Microsoft has announced a new kind of DRM. While we earlier have been reporting about how parts of the music industry have been having serious discussions about dropping DRM, Microsoft seems to be thinking differently. PlayReady isn’t for home users and computers though, but mainly intended for mobile phones and other handheld devices. With the ever growing assortment of multimedia services the copying of material between users also increases and to make sure that no media is copied without permission Microsoft has launched PlayReady together with a number of large mobile phone operators.
PlayReady is more than just DRM though, but a broad platform for how to spread digital material. Several of the operators (Telefónica, O2, Verizon Wireless, Bouygues Telecom, Cingular Wireless and AT&T) are already working on integrating Microsoft’s new platform. They have high hopes that this will ease the further distribution of digital media.
“The result of extended dialogue with the mobile industry, Microsoft PlayReady technology enables a broad spectrum of business models such as subscription, rental, pay-per-view, preview and super-distribution, which can be applied to many digital content types and a wide range of audio and video formats. Content types supported include music, video, games, ring tones and images. Audio/video formats supported include Windows Media® Audio (WMA), AAC/AAC+/HE-AAC, Windows Media Video (WMV), and H.264. Microsoft PlayReady enhancements make it easier for consumers to move their content between their devices, giving them a new level of freedom with their digital content.”
PlayReady will arrive in the first half of 2007 with support from a broad range of operators.
