A small search engine company has launched a specialist engine for searching MP3 audio web sites. Wesley, Massachusetts-based SavvySearch collates the results from 8 MP3 sites – including Lycos MP3 search and AstraWeb. Daniel Dreilinger, who started developing the SavvySearch engine at the University of Colorado in 1995, says that the main advantage of using the MP3 search is that it results in far fewer broken links than when using a conventional search engine. Dreilinger is working to overcome the broken link problem – which is major source of irritation when searching for the controversial audio compression format files – intending to add a function to the site that displays the results from the 8 sites and saying which has a functioning link to the selected MP3 file. Dreilinger says that he is unworried by the controversial nature of the MP3 format, he admits that the search facility could encourage music piracy but says that SavvySearch is merely offering a service, not actual downloads. Dreilinger also intends to offer support for the IBM Corp and Sony Corp’s secure music initiatives when the formats emerge from the trial stages. SavvySearch, which was incorporated in June, makes revenue through advertising and commission from e-commerce searches. Drielinger started working full time on the SavvySearch project after completing a degree at MIT in Spring 1998.
