iPods to support copy-protected music

As controversy swirls over Sony BMG's copy-protected discs, Apple is moving towards supporting a different variant of CD copy-protected music with its popular iPod digital music player.

For more than a year, the anti-copying technology loaded on some major-label compact discs has been compatible only with Windows-based computers. Those CDs have allowed listeners to move digital files onto the computers, but they have not been able to transfer those songs to iPods.

Now the EMI Group record label says that its upcoming copy-protected CDs will at last be compatible with iPods, a change nearly a year in the making, the label said.

"Apple is nearly finished with the technical work necessary to enable consumers to transfer music from content-protected discs to their iPods," the label said in a statement detailing its copy-protection plans. "This is an important step for EMI and Apple, but even more so for music consumers who will soon be able to legitimately port music from protected discs they own to the iPod."

The agreement marks a substantial step forward for advocates of copy-protecting CDs, even as the ongoing controversy over Sony's actions has cast the practice into controversy.

EMI and Sony BMG have each been adamant that they are moving toward installing technology on all their releases that limit the number and types of copies that can be made of each CD. Each label has been experimenting with different varieties of this technology for several years.

While all CD copy protection as a whole has triggered some criticism from fair-use advocates, it is only the latest release from Sony, using technology from British company First 4 Internet, that has become a mainstream controversy.

That software used a powerful programming tool called a 'rootkit' to hide virtually all traces of its presence on a hard drive, using a technique favoured by virus writers that instantly triggered suspicion from many computer developers. Worse, that tool wound up exposing computers to a variety of dangerous security risks, some of which have already been exploited by virus writers.

Sony has recalled the 4.7 million CDs that included the First 4 Internet software, and has said it will exchange the 2.1 million albums already sold with the technology installed. The company has also released albums using antipiracy technology from Sunncomm, which has not posed the security risks of the First 4 Internet variants.

EMI has been quick to distinguish its plans from the Sony's First 4 Internet discs. It is adopting copy-protection tools from Macrovision, which do not install hidden files on PCs and do not download any software without consumers' permission, the label says.

The new EMI CDs will have usage rules similar to songs purchased from the iTunes music store. Consumers will be allowed to 'rip' one full copy-protected version of the album to their computer, from which it can be transferred to MP3 players. Three copies of the full disc can be made on blank CDs, and each individual track can be burned to CD seven times.

The discs will also include additional content, such as artwork, artist bios and videos, the label said.

An Apple spokesman had no immediate comment on the news.