Legal file-sharing 'rewards' to be offered

By ANICK JESDANUN
AP INTERNET WRITER

NEW YORK -- Concert tickets, DVDs and even laptops will be used to encourage users of the online bazaar known as Kazaa to swap legal files instead of pirated movies and music.

The Peer Points Manager program announced Monday will essentially be Internet file-sharing's version of frequent flyer miles.

Kazaa users earn points for making legal files available to others over the Internet. The points can be redeemed for small prizes like computer games or for sweepstakes entries to win larger items.

The program is being run by Altnet, a Kazaa partner trying to promote sharing of legal files that can be limited in different ways by their creators, for instance songs that can only be played a certain number of times.

Altnet distributes about 1,000 of such protected files for music, movies and software. Many of the songs available, however, are from obscure bands who aren't charging for the protected files anyway.

Currently, when users search for files on Kazaa, they get "gold" listings of Altnet-sponsored items and "blue" listings of everything else, much of it pirated. Either way, users obtain files directly from a fellow user's computer.

Kevin Bermeister, Altnet's chief executive, said users have been downloading about 20 million gold files each month, even though the blue versions are just a click away.

Altnet hopes to increase usage to 20 million files a day through programs like Peer Points.

Kazaa users will have an incentive to stop sharing pirated files, knowing they could tie up resources that could be used for points-earning Altnet files, Bermeister said. As fewer users make unsanctioned files available, he said, stealing movies and music will be harder.

Michael Goodman, a media and entertainment analyst with the Yankee Group in Boston, said the points program shows promise given that many Kazaa users are already opting for the protected files even without points.

"A loyalty incentive program gives consumers one more reason to pay for content instead of migrating to unlicensed content," he said. "Can you make (piracy) completely go away? No. Can you bring it to a manageable level? This is arguably a step along that road."

But Lee Black, a senior analyst at the New York-based Jupiter Research, said success will be limited if recording companies do not make more music available. The labels so far have been reluctant to cooperate with a service they blame for eroding CD sales.

Black added that even if Kazaa users stop sharing pirated files in hopes of earning points, determined music lovers can go to other file-sharing services to find songs they want.

Bermeister estimates that a typical user will earn about 3,000 points each month. Prizes and sweepstakes entries will typically cost 100 to 500 points. Altnet now gets revenues by charging content owners for distributing files.

Software for keeping track of points will come with the new version of Kazaa Media Desktop, expected later in June. Phil Morle, director of technology of Kazaa parent Sharman Networks, said the new software will also highlight niche "channels" such as hip-hop to give users easier access to the Altnet files.


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Pat

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