The MP3 Killer Gathers Steam
Posted below OR
wired.com
Note the "reference architecture" spread throughout the article. Hmmmm....
Chris
The music recording industry on Monday
moved a significant step closer to its goal
of overtaking the popular MP3 digital
music format.
At a meeting in Tokyo, the Portable
Device Working Group of the Secure
Digital Music Initiative settled on a new
specification for portable digital music
players. SDMI is a working group made up
of stakeholders from the music, software,
and hardware industries.
Read Wired News' ongoing MP3 coverage
Browse Webmonkey's MP3 Guide
The group is developing a secure
alternative to digital music distribution
and storage formats such as MP3, that
the music industry feels is a boon to
pirates.
The group has devised a reference
architecture for the first phase of
SDMI-compliant portable digital music
players, but it has not released the
specifications. A reference architecture is
the means by which hardware and
software components are organized and
work together.
The specs will outline for manufacturers
how players should read digital music
files. In Phase 1 of the plan,
SDMI-compliant devices will read all files,
including MP3, Liquid Audio, and other
digital music formats. When the group
releases the Phase 2 player specs, which
are expected in March of 2000, the
devices will only play music files deemed
secure by SDMI.
The group faces a 30 June deadline for
Phase 1 of its controversial and
confounding two-phase plan for
manufacturing secure digital music
players.
"The determination with which the
Portable Device Working Group is
proceeding is truly impressive," said
Leonardo Chiariglione, SDMI's executive
director, in a press release.
The agreement on a reference
architecture lays the groundwork for
developing actual devices for digital audio
playback, said one SDMI member who
asked not to be identified.
"The reference architecture is a very
important pre-condition to a full-blown
technical specification," said the SDMI
member. "This means we have a common
understanding of how these devices and
software applications can be designed to
maximize consistency and
interoperability."
More than 75 technology and record
companies met in Tokyo late last week to
hash out the reference architecture and
to begin laying the groundwork for an
SDMI marketing group.
Technical specifications for the
SDMI-compliant Phase 1 portable devices
is due by 30 June. The group has
postponed announcing the specifications
for a much-anticipated and controversial
content-screening component until an
undetermined later date. At last week's
meeting, 10 companies presented
proposals for developing the content
screening component, and "a number of
the proposed solutions" will be tested,
according to the press release.
SDMI members have declined to identify
the companies whose proposals will be
tested.
Ultimately though, the announcement
"really just means they're staying on
track," said Arnold Brown, CEO of Audio
Explosion, an SDMI participant.
"That's one of the big things people are
watching for: whether we stick to our
word and keep on the timetable," said
Brown. "This announcement is fitting in
the timetable established early on about
how we'll get to specifications." |
