Internet Security: SanDisk Products and New Microsoft Technology Provide Copy Protected Music for Internet Music Player Market - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, April 19, 1999

SanDisk Corporation announced Tuesday that each of its products which are being widely used for portable Internet music players include a unique serialization feature which provides a copyright protection solution when used in conjunction with Microsoft's new Windows Media Rights Manager and future portable players.

Windows Media Technologies 4.0 increases quality, performance and ease-of-use to provide the best audio quality for streamed or local playback. The new Windows Media Technologies 4.0 protects the rights of content owners by packaging the encrypted content with other content information such as the unique digital serial number already present on every flash memory card manufactured by SanDisk Corporation. Nelson Chan, vice president of marketing at SanDisk, said, "We've worked closely with Microsoft for several years to include native software support for our products across all Windows operating systems and the initiative for a CompactFlash Type II specification. We continue to work with Microsoft to achieve a secure method of transporting information using our unique serialization feature which is already present in all our flash products. Based on this ongoing work with Microsoft, the unique digital serial number present in all SanDisk products establishes a secure Internet music copyright protection." "Microsoft is pleased to work with SanDisk in providing a complete solution for the protection of copyrighted music for the download and play music player market. SanDisk supports the security features of content owners by their commitment to building secure memory products and the software needed to interface them to the Windows Media Technologies 4.0 Rights Manager," said Will Poole, senior director of marketing and business development, Streaming Media Division, Microsoft Corp. Semico, a leading market research firm, recently produced what it described as a forecast for solid-state music players. Semico concluded that about 1.3 million units would be sold worldwide next year, 7.8 million units in 2001 and more than 14 million players would be sold in 2002. SanDisk includes an on-board controller in every product which carries a unique serialization feature and provides a solution which satisfies the guidelines of several proposals currently under review by the Secure Digital Music Initiative. This serialization feature plays a crucial role in creating an authorized copy which is bound to the storage media. SanDisk Corporation, the world's largest supplier of flash data storage products, designs, manufactures and markets industry-standard, solid-state data, digital imaging and audio storage products using its patented, high density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is based in Sunnyvale, CA. FMI: http://www.sandisk.com.