Sony BMG introduces copy-protection free music

14th January 2008

The company Sony BMG plans to introduce a new service: users will be able to download music albums without copy protection. Those users of the online service Platinum MusicPass, who bought special gift cards, will have access to the tracks without DRM-protection since January, 15, reports BBC News. On the site of the service 37 unprotected albums, including recordings of famous performers will be placed.
To download music without DRM protection, the user will need to enter the identification number listed on the gift voucher. Downloaded songs can be listened on personal computers, and on digital music players, including iPod.
One will be able to buy a gift card in such stores as Best Buy and Target. The cost of one card is $2.99. The new service is going to be available first to the residents of the United States, but at the end of January the service will be launched in Canada.
Sony was the last of the four major labels to offer music lovers unprotected music. In April 2007, the recording studio EMI announced that every track produced by it will be available without DRM-protection. The first shop, to sell such songs, was the service iTunes Store. A little later the companies of Vivendi Universal and Warner Brothers followed this “tradition” of EMI.