Intel, Matsushita Electric (Panasonic) Introduce Secure Music Solution
New Products Target Makers of Portable Music Players, PC Music Jukeboxes
Panasonic Portable SD-Audio Player Uses Solution
SANTA CLARA, Calif., and SECAUCUS, NJ, Aug. 8, 2000 -- Intel Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., best known in the United States by its Panasonic brand name, announced they have jointly developed a set of software products for securely managing music on personal computers and transferring music to portable music players and storage media.
The software is designed to help companies that make consumer electronics devices (such as portable Internet music players) and PC music jukebox applications, as well as electronic music distribution system providers. All these types of companies need to develop and market products that are interoperable and can securely manage the transfer and playback of music. This new software solution is expected to exceed the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) requirements.
''The music devices and applications resulting from this software solution will help content providers quickly assemble end-to-end digital music distribution solutions for consumers,'' said Sakon Nagasaki, director of Matsushita's AV Media Card and Electronic Distribution Business Development Office. ''Consumers will be able to buy secure music anywhere -- from a variety of online and offline sources - and play it everywhere - on a wide range of SD Memory Card-enabled audio devices.''
''Intel's patented tamper-resistant software is key to achieving SDMI compliance,'' said Parvinder S. Kohli, general manager of Intel Internet Security Services. ''We're enabling consumer electronics manufacturers and PC music jukebox application vendors to easily create SDMI-compliant platforms for delivering music to consumers.''
The jointly developed software solution is now available. In Japan, Panasonic has already started selling two SD-audio player models, which include the new software technologies. Panasonic will use this software with several kinds of SD-Card-enabled music playback devices, such as SD-audio players and mini-DV Camcorders with SD Memory -card slots.
The new software solution is comprised of three products: a secure music transfer agent, a secure music manager, and an electronic music distribution (EMD) integration toolkit.
The secure music transfer agent enables the transfer of audio content to SD Memory Cards securely. The SD Memory Card is supported by a wide variety of portable audio and other devices and is a highly secure, postage stamp sized flash memory storage device that was jointly developed by Matsushita Electric, SanDisk Corp., and Toshiba Corp. The secure music transfer agent works with any portable device that implements the CPRM (Content Protection for Recordable Media) standard, which was jointly defined by the 4C Entity (IBM Corp., Intel, Matsushita Electric, and Toshiba Corp.) and which comprises the core of the SD Memory Card security system.
The secure music manager can be integrated into PC music jukebox applications. It encompasses all the functionality necessary to achieve SDMI compliance, including watermark screening, content protection, and check-in/out.
The EMD integration toolkit enables electronic music distribution systems to transfer content to the secure music transfer agent securely. EMD systems are increasingly used by the music industry for distribution of music and other content. Intel and Panasonic will also use this software technology to enable EMD systems based on Intel's own Intel&reeg; Software Integrity System content protection solution to transfer music securely to SD Memory Cards, which can be used in Panasonic SD audio players
