Chrome browser extension Downloadify was removed from Google’s Chrome Web Store quickly after tech bloggers started writing about it yesterday, but its appearance will be giving collywobbles to Spotify executives for some time to come. Once installed, the tool runs in the background as people use Spotify’s web player in the Chrome web browser, downloading an MP3 of every single track that they play. As the developer put it: “So Spotify made a great html5 player for their service… But they forgot their encription [sic]… NICE!” Not so nice for Spotify or its licensing partners, though. Within hours, Downloadify was taken down from the Chrome Web Store – “We remove apps from the Chrome Web Store that do not comply with our terms of service,” said Google in a statement – but it remains available on the GitHub website direct from its developer. But the issue here isn’t about a single extension, but a reminder that web-based streaming music services face DRM and security issues every bit as challenging (if not more so) than the download services that went before them.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…