The approximate 300,000 people who’ve picked up a copy of the Backstreet Boys’ “Never Gone” might not know it, but they’re part of a growing skirmish between the record labels and digital music master Apple Computer.
Both Sony BMG and EMI are rapidly increasing the number of copy-protected CDs they release in the U.S. CDs with the protective technology prevent users from posting them on the Internet and allow users to burn only three copies onto other discs, which themselves can’t be copied again.
Sony BMG is already selling about half its discs with the technology, while EMI releases its first this summer. But the technology also prevents consumers from transferring songs onto an iPod, the Apple digital-music player that currently holds about 80% of the U.S. market. That’s because the technology uses Microsoft’s Windows Media software, which isn’t compatiable with iPods.
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