedia Search Engine. It will hold listings by leading content owners and distributors and users can access them quickly, easily and legally. Scour will offer an industry first by making peer network files visible to all of the standard search engines.
The third element is MyCaster, an Internet radio service. It is a very good way to audition any new music files that you are considering for download.
While prices weren't set at press time, CenterSpan expects to offer several levels of content via tiered subscription services, modeled after cable industry pricing. Just as there are different rates for basic and premium cable service, so it will be with Scour.

Is P2P on the Straight and Narrow?
The question remains, is P2P sharing legal? Scour certainly hopes so. CenterSpan's strategic focus is based upon demonstrating to the content-rights producers, distributors and their organizations that their intellectual property will be distributed efficiently and profitably, following the letter of the law. How those groups view the new Scour isn't yet clear.