Copy-protection technology on music CDs may be headed for the U.S. market in bulk this year for the first time, according to one Wall Street analyst. In a research note published Friday, J.P. Morgan analyst Sterling Auty said that Arista Records, a subsidiary of BMG Music, appeared to be moving to market with CD copy-protection 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.
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.
However, previous versions of the antipiracy technologies from SunnComm, Macrovision and others have proven flawed. CDs protected with the technology have been unable to play in some CD players or computers, potentially even damaging some machines. Hackers have been able to break through much of the protection technologies using techniques as simple as drawing on the CD with a felt-tipped pen.
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