Apple ready to license FairPlay DRM to Macrovision?
updated 10:45 am EDT, Mon August 23, 2004
Apple to license FairPlay?
The latest documentation from copy protection provider Macrovision suggests the company is confident that it will be able to its CDS-300 copy control software. Macrovision is telling customers that it will bring iTunes and iPod support by adding "Apple FairPlay" to its software in the fourth quarter, according to The Register. "That suggests that Macrovision has indeed managed to license Apple's DRM technology - or is sufficiently confident of doing so that it can provide a timeframe for the code's adoption....it wants the technology to allow it to provide iTunes-ready compressed audio tracks alongside the Windows Media Audio files its CDS-300 copy protection mechanism already offers...The company's Q4 update is also expected to include its RealTime DRM Encoding system, which converts on the fly a disc's Red Book audio source into FairPlay-protected AAC files, ATRAC 3 tracks for Sony portable music players or WMAs, according to a given user's personal preference."
The article notes that the company's request is different from RealNetworks' desire to license Apple's FairPlay DRM, saying that "Real wanted FairPlay simply so it could open its own online music store to iPod users," while Macromvision was attempting to provide Mac comaptibility for tracks copied from music purchased on copy-protected CDS.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Oh boy!
Now I'll be able to buy a CD where I won't be able to get real copies of my songs, but crippled, DRM'd copies! I can't wait! No more worrying about buying the real thing vs. the iTMS, it'll be the same now!