Remember Gracenote, the firm that bought the user-contributed CDDB database and locked it up, locking open-source clients out of it? Well, they've
just been bought by Sony. I wonder what this will mean: with Sony BMG being a pillar of the RIAA, will owning a database which receives a notification every time somebody rips a CD be a useful weapon in the War On Copying? And will Apple keep using Gracenote for iTunes now that it's controlled by a rival?
It's little more than a database of the first time anyone plays a CD on their computer. It'll be an interesting set of statistics about what's popular, and not much more. I like to live in hope that it will teach Sony that we're not all interested in Britney and Korn, but I doubt that'll happen.