The Secure Digital Music Initiative has taken its first steps toward offering music companies copyright protection over the Net.
The group has chosen an audio watermarking technique that will allow hardware manufacturers to start producing SDMI-compliant players.
"This decision keeps SDMI on track with its ambitious schedule," said Leonardo Chiariglione, Executive Director of SDMI, in a statement.
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SDMI said it chose Aris Technologies' audio watermarking technology, although the licensing agreement is subject to final approval at the next SDMI plenary at the end of August in Florence, Italy.
The security component of the SDMI spec is still to be selected.
Phase I begins with the ratification of the standard. At this stage, consumer electronics built to the spec will play music in all current formats, including MP3.
Aris’ software will be used in Phase I SDMI-compliant digital music players. The software will look for digital watermarks in music. When the secure Phase II technology becomes available, music producers will start including the watermark in their releases. When the players detect the watermark, they will let consumers know that player software can be upgraded to play music in the Phase II format.
That means the watermark will not be incorporated in SDMI-compliant digital music until Phase II technology becomes available, sometime "in the future," according to SDMI.
Chiariglione said the selection of the screening technology is the final step needed for manufacturers to make Phase I-compliant players.
If the consumer chooses not to upgrade, the device will continue to play all of the music it could play before, including music from existing CDs, said SDMI.
SDMI said it looked at a number of competing proposals for this watermarking technology but Aris won for the strength of the watermark and the fact that listeners couldn't detect its presence in the music.
