Toshiba to launch music download service

From...

by Martyn Williams

(IDG) -- Toshiba on Thursday voted in favor of online music with the announcement of a new Internet download service due to launch Friday -- although it shunned the popular MP3 format in favor of competing formats combined with copyright control.

The company will launch its new Internet music download service, Du-ub.com, with the support of three major domestic record labels. When Du-ub.com opens its virtual doors, it will feature six singles by Japanese artists with an additional three added next week. During March the service plans to offer an additional seven songs from Toshiba EMI and also begin featuring songs from Warner Music Japan. AOL Time Warner is the parent company of CNN.com. Content from Universal Music will also be added in the near future, the company said in a statement.

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The songs will be compressed with the AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), Windows Media Audio, or ATRAC3 (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding) compression systems, and will be copy-protected using IBM's EMMS (Electronic Media Management System) or a system from Intertrust Technologies.

All three compression formats are slowing gaining attention as the record industry looks to ways to make music available online.

ATRAC was originally developed by Sony for use in the MiniDisc system, and ATRAC3 is a development on the original version. Sony is also using the format for its music download service and last year announced it had signed on RealNetworks to build support for ATRAC3 into its Real Player software from Version 8.0.

Liquid Audio, which is also pushing a secure music download system, built support for ATRAC3 into a software player it launched earlier in the year, and several hardware players, including Sony's VAIO Music Clip, offer support for the format.

Support for the AAC format comes from Liquid Audio's software player and hardware players from Matsushita Electric Industrial, better known by its Panasonic brand name, S3, makers of the popular Rio range of players, and others.

Toshiba's announcement comes just days after a U.S. court ruled online music-swapping service Napster infringes on record company copyrights. The service, which allows users to swap files between their hard disks, has dramatically increased the popularity of online music, but has come under fire from record labels because of copyright infringements by users. The court case was brought against Napster by five major labels, including EMI Group and Universal Music Group.

Last year Napster signed a deal with Bertelsmann to create a secure, copyright-friendly subscription service. Details of the planned service, which will feature music from at least Bertelsmann's BMG Music, are still under consideration although several reports have said a monthly subscription of between $5 and $15 is likely to be levied on users in return for access to music from member companies.

Du-ub.com said it will charge users 350 yen ($3) per song for its service -- the same price as Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) is charging users to download songs through its Bit Music service.

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Toshiba
Du-ub.com

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