A German company is offering MP3 files for download, unencumberedby DRM (digital rights management). Instead, the company Akumadiscourages copying by adding a unique "watermark" to each download.Major record labels have mostly chosen DRM to protect their copyrights, limitingthe number of copies buyers can make of a downloaded track, and restrictingthe music players they can use to listen to it.
However, Akuma is taking a softer approach: The music storesells MP3 files which can be played on almost any digital music player, butadds a unique tag to each download using watermark technology from Germany'srenowned Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, whichhelped create the MP3 audio compression algorithm. The watermark technologymakes slight changes to the data in sound files, such as a higher volume intensityin a tiny part of a song, that are undetectable by even the best trained ears,according to Fraunhofer researchers. However, if unauthorized copies of a downloadturn up on, for example, peer-to-peer file sharing networks, the watermark allowsAkuma to identify the purchaser of a file and take action against them.
A single song title costs €0.89, (USD$ 1.13) an album €4.49. Akumaoffers MP3 files in a quality similar to CDs, with bit rates (a measure of soundquality) from 192K bps (bits per second) at the low end to 320K bps at the highend. Like eMusic.com Inc., the German music download store hopes to break intoa crowded market by making song downloading a piece of cake. The German portalrequires no special download software and places no restrictions on the choiceof music player, including the iPod from Apple Computer Inc.
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