Vorbis - May 2001 - SDMI takes break on portable players...

OK, this news isn't specifically Vorbis related but it is interesting since
SDMI players were supposed to play only "authorized" content (SDMI
phase 2).

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Los Angeles Times
Saturday, May 19, 2001

Initiative to Bar Pirated Music on Portable Players Takes Break

Technology: Coalition fails to reach a consensus on method for detecting
unauthorized copies of songs.

By JON HEALEY, Times Staff Writer

     The record industry's controversial effort to combat piracy by
developing a new generation of portable music players has died, at least for
the summer.
     The Secure Digital Music Initiative--a group of about 200 record
labels, manufacturers and security companies--said Friday that it failed to
agree on a way to bar portable music players from playing pirated digital
music files. The group, which has been searching for that solution for more
than 17 months, won't reconvene until September.
     With the major record labels and their software partners pursuing their
own strategies, the once-ballyhooed SDMI may be irrelevant.
     "Tech companies are moving ahead without waiting for SDMI," said
Philip
Wiser, chief technical officer at Liquid Audio, a company that distributes
copyright-protected music. "That's setting the standards, really."
     Very few digital music players on the market today meet the group's
preliminary specifications, which set the stage for a future defense against
piracy. Instead, most manufacturers have concentrated on players that could
handle one or more of the security techniques used by the major record
labels, said Chris Schairbaum of Texas Instruments Inc., a leading provider
of microchips for those devices.
     Proponents acknowledge that the effort has fallen far short of its
goals, but they insist it's still relevant. They also say that the industry
may find a way to build on the technical foundation laid by SDMI.
     "The mission of SDMI is, was and remains to create an environment for
secure trading in music," said Paul Jessop of the International Federation
of the Phonographic Industry, a trade group for record companies worldwide.
"It's not something that's changing. . . . What we haven't
achieved at this
time is consensus around any set of technologies."
     SDMI was launched in early 1999. At the time, consumers were just
starting to convert CDs to computerized music files in the MP3 format that
could easily be copied and traded over the Internet.
     The group quickly agreed that the first phase of "SDMI-compliant"
devices would be able to play any kind of digital music file, although they
would have to convert MP3 files into a format that couldn't be passed from
computer to computer. But it bogged down as it moved to phase two, which
would have required the devices to reject any unauthorized copies of
copyrighted songs.
     The key to phase two was a system that could detect when a file had
been pirated. Five different technologies made the final cut, but a variety
of complaints prevented any from winning broad support within the group.
     While SDMI struggled to come up with an industry-wide approach, the
five largest record companies--Universal Music Group, BMG, Sony, Warner
Music Group and EMI--settled on a handful of competing security technologies
to limit copying and deter piracy. They're also trying to develop
subscription services that let consumers rent or listen to music rather than
building up personal collections--a shift that reduces the need for SDMI.
     Still, Jay Samit, a senior vice president at EMI, said that SDMI helped
put the record companies' priorities on the manufacturers' and high-tech
companies' agendas.
     "It got major manufacturers to work to come up with players that
respect rights," Samit said.

 Search the archives of the Los Angeles Times for similar stories about:
Technology, Secure Digital Music Initiative (Organization), Recording
Industry, Music Industry, Piracy, Copyright, Digital Technology.
You will not be charged to look for stories, only to retrieve one.

    Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times

Aleksandar
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