Sign in to view
member only content

Earlier this year we featured Murfie, an online marketplace where users can trade old CDs for MP3 downloads. Now US-based ReDigi are offering something similar, with the world’s first online marketplace enabling users to sell unwanted digital music and buy “recycled” MP3 files from others. ReDigi launched last month and claims to be the first platform enabling users to transfer a digital music file from one person to another without copying it. To achieve this, a Verification Engine first checks that the song the user is uploading for sale was legally acquired. If it was, the ReDigi Music Organizer removes the song being sold from the seller’s computer and all synced devices — songs that have been copied from CDs or other physical media, meanwhile, are rejected and returned to the seller’s library. Anyone is then able to browse the ReDigi marketplace for songs being sold by other users; accounts can be set up for free and users can purchase MP3 files using credits. Users receive “coupons” when someone buys their unwanted music, which can be redeemed for discounts on future songs purchased. A percentage of every song sold goes back to the original artist and record label. Users can also store music for free on ReDigi’s Cloud, while the Memory Bank feature acts as a “wish list”, providing an area for users to list songs they are interested in, but not yet ready to purchase. During the current beta phase, ReDigi are focusing on growing their music inventory, and plan to expand to include a full catalog of new music in the near future. This video below explains ReDigi in more detail: The concept gives digital music a resale value for the first time and could help prevent the illegal sharing which has proved to be such a problem for the music industry in recent years. One to watch!