Sony is beta testing write-protected CDs that will treat discs the way Apple’s iTunes Music Store treats individual files. Sony has released 10 DRM-enabled music titles that prevent wholesale copying but allow for individual tracks to be ripped and burned (copied and pasted) onto blank CDs as protected .WMA files.
The .WMA files maintain Digital Rights Management encoding, so they cannot be recopied. The source disc also limits the number of times songs can be ripped from it. Sony spokespeople believe that consumer behavior will not be affected by this, only the actions of large-scale CD pirates.
Sony’s CDs will not be compatible with Apple’s iPod, as the latter uses Fairplay, a different flavor of DRM.
Intel says that its new technology allows computer users to control DRM of copyrighted material from a firmware level. It is keeping silent, however, on how. The inner workings of its new Pentium D chip and accompanying 945 chipset are being kept secret, the company says, avowing that it does not discuss how its technology is created.
This has IT professionals concerned. Even though Intel has announced a companion feature that allows network administrators and the like greater leverage in formatting and configuring machines over a network without an operating system, a hardware-centered DRM solution allows for no tweaking by either the end-user or power-user.
