SDMI denies MP3 boycott - Secure Digital Music Initiative of the Recording Industry Association of America - Industry Trend or Event - Brief Article

Electronics Times, June 7, 1999

The Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), the Recording Industry Association of America's committee which aims to establish a secure rights-protected framework for the distribution of digital music via the Internet, has denied that it is looking to boycott MP3 because of its lack of security features.

The organisation is backing a two-phase plan under which portable music players will initially accept any content.

Once protected SDMI-compliant music becomes available, users will be prompted to upgrade to phase two technology which will recognise pirated music.

This second generation technology will accept recordings copied from personal CD collections but refuse to allow them to be copied over the Internet.

Users that fail to upgrade their phase one systems will not be able to play the newer SDMI-compliant files.