What are the prospects for the P2P industry and music and video distribution now that the legal issues have been decided by the Supreme Court?

As I've previously written, the ongoing litigation froze both technological and business innovation. Now that that's cleared, there has been slow progress as companies figure out how best to integrate P2P technology and users.

P2P is becoming integrated into an Internet file transfer mesh that includes web servers, CDN (content distribution networks, or edge servers), P2P servers, and P2P users. Akamai, which has scoffed at P2P, has since bought P2P developer Red Swoosh

P2P streaming is on the threshold of becoming mainstream with frontrunners like Joost and Babelgum. In the download segment, content holders are making deals with legal P2P distributors like Bit Torrent and Azureus. Companies like INTENT Mediaworks are finding success with alternative business models like advertising.

The issues remain the same - control, protection, and security - for companies considering P2P with DRM an insurmountable hurdle, separating the entertainment industry and mass consumer market.

Streaming Media magazine published a solid industry overview with interview in Cookin' With P2P: Recipe for Success or Flash in the Pan?. Their summary follows.

As broadband proliferates and the lines between the computer and the television continue to blur, it is only natural that media companies will be looking for new markets and new and cheaper ways to distribute long-form video content. This means these companies must not only establish new markets, but also find ways to deliver the content in a cost-effective and high-quality fashion. As Turner Broadcasting's Monty Mullig points out, "We look at P2P as a pipe, just as a pipe," but because it offers the promise of cheaper delivery options, it opens up a whole range of possibilities for content owners. The problem, say King from Abacast, is the accountants look at the cost savings and drool, but the lawyers look at the risks to the content and put on the brakes. Companies need to find ways to look at the costs and benefits and figure out a way to navigate this new way of doing business.

If they are able to achieve this and finally come to terms with P2P, and it really ends up driving down the cost of content delivery, consumers will be the long-term winners because they will get the video they wanted delivered quickly, efficiently, and in a format they enjoy. Ultimately, consumers care little about the content delivery mechanism or the minutiae of DRM debates and whether the content owner can measure its sales effectively. Nor do consumers want to discuss players and codecs or anything else related to the delivery technology. The consumer just wants to watch a movie, plain and simple, and if the media companies build a system that makes it easy and cost-effective for them to do that, whether it's P2P or something else, the consumers most definitely will come.