Boombox Application Killed by Facebook?

UPDATE: Facebook’s PR firm got back to me - according to them, Boombox’s developer took the application down on their own.

My favorite Facebook application, Boombox, is dead.

Yesterday I noticed that its flash component in my profile wasn’t working, instead the Boombox profile widget just lists song titles using quintuple-spacing. Now it doesn’t turn up in application searches, and its old profile listing has been removed.

Facebook has, in the past, yanked a popular application without notifying any of its confused and disappointed users.

The former #2 application in the Music category of Facebook applications was called Audio, which boasted more than 750,000 users. VentureBeat gave this description of the applicatoin: “Audio allowed users to upload audio files in mp3 format, share them with each other and listen to them within Facebook.” According to the application publisher, it was given a DMCA takedown request from a record label, sent via the RIAA — then Facebook decided to take Audio offline while the matter remained unresolved.

Audio is now back, and has made some changes so as not to draw the ire of record companies. “To lessen the possibility of illegal activity, Audio does not include a song directory — a feature that, if abused, allows users to share and duplicate copyrighted material.” However, the new Audio application isn’t as powerful as Boombox, which allowed up to 20 songs to appear in a tidy playlist. Audio allows only one.

Boombox used a model very similar to that of the old Audio application. There was a song directory of music uploaded by other users, which one could browse and then post on their own profile. When Audio was taken down last July, it was no surprise that Boombox was next. Another thorn in the RIAA’s side was that songs in Boombox had to be hosted on a public webservers and be accessible to all - hardly something the music industry would encourage.

It’s a really painful thing to login to Facebook and have your favorite application missing, with no explanation. This is a PR blunder for Facebook, and they should be more transparent about applications being removed in the future. A simple explanation as to why the application was taken down would suffice.

Facebook’s PR people got back to me:

Regarding your question about Boombox, the application was taken down by the developer.

Thanks,
XXXX

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Facebook kills Audio for copyright violations - VentureBeat

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Italiano:

La mia applicazione favorita di Facebook, Boombox, è guasto. Ieri ho notato che il relativo componente istantaneo nel mio profilo non stava funzionando, invece il widget di profilo di Boombox elenca appena i titoli di canzone usando il quintuplo-gioco. Ora non gira in su nelle ricerche di applicazione e il relativo vecchio elenco di profilo è stato removed.