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Jewish World Review Feb. 20, 2001 / 27 Shevat, 5761

Hane C. Lee

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Consumer Reports


Bertelsmann, Napster: We have the technology

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- Just days after suffering a legal setback in its high-stakes lawsuit with the record industry, Napster and its partner Bertelsmann announced Friday that they are developing a digital-rights management solution for the popular file-sharing network.

But no one seems to know for sure whether it will actually work.

The companies said they are tapping the services of Bertelsmann subsidiary Digital World Services to provide Napster with digital-rights management software that would ensure the safe delivery of music over its network.

Implementing this technology is essential to creating a subscription service that would offer copyright-protected material to users in a secure environment, said Napster interim CEO Hank Barry.

The technology has been in the works for several months, Napster and Bertelsmann announced.

But according to an executive at Digital World Services, the "solution" is little more than a theory at this point. Napster only this week signed a contract giving the digital-rights management services company the go-ahead to develop the technology.

"We've been pitching them for a couple months," says Trish Naudon, executive director of marketing for Digital World Services.

"We had an idea about it. We've been building on it for a little while. We had to figure out if there was (technology) out there that exists" that the company could tailor for Napster's peer-to-peer system.

Though there is no working demo of the rights technology, Napster is now "satisfied and confident we could build this out for them," according to Naudon. She added that the software would not be ready until summer.

A Napster spokeswoman said the announcement was designed to show that the company is committed to migrating to a secure, membership-based business model.

The companies say Digital World Services' product will be invisible to users but will allow copyright holders to set certain barriers. The idea, essentially, is that when a file transfer is initiated, a protection layer will detect an unsecured MP3 and add coding to it before spitting it out to the person who requested it.

No extra software will be required to play the protected file, the Digital World Services exec says. But, for example, the file might expire after a limited number of days, or be impossible to copy to a CD, unless the user has the proper level of membership.

"Today's announcement underscores one key fact: The real questions about Napster's future are economic, not technical or legal," said Napster CEO Barry in a statement.

"This solution is further evidence of the seriousness of our effort to reach an agreement with the record companies that will keep Napster running, reliable and enjoyable."

At least one label executive is skeptical.

"They issued a statement saying Napster can do what it (previously) said it can't do," says Laurie Jakobsen, senior director of communications for Sony Music.

Hane C. Lee writes for The Industry Standard. Comment by clicking here.

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