The popularity of digital music continues to grow, with more than 1.5 billion songs legally sold online so far, but there are problems in this new digital world. Currently, 88 percent of legal online sales are made through iTunes, but consumers who buy songs from that service can't play their music on phones or any portable device other than an iPod. Conversely, more than 300 million songs have been sold from other download stores, but consumers can't play those purchases on an iPod. This lack of interoperability among today's digital music stores and digital media players is hampering sales and digital adoption, as well as causing consumer frustration.
Our Response
PassAlong has created a service that honors both creator and consumer rights by allowing the use of any file format (we recommend MP3) and providing a secure environment on the device so that consumers can move their music within their domain (their iPods, computers, etc.) while protecting the creator's rights by not allowing the files to be uploaded to P2P services or mass copied and stolen.
How it works:
FreedomMP3 makes that possible in the following ways:
Interoperability — FreedomMP3 software makes it possible for online digital music stores to sell unprotected MP3 files that allow consumers to play their music anywhere, including on iPods and cell phones.
Rights — FreedomMP3 is an interoperability platform that honors the rights of both the creator and the consumer.
A Solution That Works — FreedomMP3 works on all PCs running Windows 2000 or higher (approximately 90 percent of computers in the marketplace). When a FreedomMP3-enabled song is attempting to leave a computer, the consumer is alerted and asked to confirm either a "let it go" or "keep it here" action. Rights holders have the option to set the security level higher or lower depending on their needs.
Despite the increase in digital downloading, less than six percent of all music sales are currently in the form of digital downloads. With the solution to interoperability in the marketplace, legal online music sales will take off.
