] Snocap has been working on ways to identify songs, as
] they are traded through a file-swapping network,
] including using a technique called "audio
] fingerprinting," which monitors the sonic characteristics
] of music files.
]
] That fingerprinting tool could be integrated into the
] file-swapping software itself in several different ways,
] sources said. When a file is being downloaded, the
] software could check its "fingerprint" and then compare
] it against a database Snocap operates, for example.

Watch this closely. Microsoft was very aggressively going after patents in that area. If I'm correct, they could attack at will. This a perfect example of something that existed in 2000, could have been brought into the game then, and these guys are about to get screwed again.. Either that, or there is already a dialog between these guys and who already owns the technology. Somehow, I doubt that.

Sounds like they are looking for PRO like model for a survey based handling of decentralized p2p downloads. Survey based leeching licensing? I've thought about this often, but never came to any conclusions.

Napster's Fanning has Snocap-ped vision | CNET News.com