Eight months after it got to work, the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) has published its open standard for manufacturers to use to develop portable devices for playing digital music. Sponsored by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the SDMI spec has been devised as a two-stage process for filtering out the black market in pirated music now thriving on the net, thanks to the high quality of new audio compression formats like MP3. MP3 makes it easy for anyone with access to a server to copy and redistribute music at near CD- quality, without paying royalties to record labels.
Though SDMI has been characterized as an MP3-killer, executives are at pains to point out that people can continue to use copyright-unprotected formats like MP3 for as long as they want. The idea is that when consumers upgrade their SDMI-compliant devices to take advantage of new releases in Phase II, the devices will prohibit playback of pirated works. Legitimate MP3s will play back normally. Copying for personal use is also permitted, but if the RIAA has its way, the SDMI spec will spell an end to the practice of wholesale ripping and redistribution of its cherished intellectual property.
