> The Washington Post reports that Senators Feinstein (D-Cal.) and Graham (R-S.C.) have introduced S. 2644, dubbed the PERFORM Act, that is aimed at punishing satellite radio for offering its subscribers devices capable of recording off the air.
> Buried in the bill, however, is a provision that would effectively require music webcasters to use DRM-laden streaming formats, rather than the MP3 streaming format used by Live365, Shoutcast, and many smaller webcasters (like Santa Monica’s KCRW and Seattle’s KEXP). The streaming radio stations included in iTunes also rely on MP3 streams (since Apple isn’t about to license the Real or Microsoft streaming codecs).
The requirement is that webcasters have to use the format with the best DRM solution, instead of the best DRM solution of the format they choose. This effectively leaves just WMA and Real as usable formats. Wheee. Good thing I live outside of the US, my stream will keep spewing out Progressive House as long as I can afford it.
