ZDNet reports that Roku, the company famous for its Netflix Player, will be releasing its code as free software.

Roku will release an open source version of its software by the end of the year.

The CEO says he’s looking for deals with content providers to stream their products through his device, and hopes to sell a bunch of them as a result.

As a proprietary box Roku has gotten pretty good reviews. Its deal with Netflix is now non-exclusive.

Roku already uses code from other free projects. It’s good to hear that their own code will now be given to the community as well.

• ZDNet
• Slashdot

NetworkWorld reports that RealNetworks, makers of RealPlayer and now RealDVD, have launched a lawsuit against the MPAA.

Apparently tired of waiting to be sued by the motion picture industry over its new DVD-to-PC copying software, RealNetworks this morning announced that it will file a preemptive legal action of its own in an attempt to establish the product’s legality.

I wonder how this will end.

• NetworkWorld.com
• Slashdot

Pandora - Credit: openpandora.org

The open source hand-held, Pandora, is now up for pre-order.

We still don’t really believe it, but the Pandora pre-order page is now live and accepting orders for the open-source gaming handheld. Only 3,000 units are being delivered this time around, so you’d better act fast — $329 is all it takes to be a part of history, kids.

I’m still pessimistic.

• Engadget
• gbax

US Captitol - Source: kmmcoy, wikimedia

The Intellectual Property Enforcement Act of 2008 has passed through the Senate, with slight modification.

However, a controversial measure granting the Justice Department the authority to sue copyright infringers on behalf of Hollywood and the music industry was removed after the White House lobbied against assuming those new powers.

…

“We are pleased that the Senate bill as passed does not include the egregious provision allowing the Justice Department to file civil suits against alleged copyright violators on behalf of copyright holders,” she said.

The White House, in successfully pressuring for a rewrite to the legislation, said the original proposal requiring the attorney general to sue copyright infringers “could result in Department of Justice prosecutors serving as pro bono lawyers for private copyright holders regardless of their resources. In effect, taxpayer-supported department lawyers would pursue lawsuits for copyright holders, with monetary recovery going to industry.”

I bet this will fly through the house.

Edit: Only the amendments have been voted on.  Sorry for the misinformation.

• Wired
• Ars Technica
• Slashdot

Walmart

Walmart has dropped its DRM server.  They are asking everyone who bought DRMd music to back it up.

If you have purchased protected WMA music files from our site prior to Feb 2008, we strongly recommend that you back up your songs by burning them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer. This change does not impact songs or albums purchased after Feb 2008, as those are DRM-free.

Beginning October 9, we will no longer be able to assist with digital rights management issues for protected WMA files purchased from Walmart.com. If you do not back up your files before this date, you will no longer be able to transfer your songs to other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating system or in the event of a system crash. Your music and video collections will still play on the originally authorized computer.

Thank you for using Walmart.com for music downloads. We are working hard to make our store better than ever and easier to use.

Um…Walmart won’t be able to get away with this.  If yahoo couldn’t, they can’t.

• Gizmodo
• Slashdot
• Boing Boing

Microsoft

After getting beat by Alcatel-Lucent, Microsoft owed $512M over MP3 codecs.  This ruling has been thrown out.

Tom Burt, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, called the decision “a victory for consumers of digital music and a triumph for common sense in the patent system. The Federal Circuit confirmed that Judge Brewster was correct when he ruled that Microsoft did not infringe the ‘457 patent and that Fraunhofer was a co-owner of the ‘080 patent, finding that Lucent’s arguments were “strained.”

One predicted outcome of the 2007 ruling has yet to come to pass: Some observers at the time thought that the gigantic fine, and the threat of more lawsuits to come, would push companies making MP3-related hardware and software to flee the format in favor of royalty-free open-source options such as Ogg Vorbis. Microsoft, ironically, developed its own WMA format in part as a response to patent uncertainties.

