Major music labels test unrestricted MP3 downloads
Last Updated: Thursday, December 7, 2006 | 8:25 AM ET
The Associated Press
After years of selling online music digitally wrapped with copy and playback restrictions designed to hinder piracy, major music labels are beginning to make some songs available in the unrestricted MP3 file format.
The releases are part of an experiment to gauge demand for tracks that can be played on any digital music player capable of playing MP3s, one of the oldest music compression formats.
Normally, copy-protected tracks are only playable on certain devices. By selling MP3s, recording companies can ensure they can be played on Apple Computer Inc.'s market-leading iPod players without going through Apple's iTunes Music Store.
The latest such offering comes from singer Norah Jones and rock band Relient K, both signed to labels operated by Britain's EMI Music.
Jones's Thinking About You and Relient K's Must Have Done Something Right — both from their forthcoming albums — went on sale for 99 cents US each as MP3 downloads Tuesday via Yahoo Inc.'s online music service.
Relient K also is selling the song on the band's website with a bonus MP3 titled Fallen Man, while EMI has released an MP3 from British pop singer Lily Allen for sale only in Great Britain.
Many artists, mostly with independent labels, have been selling music in the MP3 format for years. Dimensional Associates Inc.'s eMusic has sold nearly 100 million MP3 downloads to date.
Still, major labels have been reluctant to follow suit.
That is beginning to change, if slowly.
This summer, Sony BMG Music Entertainment released an MP3 by pop diva Jessica Simpson on Yahoo Music, while the Walt Disney Co.'s Hollywood Records released an entire album by pop singer Jesse McCartney in the MP3 format.
"They're still looking at it as an experiment, but the labels have really come a long way in terms of wanting to see how this works for them," said Carrie Davis, a Yahoo spokeswoman, refusing to disclose sales totals for the Simpson and McCartney tracks.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- HMCS Corner Brook collision damage extensive
- The damage done to HMCS Corner Brook when it hit the ocean floor off B.C.'s coast last summer was more extensive than first reported, CBC News has learned by obtaining exclusive pictures of the submarine. more »
- Mandatory gun sentence struck down by Ontario judge
- An Ontario Superior Court judge has struck down a mandatory minimum sentence for a first offence of possessing a loaded firearm. more »
- Online surveillance critics siding with child porn: Toews
- Critics of a bill that would give law enforcement new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications are aligning themselves with child pornographers, Canada's public safety minister says. more »
- Low vitamin D in womb tied to poor language skills
- Children born to women who had low levels of vitamin D during their pregnancy are more likely to have language problems, a new study suggests. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Canada dropping the ozone ball, scientists warn
- Leading atmospheric scientists are warning that Canada's cuts to its ozone monitoring program are already having effects on the world's ability to monitor air quality and ozone depletion. more »
- Ban Wi-Fi in classroom, Ontario teachers union urges
- The Ontario English Catholic Teacher's Association says computers in all new schools should be hardwired instead of setting up wireless networks, citing safety concerns. more »
- How to think like a Neanderthal
- A lack of creativity and the inability to innovate may have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals, two researchers argue in a book that aims to get inside the Neanderthal mind. more »
- FBI seeks social media data mining tool
- The U.S. government is seeking software that can mine social media to predict everything from future terrorist attacks to foreign uprisings, according to requests posted online by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Glacier Discovery Walk: Will the visitor centre enhance the view? Feb. 10, 2012 3:17 PM Environment minister Peter Kent has announced the construction of a new Glacier Discovery Walk and visitor centre on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. It raises the issue of how to balance commercial development in our National Parks against the preservation of the last refuges of wilderness.
Quirks & Quarks
- February 11: Inside the Mind of a Neandertal Feb. 10, 2012 4:01 PM Can we get inside the mind of a species that's been dead for 30,000 years? A new book, How to Think Like a Neanderthal, suggests we can. The authors reconstruct a creature like us in many ways, but with important differences.
Latest Features
- HMCS Corner Brook collision damage extensive
- Online surveillance critics siding with child porn: Toews
- Stanley Cup rioter seen in brick attack on cop
- Mandatory gun sentence struck down by Ontario judge
- Whitney Houston's body headed home to New Jersey
- Whitney Houston's body now at N.J. funeral home
- Man pleads guilty to murder of stepdaughter, 17
- Whitney Houston estate value set to soar
- HIV-positive B.C. man jailed for assault, child porn
