Michael Robertson -- famous for launching MP3.com and for pitching Lindows (a version of Linux) against Microsoft Windows -- has returned to the music business with Oboe, a $39.95 per year "virtual music locker that enables customers to store and access their entire personal music collections online," reports PC Magazine.
Oboe Sync software works by scanning the user's computer for supported music files (including MP3, WMA, AAC and OGG formats) and then automatically loads those files to the Oboe locker. "You can run the same software that moves the files to your online locker and it will sync those online tracks to a second or third PC so you can have all of your music on all of your different computers," Robertson said.
Once users sync their music to the Oboe locker, the service provides a Web page for access to the collection. The site interface displays artist, album and track information and has streaming capability, enabling the user to listen online at up to 192K bps.
The story notes that Robertson "helped to create a service similar to Oboe in 2000. A user of My.MP3 would insert a purchased CD into the computer and the service would transfer the tracks into the user's e-locker, via an online database in which the tracks were stored." Robertson says: "The difference here is that the user is actually uploading their own file."
