Why do radio stations still deal in physical media?

A Toronto company called Yangaroo has developed a new software that will distribute music through the Internet. What's that you say? That's already being done?

Well, yes and no. As anyone who works in newsrooms or radio stations know, CDs are still being delivered by the dozens every day for reviews and previews.

The technology, called Digital Media Distribution System (DMDS), is currently being used by major record labels to transmit artists' singles over the Internet to radio stations and the company has just signed a partnership with Indie911, a network that distributes for more than 45,000 artists.

Distributing via the Internet makes getting music into the hands of radio station programming directors that much cheaper and faster. Previously this process was done over snail-mail with promotional CDs. Each CD wastes about seven pounds of fossil fuel.

DMDS is a web-based delivery system that sends broadcast-quality digital files using encryption and watermarking. It also promises to be a very secure system, for those who want to use the technology to send classified information. The biometric security system prevents password sharing by creating an individual profile for all users based upon their highly individual typing rhythms, which we find quite cool, but also kinda creepy.

For now, Yangaroo is distributing its service for free, but once radio stations are hooked, the company plans to start charging a fee-per-use charge.