Not sure how I feel about this.  I suppose I should want MS to win this case, but it’s kind of hard to want that.

• BetaNews

Muxtape

Justin Oullette of Muxtape has posted his thoughts/response to what has gone on with them and the RIAA.  In his thoughts, he announces that Muxtape will be relaunching in a new way.

Muxtape is relaunching as a service exclusively for bands, offering an extremely powerful platform with unheard-of simplicity for artists to thrive on the internet. Musicians in 2008 without access to a full time web developer have few options when it comes to establishing themselves online, but their needs often revolve around a common set of problems. The new Muxtape will allow bands to upload their own music and offer an embeddable player that works anywhere on the web, in addition to the original muxtape format. Bands will be able to assemble an attractive profile with simple modules that enable optional functionality such as a calendar, photos, comments, downloads and sales, or anything else they need. The system has been built from the ground up to be extended infinitely and is wrapped in a template system that will be open to CSS designers. There will be more details soon. The beta is still private at the moment, but that will change in the coming weeks.

I realize this is a somewhat radical shift in functionality, but Muxtape’s core goals haven’t changed. I still want to challenge the way we experience music online, and I still want to work to enable what I think is the most interesting aspect of interconnected music: discovering new stuff.

Thank to you everyone who made Muxtape the incredible place it was in its first phase, it couldn’t have happened without your mixes. The industry will catch up some day, it pretty much has to.

I’m kind of sad.  I thought Opentape was a good idea.

• Muxtape
• Wired

Rockbox

After 3 years in development, Rockbox 3.0 has been released.

Some new things since version 2.5:

• A new tool to help simplify installation and removal of Rockbox, called RockboxUtility, is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
• Support for SWCODEC targets, with the ability to playback a multitude of codecs See the SoundCodecs page for all supported codecs.
• See the MajorChanges page for an exhaustive list.

Man…after 2 years of reading the Rockbox feed, I drop it weeks before 3.0.  Then Slashdot and Boing Boing beat me to the punch.

• Rockbox
• Slashdot
• Boing Boing

Most of you know about or have used Blackboard. Blackboard has been actively involved in pursuing and enforcing aggressive patent and IP policies. Thankfully, there are several open-source alternatives that provide similar functionality: Moodle and Sakai.

The Sakai Community develops and distributes the open-sourceSakai CLE, an enterprise-ready collaboration and courseware management platform that provides users with a suite of learning, portfolio, library and project tools.

Moodle is a course management system (CMS) – a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities. You can download and use it on any computer you have handy (including webhosts), yet it can scale from a single-teacher site to a University with 200,000 students.

Most surprisingly, our very own Virginia Tech has been working on a customized implementation of Project Sakai. It’s called Scholar and is accessible to anyone with a VT pid. At least one person I talked to had used this CMS in their classes. Does anyone else know more about this project?

Scholar is an innovative and robust collaboration and learning management system. Designed by higher education for higher education, it offers tools in support of teaching and learning, research and collaboration, and assessment/accreditation projects.

Jammie Thomas and Lawyer - Credit: mightyomedia on Flickr

U.S. District Judge Michael Davis of Duluth, Minnesota, has declared a mistrial in the case of Jammie Thomas. This (at least temporarily) gets rid of the $222,000 penalty 24 tracks she made publicly available on Kazaa.

“Jury Instruction No. 15 was erroneous, and that error substantially prejudiced Thomas’ rights. Based on the court’s error in instructing the jury, it grants Thomas a new trial,” the judge ruled (.pdf).

Still, Judge Davis’ decision does not derail the RIAA’s case against Thomas on retrial or any other pending or future case. Davis ruled that the downloads from Thomas’ open share folder that RIAA investigators made, 24 in all, “can form the basis of an infringement claim.” The RIAA’s investigators make downloads in every case.

This is a pretty big deal. I’m not getting too optimistic yet though.

• Wired
• EFF
• Recording Industy vs. The People