Up until now, the most common method of purchasing music is by first paying for a song and then downloading it. When it comes to software, quite often the software is downloaded as an evaluation and unlocked with an activation key. Now, LAMbCast LTD has introduced a new patent pending method of selling software by using a secure storage container similar to an encrypted Zip file. However, instead of using a password, LambCase brings up a paypal integration payment screen where one can purchase access to extract the content. The current payment options are U.S. Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Pound Sterling and Euro currency.
The main advantage with this system is that it makes it easier to sell software, music or any other downloadable content online. The Creator application allows up to 9999 terabytes to be stored in a single container. After the container is prepared, a price is set and the container is encrypted with dual layer 256-bit AES. A flat royalty fee is added, which is included in the price when one makes a payment. The utility includes the ability to create HTML code to help host the content, such as on a website, blog, etc. Depending on the content, when consumers pay to open the container, they can either extract it or write it to disc. LAMbCase ties in with Amazon's S3 service to host the content.
Before LAMbCase requests payment, it checks the integrity of the container to make sure the complete package is intact. This is different to pay-per-download services, where there is a risk where one may pay for something, only to get a broken download link or end up with a corrupt download.
For music, LAMbCase allows the embedding of the Buyer ID into MP3 audio files, which claims to not involve DRM or affect the sound quality. This allows purchased music to be traced back to the buyer, however, unlike music bought from most online music services, the music can be played on any MP3 player. For albums and compilations, LAMbCase allows the content provider to set up a profile to determine how the music should be laid out on disc such that a burned music disc matches that of an equivalent retail bought disc.
It would be interesting to see how well this sort of system takes off, especially since it looks like one does not need to resort to figuring out how to set up a website with a secure online shopping section to distribute content. If Musicians start using this method to distribute songs, especially with this being designed to work with social networking websites where the artists often host demos of their songs, the music industry better watch out! Apart from the LAMbCase's royalty fee, the bulk of each purchase would go into the musician's pocket; bypassing the music industry and the artist would also get the freedom of setting the share they get.
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