20th Nov 2005
Sony’s Next (Mis)Step
Ya know, Sony’s been going about this whole Audio DRM thing just plain wrong. It’s obvious they haven’t thought through the ideas of Really Really Protecting music.
He’as what they needs ta do…. Ya start with an encrypted CD that can ONLY be played on a computer. Each $24.95 CD comes with a USB dongle. When you go to play the CD for the first time, the decryption jukebox phones home to Sony for, get this, an “activation code”. The user simply types in an 84 character phrase printed in “fast-fade” ink on the CD sleeve. They then enter in the serial number of the USB dongle. The connection then activates the dongle and player combination, good for 50 hours of play. Quite naturally, USB dongles can be daisy chained to support up to 34 Sony CDs in your collection at any one time (restricted only by space, power, and airflow considerations)
Of course, the weak point in the chain here is that any old fool can tap into the audio output from the sound card. That’s why Sony is introducing the new “Plays For A While” PCI and PCMCIA cards. All CD output goes through these cards, and is broadcast wirelessly to the new “Sony Wireless Decryption Bookshelf Speakers”. Each speaker takes only 16 D batteries, and decrypts the proprietary 4096-bit soundstream for playback. It is still possible for consumers to copy music by placing microphones in front of these speakers, but rest assured that the fine engineers at Sony will come up with “Only Hears With Ears” technology, rendering all recording devices useless.
That’s what’sa comin! Just in time for Christmas 2006. While this may decrease worldwide sales of all Sony music to 22,450 units worldwide per year, at least they will ALL be truly copy-protected!
