After Napster, Dataplay discs a security measure<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (Reuters): If you buy a new album from Elton John
\nlater this year, it may be on a matchbook-sized disc so spacious
\nthat it contains not only Sir Elton's latest work, but five or
\nsix albums from his past as well.<\/p>\n
The extra albums on small, high-capacity discs from Boulder,
\nColo.-based DataPlay Inc., will be locked up tight by ContentKey,
\nthe company's copy control software. To listen to earlier work,
\nor access a music video or interview, you'll have to buy a
\nsoftware key from the artist's record company via a Web site or
\nan in-store kiosk.<\/p>\n
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January,
\nDataPlay unveiled a host of prototype digital devices that use
\nits micro-optical drive -- digital cameras, personal digital
\nassistants, e-books -- but portable music players may be in the
\nbest position to benefit first from the technology.<\/p>\n
The company said it expects to sell prerecorded music at
\nretailers by the end of the year, including top hits from the
\nBillboard charts and popular back-catalog titles, at about the
\nsame price as CDs.<\/p>\n
For consumers, the 500 MB DataPlay discs are vastly cheaper at
\nUS$5 to $10 than solid-state memory like CompactFlash or
\nSmartMedia, which cost more than $100 for 128 MB. And 500 MB goes
\na long way -- in an MP3 player it's good for some 11 hours of
\nmusic. MP3 is a compression format that turns music on compact
\ndiscs into small digital files.<\/p>\n
DataPlay -- which counts media giant Vivendi Universal among
\nits investors -- offers powerful copy protection and the ability
\nto sell back-catalog albums all over again. It has been nearly 20
\nyears since the last major music format shift, to compact discs.<\/p>\n
"DataPlay allows the music industry to sell music in places
\nthey could never penetrate before," said DataPlay Chief Executive
\nOfficer Steve Volk, citing handheld devices known as personal
\ndigital assistants and mobile phones as prime examples.<\/p>\n
The company has deals Universal and several other major
\nlabels, and electronics manufacturers including Toshiba Corp.,
\nSamsung Electronics Co. and SONICblue Inc., which makes Rio MP3
\nplayers.<\/p>\n
But some say DataPlay has some serious hurdles to overcome
\nthat have nothing to do with the little disc's technological
\nmerits.<\/p>\n
"The conversion to CDs took the entire marketing capacity of
\nthe industry to make it palatable to consumers," said Forrester
\nResearch analyst Eric Scheirer.<\/p>\n
And DataPlay's most unique attribute -- the ability to offer
\nmultiple content-protected albums on a single disc -- may be
\nextremely confusing for customers, he said.<\/p>\n
"It's not clear the consumer understands the proposition,"
\nScheirer said. "You're buying something but not really buying it;
\nhaving it but not really having it."<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/after-napster-dataplay-discs-a-security-measure-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}