ReDigi Fights to Sell Secondhand Tunes

Start-up website ReDigi wants to put a monetary value on your iTunes library. Should you decide to part with your old uni-age tunes, what might your tracks be worth in the resale market?

If the five-month-old Boston, MA-based website defeats EMI in court come 17 August, you may receive an answer.

"Potentially this court could decide if consumers have any rights at all over their digital music, books or movies," law professor from the University of California Berkeley School of Law Jason Schultz told the Herald Sun. "It could completely redefine the contours of the digital marketplace.”

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If iTunes were Dymocks, ReDigi would be Sappho Books: a secondhand spot for pre-owned and unwanted music purchased off iTunes to be resold. Tracks on ReDigi cost between AU$0.55-$0.74 and the website keeps a small percentage of each sale.

While the idea is beneficial to consumers with thousands of old tracks hogging space on their computers and iPods, EMI sees the website as the next generation of Napster. Capitol Records, who is owned by EMI, reportedly accused ReDigi of illegally copying and selling more than 100 of its titles, and EMI’s lawyer claims that the site “potentially threatens the livelihood of anyone selling copyrighted work.”

"While ReDigi touts its service as the equivalent of a used record store," the Herald reported the lawsuit as saying, "ReDigi is actually a clearinghouse for copyright infringement and a business model built on widespread, unauthorised copying of sound recordings."

For now, ReDigi is still operating.