According to a Wall
Street analyst, copy-protected audio CDs may be headed for the American market in bulk
this year. A subsidiary of BMG Music
(Arista Records) appears to be moving to market copy-protected CDs, using
technology produced by SunnComm Technologies:
 Record labels have been experimenting with compact disc
copy-protection technology for close to two years now, but other early
indications that mass-market release was close have proven premature.
Labels in Europe and Asia have begun releasing scattered tests, but U.S.
trials have remained largely limited to advance and promotional
CDs.
A spokesman for BMG Music said his company's corporate
policy, which would affect Arista, has not changed in any way. "We are
conducting trials only, and we have not announced any plans to go to
market with copy-protected CDs," BMG spokesman Nathaniel Brown said.
Labels, which have seen their revenues fall over the
past two years, are eager to find a copy-protection technology that would
block people from burning copies of CDs or from "ripping" unprotected MP3
files with their computers and putting the songs on file-trading networks
such as Kazaa. |
Although the current audio copy-protection technologies are
still flawed, it will probably only be a matter of time before the record
industry comes up with a mass used protection. It will then be interesting to
see how long the protection lasts..
Source: C|Net News.com
