TunA and Socializing via MP3 Player

An anonymous reader writes "Wired is carrying a story about a new program in development called TunA. It will allow you to view other users playlists on their MP3 Player and also stream the music to your Player. Works through WiFi so it limits to mostly laptops for now. "

Interesting Concept

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm currently working on my thesis for my masters in psychology and this is a very innovative technology.

In interviews that I conducted with several hundred subjects, I've found that the alarming trend that the introduction of new technology causes us to be more separate socially. We've seen it with office staff sending e-mail to individuals just a few cubicles away.

Another expirement I'm currently conducting is to provide negative feedback to individuals who choose to use their cell phone to communicate with their friends instead of dropping by at their apartment. A good example of positive behavior would be the group in "Friends", while a negative example would the person from the Verizon commercial.

Interesting way to screw the RIAA

[TWX]

If an actual file synchronizing/sharing utility were to grow out of this, it would really mess with the RIAA's attempts to punish filesharers. All that would have to happen for a physical level for added security would be MAC address and SSID spoofer, so that the real hardware addresses aren't recorded. Even if the RIAA were to attempt to set up monitoring machines in busy areas, it wouldn't be very effective if the information was spoofed.

Disclaimer: I don't think that artists should be ripped off. This is why I'm against the RIAA.

and

[SweetAndSourJesus]

Howl [swampwolf.com] and daapd [deleet.de] for those that would like to serve from a Linux/BSD box.

Streaming wifi via Shoutcast

[mycroftxxxx]

Along a similar idea, my Tungsten C [palmone.com] can stream mp3 stations from Shoutcast [shoutcast.com] with Pocket Tunes [pocket-tunes.com]
Not hifi wifi but it's wild to see in action the first time...

iTunes is now TunA?

[conan_albrecht]

I didn't realize iTunes had changed its name! :)

As a professor in a WiFi-enabled building, I've enjoyed sharing playlists with other iTunes users in the building for weeks now. Other than further loading the already-loaded 802.11b network, it's been a lot of fun.

Again, why is this news???

Re:::cough::

[razberry636]

Indeed.

Since iTunes started adding the ability to "share" music, I've come in contact with a few more Mac people on campus. Most people here at $my_school show their email address instead of listing their music under "Jason's Music" (the default). This gives us the ability to contact one another to say "Hey, nice music!" or something like that.

Right now I'm listening to Bryan Ferry who I haven't heard in a long time from a student from France.

One other observation that I'll throw out is that since Apple released iTunes for Windows, there hasn't been an increase in the number of people sharing music, but there's about 3 times as many people listening to my music.

Okay, in the time it took me to write this (and preview), the Bryan Ferry song ended and now I'm listening to something in french that I don't understand, but it's still interesting.

iTunes...

[Phroggy]

This is a different concept than the music sharing feature of iTunes 4: with iTunes, you get access to my entire music library and can pick and choose what you'd like to listen to; with TunA, it's as if I unplugged my headphones to let you listen with me.

I don't see why it should be limited to a wireless connection; surely it uses a higher-level protocol such as IP or NetBEUI or IPX or something that works just as well on Ethernet?

One question I do have: will the playback be synchronized? Normally when you stream audio, it's buffered, so there's a delay. If two people are listening to the same thing, but it's out of sync by half a second, it'll drive both of them crazy...