And regular chat rooms lack the ability to play songs in the background that everyone can hear and discuss at the same time. That's where WARR comes in. Stead and his team believe it can create the kind of bonds formed at rent parties more than a half-century ago, where jazz and blues musicians would take requests from the crowd. It's already changed how they view co-workers who use the service. Bob Dylan is a big favorite of WARR users at the labs, but song selection often takes on a life of its own.
Groups can set rules about how song requests are honored.
For example, new listeners can be slotted ahead of regulars who might have five or six requests in the hopper. The threshold for rejecting a song can vary, too. Labs researchers use their veto power sparingly. For now, the biggest stumbling block for WARR is the bitter legal fight over sharing music files over the Internet. Many of the issues that dog Napster, the popular service that permits free downloading of MP3 music files, also could crop up with WARR, since users can upload their own song choices.