As mentioned…. unless they have big cash, get the lawyers ready. As a one-time purchase on the AppStore is not gonna handle lyric royalties in perpetuity, that’s for sure.

CoreCodec has announced they are about to launch CorePlayer for the iPhone on the AppStore (they created TCPMP and CoreAVC)… now that’s something Jason Kincaid should be looking into.

Not sure how much I would like to watch lyrics of all those tracks. But I would definitely enjoy wiki access to meta information about the music I am listening too. As well as realtime user comments on specific songs, on artists. And a way to browse remixes, alternative versions of each song. Or view that song in the chronology of songs published by the artist, and basically any type of meta data.

But last.fm functionality is my biggest feature request. Last.fm functionality should also work offline, basing on the available songs on the device, and it should be able to load a whole bunch of webradio content into a cache on the device and play from that while offline. Access to Last.fm recommendations should be so configurable that the software should make it possible to even filter within recommendations for example to play recommended music closer to a specific song or within a specific genre or mood.

I can certainly see your point of view, as may a judge, but it’s certainly questionable. Whether licensed for streaming by Last.fm, or licensed for play when you obtain a song by legal means (i.e. buy a CD), some limited right of use for the lyrics to that song are conferred.

If the license agreement for streaming says, “streaming an audio performance and ONLY AUDIO of that performance,” that seems pretty cut and dry. However, it may not say exactly that. There may be a provision like, “sound recording may be converted to a format suitable for streaming.” Lyrics are suitable for streaming, aren’t they?

Without advanced knowledge of laws and licenses regarding streaming radio, and the inner workings of TuneWiki (where they get their lyrics from, for example), it’s hard to say exactly what they’re violating and how. I guess that’s what real laywers and judges are for.

However, if I were TuneWiki and defending myself in court, I might make mention of the fact that lyrics to every song are available on hundreds of sites around the internet. Trademarks can be invalidated if they’re not defended. Why shouldn’t copyrighted works carry the same burden?

If that’s their sole defense, TuneWiki would probably lose, but it does illustrate how flawed and inconsistent our legal system is. Laws concerning intellectual property are too favorable to the rights-holders, and too ignorant of innovation and the public-good.

TuneWiki, Pandora, Last.fm – I really hope to see them all make the jump to Android. It would also be helpful if someone would start making some Android handsets. The iPhone needs competition, desperately.

It’ll prompt you about local venue with performances by bands in the same genre, too. Add mobile payments for tickets to said “near-by” performances while you are at it. Just give it your Last.FM RSS or APML and you are “ready to rock” as it were.

makes learning songs easy