This turntable.fm is a nice idea, it would be a shame if we had to sue you

Questions you should always ask of any music based start-up. Can you listen to The Beatles on it?

Given the draconian licensing from Apple Corp. on the music of the Fab Four, it’s unlikely that any music on demand service will be able to play their music. If they say in their presentation, yes you can, then alarm bells should start to ring.

By the time that Turntable.fm popped up on my radar, they had taken the first steps to try and be legitimate in the eyes of the music industry by geo-locking the service to US. It also follows some interesting radio-like practices, such as not being able to see the next track to be played, not being able to play music when it is just you using it, and a play-per-hour limit for individual tracks.

Of course saying something is DMCA compliant, and similar to other services with similar rules is all well and good, but the music industry (and especially the music industry online) isn’t about right and wrong and black and white, it’s about lawyering up for a high noon encounter, gambling they’ll like you enough to let you live. Place your bets for Turntable.fm.

And I’m told that you can play The Beatles. Oh dear…