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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=1907
Copy Protection: Coming Soon to a CD Near You
By Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac
March 30th 2003
Major record labels reportedly plan to ship copy-protected CDs in volume to the US
market in May-June.
As MP3-laden iPods continue to fly off the shelves, Arista Records, a subsidiary of
BMG, is quietly planning to 'pilot' its CD copy-protection technology on a range of
forthcoming US releases, according to c|net.
A J.P. Morgan analyst in a research note says that the company expects major labels to
commence volume shipping in May-June of CDs copy-protected by a scheme devised by
Suncomm Technologies.
However, BMG denied the claim, stating that "We are conducting trials only, and we
have not announced any plans to go to market with copy-protected CDs."
After Dawn.com suggests that the Suncomm-encoded CDs will contain Windows Media (WMA)
tracks playable on PC CD/DVD-ROM drives, but uncopiable. The CD tracks themselves will
be unrippable and both CD tracks and WMA files will not be transferable to PC hard
drives or MP3 players. A number of car and personal MP3 players now also support WMA
playback.
Apple has maintained a 'fair use' policy on digital music, arguing that it has
incorporated copy protection into its iTunes application and the iPod, makiing it more
difficult for users to transfer files between computers. However, in the case of
copy-protected CDs, some earlier versions of which damaged slot-loading iMac CD-ROM
drives, Apple has said that use of such audio CDs in Macs voids the warranty.
Analysis: We don't believe for a minute BMG's statement that they are "conducting
trials only". Nonsense. Trials of the technology? Or cautiously dipping a toe into the
copy-protection waters to see what the consumer backlash is like? As After Dawn.com
notes, Europe has been living with copy protection for about a year; but the US
consumer market reaction may be altogether different. Should the WMA format be widely
implemented for copy-protected CDs, this type of rights management would certainly
severely restrict 'fair use'.
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