Digital Music Downloading

Having just finished a major promotion using MP3 players, Ray Jobsz, enlightens us on the pitfalls of this new technology, and lifts the lid on what's really happening in the MP3 industry.

So all you need is an MP3 player, a PC and a USB cable? It's as simple as that,or is it?

Well you know what's coming, of course its not, but no one's seems to want to talk about it?

There is no doubt that MP3 and now MP4 is very much the number one promotional item at the moment, but the truth is that downloading music is more complicated than most people are making out. Having just finished a major promotion using MP3 players, Ray Jobsz, enlightens us on the pitfalls of this new technology, and lifts the lid on what's really happening in the MP3 industry.

The music industry has long been concerned with piracy' and illegal copying. Copyright fears have given the industry an opportunity to be involved at the base level to put in measure to prevent illegal use of material.

The whole concept of MP3 (and now MP4, but that's for another day other than to say it allows moving pictures) is to allow the simple use of downloading music to a portable device and subsequently to transfer it from the MP3 player to either a Hi-Fi system or CD disc.

(Now we need to be aware that the CD is very soon going to be replaced by SD cards, but again we will, revisit that another time)

Recent developments between Microsoft and the music industry have introduced measure to prevent multiple copying by security coding licensed material such as music and films (DRM wrapping, digital rights management). Microsoft and the music industry have issued very little information about this.

Our project was to provide a music player that would download music from the Internet. The perception of the client and agency was simple, we want an MP3 player which can download music from the internet, and that is exactly what they got.BUT! Was it the music they expected and planed for, the answer was No. The reason is that the whole Internet Music Industry has changed in the last twelve months. Gone is the music share' sites that allowed free download. These sites allowed the copying of purchased material, until it was outlawed.

To put it simply, the Copyright industry are desperate to ensure that multiple copying cannot take place like it did in the old days with illegal warehouses being set up with hundreds of copying machines making 000's of illegal copies. Previously before DRM wrapping, it was possible to download music to CD's and make hundreds of copies very, very quickly. And I am not sure this system prevents that?

Most music sites now subscribe to DRM wrapping and without going into too much detail, it attempts to ensure that the person who bought it can only use the track of music. They can download it and store it on their PC, and output it only to a CD disc. The system basically is built around the fact that when you down load a track it wraps it with a set of binary number codes. Without the Firmware' to decode the DRM wrap the music can only be played via a CD. In short DO NOT ASSUME your MP3 player will playback music downloads, it may not, without the relevant Firmware licenses!

The way to think about an MP3 player is the same as Sky TV. Basically you have a group of digital Television broadcasters, but depending upon whom you subscribe to determines what channels you receive. In the same way the MP3 players is simply a device that will enable MP3 music or data playback, but if the supplier of such music DRM wraps his music then your MP3 player will require the Firmware to decode it, it is as simple as that, and you should ensure you ask the question when buying. In my view Microsoft and others have come up with a way of obtaining a new income stream in the form of license fees from MP3 player manufacturers. Sony, Philips and many other makes do not subscribe to DRM wrapping Firmware in all their models, so be aware! Apple does and several other brands so it is rather a confused state at present.

For more information contact Ray Jobsz Board Director BPMA Ltd Tel: The Electric Incentive Company (EIC) Ltd. On