Apparently Vivendi plans to destroy (yes, destroy) all the data having to do with MP3.com now that they have sold the domain to Cnet.

Thats more then 1 million songs from over 250,000 artists. Here is where it gets evil:

] Many web sites cease operation but can still be found,
] captured for posterity, in the brilliant online library
] known as Archive.org, also called the "wayback machine."
] Here, massive servers and storage captures run by the
] visionary (and my personal friend) Brewster Kahle
] periodically take snapshots of the Internet as a means of
] recording history. Future generations can then look back
] at the evolution of the Net, of thought, trends, digital
] media and much more. It's a modern-day Smithsonian and
] Library of Congress, all in one. Unfortunately, Vivendi
] has not given Archive.org permission to capture the
] MP3.com site.
]
] My hope is that by writing this essay, others will see
] that we're about to lose a museum filled with digital
] antiquities that are every bit as meaningful as their
] physical counterparts filling today's museums. There is a
] glimmer of hope that those in charge at VU will grant
] permission to Archive.org to make a copy of the band
] pages, music and stations before they dissolve. Perhaps
] the new owners, Cnet, have rights over the content and
] can allow Archive.org to take a snapshot? I hope one of
] these things happens, otherwise we'll lose a major
] digital museum with no way to ever recover it, and the
] world will be a less musical place.

What can be said about this? Its just wrong.. It makes me angry as hell. The willful destruction of that much art is a crime against our culture. If Vivendi goes through with this, and destroys this without letting archive.org make a copy, it should not be forgotten. This better be their way of hanging a for-sale sign on the data..

If they don't want it in the market, fine.. Give it to the Internet Archive under terms that they will not make it publicly available for 20 years or something like that. I'm sure they would do that. Just don't destroy all that art!

Some snooping around Google News turned up a mention to Primetones.com was trying to make an offer to by the music collection from Vivendi. [update: Apple?] That would be fine.. But at the very least, they must allow archive.org to make a copy of this before destroying it.

I can't stress enough. This is one of those things that isn't a crime, but it might at well be. They own it, and they can destroy it if they want to, but its just wrong. Its the virtual equivalent of burning a million books in front of librarians begging for them. Evil.

A big fuss should be made over this. This should not be an acceptable thing to do in our society. If this doesn't piss people off, and they do not make efforts to stop this kind of thing from happening, our society is going to have a serious problem preserving itself.

Mike Robertson on MP3.com