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Liquid MusicServer-What's New in 3.0
Liquid MusicServer 3.0 is now available on Microsoft Windows NT, as well as Sun Solaris and Silicon Graphics IRIX, providing greater ease-of-use and compatibility with a much wider range of hardware platforms. In addition to improved compatibility, Liquid MusicServer 3.0 provides greater security by fully enforcing the need for valid merchant certificates. |
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Liquid MusicServer
Liquid MusicServer manages the encoded music content and guarantees secure delivery and tracking of CD-quality music over the Internet. Liquid MusicServer allows consumers to access music in two different ways: they may listen to short clips of music in real-time (streaming), or they may purchase the music, transfer it to their personal computer and listen to it repeatedly (download). Once music has been purchased, it may be written to a CD-Recordable disk and played back in any standard CD player.
Liquid MusicServer uses Dolby Digital technology to provide high-quality audio in both streaming and download modes. Associated text and graphics, such as lyrics, liner notes and album cover, are sent down with the audio for display by the MusicPlayer. In streaming mode, Liquid MusicServer selects the rate at which to send the music based on the end-user's connection speed and the performance of the Internet.
In addition, Liquid MusicServer incorporates capabilities needed to create a
complete end-to-end solution. The MusicServer integrates with multiple third-party Internet commerce solutions (such as CyberCash and Microsoft's Merchant Server), facilitating its use by existing retail Web sites. The MusicServer incorporates watermarking and sophisticated copy protection to prevent unauthorized replication of copyrighted material. The MusicServer also records and reports relevant commercial transactions to all vested copyright holders. The scalability of the architecture makes Liquid MusicServer suitable for small or large sites.
Liquid MusicServer maintains information about the content contained on the system (such as song title, artist, label, lyrics, copyright information, cover art and location of audio file) in an SQL database. The NT version of the Liquid MusicServer works with any database that has an ODBC driver, and on Unix, the Liquid MusicServer supports mSQL, MySQL and Oracle. The database may be resident on the same server as the MusicServer, or it may reside on a separate server.
Liquid MusicServer installations may be customized through the use of trigger that invoke user-provided programs at key points. This facilitates the integration of Liquid MusicServer with existing systems. As the demand for streaming and downloading music grows, Liquid MusicServer scales to multiple computers. |
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Feature Summary
Receive user requests (for auditioning or purchasing music), then initiate the appropriate response, either to stream the audio or to begin the purchase verification process
Provide dynamic query of SQL databases for information about music files giving consumers up-to-the-minute data on pricing and promotions
Manage the delivery of on-line music inventory (so that music can be both streamed and downloaded "on demand" to Web site visitors)
Integrate with E-commerce software so that merchants can receive immediate payment for music
Provide trigger points that allow customized integration of the Liquid MusicServer with other systems
Maintain detailed logs of preview and purchase transactions
Scale to multiple computers as the demand for streaming and downloading music grows
Provide anti-piracy and anti-copy support |
