Ampache adds democratic support in the latest release January 27, 2007
The latest stable release of Ampache is out with a new play method called democratic play. Ampache is a web based file manager for audio that lets you access your music from anywhere with a long list of features like play lists, album art, playback via Http, Icecast, Integrated Flash Player Vote based playback, and a zillion other things. From Digg,
“This new method allows users to vote on what songs they want to hear. The songs are then streamed based on the number of votes. So casting a vote directly influences playback by raising it.“
Ampache supports all of the common file formats including M4A/AAC/MP4 (Itunes files) as well as support for any player that support HTTP streams like XMMS. There is a cool demo of Ampache where you can see it in action. The wiki has all the info on installing, configuring, and creating custom themes.
From Slashdot, Libraries concerned over DRM February 9, 2006
“The BBC is reporting that the British Library is concerned about DRM’s effect on its ability to make materials available to the public. Libraries have a legal right to distribute materials under the Fair Use provisions of the copyright law, but DRM systems may block this. Furthermore, they point out that DRM systems don’t automatically switch themselves off when a work goes out of copyright. DRM systems may allow copyright holders to retain control over their material longer than they are legally entitled to. Worse yet, if the software no longer exists to unlock a DRM-protected file, its contents may be lost forever — exactly the thing libraries are intended to prevent.”
