Kim Dotcom Preparing To Launch Megabox

Remember MegaUpload and MegaVideo? These were two services created by tech entrepreneur and alleged media pirate Kim Dotcom. In January of this year Dotcom was arrested and both of the sites quickly vanished from the internet. Almost a year later, Dotcom is out on bail and back in business. Rumors are circulating that his new service, Megabox, is about to be released very soon.

Late last month, Kim Dotcom tweeted a teaser, saying:

“Quick update on the new Mega: Code 90% done. Servers on the way. Lawyers, Partners & Investors ready. Be patient. It’s coming.”

Later that week, the video shown above was released on YouTube. From the video alone, it can be inferred that Dotccm is working on a much more sophisticated service than his previous endeavors. It appears that the new service, presumably dubbed Megabox, will behave more like a social network between artists and fans.

Services like Pandora, Spotify, and Grooveshark have pretty much cornered the market on free streaming music. Sites like Modlife and the upcoming rerelease of Myspace aim to be the go-to spot for fans to interact with musicians. Megabox will be late to the game on this type of service, so expect some sort of functionality to differentiate it from the crowd. It’s unclear as to whether users will be able to upload and share files between each other, but it is believed that music will be freely available and backed by advertising.

More importantly than the success of the business, Kim Dotcom will likely have to worry about the legality of Megabox. If it does allow for file sharing, it is very unlikely that the service will last very long. Kim Dotcom is already charged with internet piracy and copyright infringement on his previews Mega projects. Currently under house arrest in New Zealand, Dotcom even faces the possibility of extradition to the United States.