You know the world is falling apart when cats start getting along with dogs…but what if iPods were able to wirelessly share music with (gasp!) Zunes? And what if both of them tuned into a music stream from (gah!) a Creative Zen?!
That’s just the world imagined by Razer subsidiary Jook, which aims to add wireless music sharing capability to any portable music player with its Jook technology platform. The basic idea is that Jook users would attach a Jook device to the portable media player of their choice; with the device attached, users can either listen to their own music as normal, switch to an “Us Mode” that lets the user broadcast his or her music to other nearby Jook-enabled devices (a red ambient light will let folks know when a Jook device is broadcasting), or a “U mode” that enables a listener to connect to nearby Jook-enabled players.
Razer is offering the Jook technology not only for peripheral devices, but also to manufacturers wh want to integrate the technology into portable music players. And Jook goes a step further, including technology that enables users to cable into social networking features: users will be able to store personal profiles on their Jook-enabled devices and share them with listeners or Jook broadcasters. Razer says Jook devices will have minimal power draws on portable players.
Razer hasn’t announced any partners for its Jook product yet, and its possible the company will “go it alone” for a little while, introducing its own Jook peripherals in an effort to generate buzz. However, if there’s one thing that Microsoft’s “social” Zune has proven, it’s that getting the critical mass of players in the market to enable wireless social features is no small feat: Razer has to be looking to get device manufacturers on board, and the platform-agnostic nature of the Jook technology may help them. However, Jook may face another hurdle from music publishers, who may argue that traditional licenses to digital music or music transferred from traditional audio CDs does not entitle users to broadcast that music to others, even over short ranges—although we’re sure Razer believes that falls squarely under fair use exceptions to copyright. Let’s hope the courts don’t have to decide.
