Sony thinks it has solved the recording industry's digital-music problem.
On Thursday, the company proposed new copyright-protection methods for the Secure Digital Music Initiative, or SDMI, the industry group formed to help music companies sell files online and fight piracy.
Sony's protection system will rely on separate hardware systems to record and encrypt the music, and embedded chips inside personal computers and portable playback devices will help limit the transmission of files. Specific details about the technology weren't immediately available. But the system would limit only authorized devices to play back music files.
The system comes in two parts -- MagicGate for the recording and playback devices and OpenMG for securing PCs. The company said the two together allow digital music "to be 'moved' rather than copied, while preventing unauthorized copying, playback, and transmission."
Sony's MagicGate uses embedded microchips to limit transmission of music "between compliant devices and media," Sony said. Under OpenMG, a separate piece of hardware installed on the computer serial port would limit transmission to authorized devices.
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Some of the copy protection technology could reside on Sony's removable "Memory Stick" flash memory cards, which are already used in products like digital cameras. The Memory Sticks could store downloaded music files and move from one device to another, said Mack Araki, a spokesman for Sony.
Sony called MagicGate and OpenMG "near-term solutions" to the challenge presented by MP3, short for Motion Pictures Expert Group, audio layer 3. As a longer-term solution, Sony said it would offer up Super MagicGate, an extension of MagicGate and OpenMG that could allow for flexibility in the usage and billing of music downloaded on the Internet.
"For example, promotional tracks could be limited to a single playback, whereas other content could be played back freely, a certain number of times, or over a limited playback period," the company said.
A spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America declined to comment.
Sony is one of several companies trying to solve the digital music dilemma with a system that answers both the industry's copyright concerns and consumer desires. The music industry has been turning to technology companies in recent months to figure out a way to make money from music downloads, while stopping the rampant distribution of illegally copied music. Earlier this month, IBM unveiled an alliance with big record companies to combat piracy.
