Music chat rooms booming in wake of Napster dispute

In the wake of the recent controversy over Napster and strengthened controls on illegal software, Internet music chat rooms are booming.

Skylove (www.skylove.com), a chat room service provider, said Friday that as of the end of January it had seen the opening of about 200 music chat rooms. After the free downloading of music through Napster was banned, the number of the rooms offering music at no charge rose about 150 percent to about 500 a month.

With the increase in the number of netizens opening music broadcasting rooms, the company made the interface easier to use.

Subscribers to Skylove can open music chat rooms by using an internet protocol (IP) and port, and those who enter the rooms have only to press the button marked ``broadcasting listening`` to enjoy chatting while listening to music.

The rooms are operated on the principle that the music is being used for non-commercial purposes, which means that there is no grounds for copyright disputes.

Broadcasting is not centralized, rather the operator of the room broadcasts the music that subscribers want to hear. Members with similar tastes thus further strengthen their relationship, the company said.

[Yonhap]