German music download store uses watermarks, not DRM
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(InfoWorld) - A German company is offering MP3 files for download, unencumbered by DRM (digital rights management). Instead, Akuma discourages copying by adding a unique "watermark" to each download. Major record labels have mostly chosen DRM to protect their copyrights, limiting the number of copies buyers can make of a downloaded track, and restricting the music players they can use to listen to it. However, Akuma is taking a softer approach: The music store sells MP3 files which can be played on almostÂ any digital music player, but adds a unique tag to each download using watermark technology from Germany's renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, which helped create the MP3 audio compression algorithm. The watermark technology makes slight changes to the data in sound files, such as a higher volume intensity in a tiny part of a song, that are undetectable by even the best trained ears, according to Fraunhofer researchers. However, if unauthorized copies of a download turn up on, for example, peer-to-peer file sharing networks, the watermark allows Akuma to identify the purchaser of a file and take action against them. "Around 40 percent of the labels we offer are embedded with watermarks," said Sascha Hottes, a managing director of H2 Media Factory, which launched Akuma. "This is the compromise we've reached with labels that are willing to release their titles in the MP3 format and not in Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format with its DRM technology." As part of its service, Akuma monitors songs embedded with a watermark against illegal distribution on P-to-P services, according to Hottes. "We monitor P-to-P networks on a random basis," he said. Around 350,000 songs, mostly from independent labels, are currently available on the Akuma portal, with 700,000 planned by the end of the year. The roster includes artists such as Katie Melua, Toni Braxton, Simply Red and Deep Purple. A single song title costs â¬0.89, ($1.13) an album â¬4.49. Customers have various payment options: online, direct debit, telephone invoice and PayPal. Akuma offers MP3 files in a quality similar to CDs, with bit rates (a measure of sound quality) from 192KbpsÂ at the low end to 320Kbps at the high end. Like eMusic.com, the German music download store hopes toÂ break into a crowded marketÂ by making song downloading a piece of cake. The German portal requires no special download software and places no restrictions on the choice of music player, including the iPod from Apple Computer. Customers can make as many copies of the songs as they like, burn them to CDs and transfer them onto multiple portable music players. TheÂ akuma.de portalÂ is now available in a beta version to registered users.
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Apple declines to explain why its new DRM-free music files are watermarked with users' names and e-mail addresses.
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Phony Sony, Maxel, TDK etc. Relive music piracy the way it used to be done, back in the days when even Shawn Fanning was a glint in someone's eye*, let alone his original Napster app and the P2P world it spawned. Yes, we're talking cassette tapes and a 21st Century take on this format of yesteryear.â¦
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By Jefferson Graham  LOS ANGELES -- The music industry is looking ahead to life without copy protection.
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Then charges back out again The world's biggest record label is touting a scheme that would permit internet users to swap DRM-free music under a blanket license, according to a report. Universal Music Group's "TotalMusic" program would allow customers of ISPs who signed up to the program to exchange files freely - but only if the ISP signed up.â¦
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So-called FairUse program breaks copy protection on Windows Media Player.
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I saw an ad in yesterday's NY Times that offered the complete New Yorker magazine archive, including all the cartoons and ads, going back to 1920-something for a bit more than the hard disk would cost. The ad was from J&R, the company that makes the product is Pexagon. $149. Sounds like there might be DRM. I asked for something like this from the music business. A hundred gigs of popular music for $500, all pre-installed on the disk without DRM.  Someone at the New Yorker had this idea too? It's a good one. Bulk content for collector types. Another source of revenue. I want to run my own personal radio station, so having every song of a certain genre or from a certain period makes the diff.
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Amazon MP3 is a digital music store in public beta that offers DRM-free music downloads, allowing users to download the music to their audio player of choice or burn songs onto CDs.
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The popular file-sharing service may be forced to shut down if it can not control the uploading of pirated music to its service after a German court ruling.
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Facing a copyright lawsuit from MPAA, company is trying to avoid disclosing user information.
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The tune seems to be changing ever so slowly at some record labels when it comes to DRM. Both out of consumer demand and to some extent necessity, some have begun to offer digital downloads in the unprotected MP3 format.
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Update Slammed for touting unavailable but unlicensed content
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Our countdown to next week's CES centers now on whether the CE industry will at last reach a solution to the DRM conundrum. The new trend toward DRM-free music doesn't appear to be shaking the Blu-ray and HD DVD folks, who continue to cling to proprietary disk formats. Will consumers seek a video alternative, and might it come from China?
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Internet users who illegally download music and films could face losing access to the web
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The latest version of Hymn strips DRM protection from songs purchased from the iTunes 7 store, enabling playback on non-iPod gadgets.  In Listening Post.
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Should creators insist on copy protection and other technologies to block the unauthorized spread of their works?
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Microsoft is testing a new feature on its Download Centre website that can lock out pirated copies of Windows. During the test period, users of Download Centre can opt to have the Windows software installed on their PCs validated as genuine.