The music industry last week condemned the launch of two recording systems that will let people copy between 30 and 100 hours of music onto a single disc. The launches, from electronics giants Sony and Philips, are being seen as a potential pirates' charter.

"It's a no-brainer. Anything which lets people pirate more music like this has to be very bad news for the music industry," says a spokesman for Britain's record industry trade association, the BPI.

The launches come as the global music industry suffers its worst downturn since the CD format was introduced. Free online downloading and disc copying have been widely blamed for the slump in sales.

Sony's system will use the same data compression system used in MiniDiscs, to record 30 hours of MP3 music onto a single blank CD. The discs will play on a new generation of personal stereos, which cost less than $150. Philips's system uses a computer DVD recorder to save at least 100 hours of MP3 music on a blank DVD, which will play on a new portable DVD player.

Read the entire story in New Scientist

i guess there is more money to be made selling burners than music for Sony...

So we know the RIAA doesn't represent Sony.

hey hey, alright! i'm not sure how or if i would use these new discs, but i love to see articles about the RIAA trying to play God and tell companies what to make and customers what to listen to... There's still a shred of freedom out there, so take it while you have it!

Hail MP3!

The industry again cries and the waaaaaambulance is nowhere to be found. Somebody please spare me

100 hours. Of what? WAVs, 320k MP3s, 96k MP3s, or a propriatery codec or something?

100 hours, this probably also means that it's able to hold more than 750MB than (I think this is the maximum right now) normal CD-R's. Wouldn't these make for better storage too?

Did anyone notice? There's going to be a MP3DVD portable player!

Another victory for Mp3.

Hail Mp3!!!

I don't know about any of you but this only has one positive out come for me. The ability to backup all of my hard drive at one time. I don't know anybody who want's to burn 100 hours of music for ANYTHING! Why would you need music for over 4 solid days of listening? Availability is cool, I just don't see the practicality.

well just one more thing that sony is screwed up on. but this mp3dvd is cool.

Actually Haydenswall, the Sony Music division refused to comment!

Sony'll make a player. They'rs so adamantly against mp3, but my mp3 capable cd walkman is, of course, by sony.

This disc sounds like it only stores audio playback data. I'm sure it'd be great for backing up a CD collection. I own over 100 CD's and they’re not supposed to last forever. It'd really be nice to be able to back those up someday.

As for the piracy, the industry will not win by attempting to block this kind of technology from hitting the market. There is so much technology developing, it's just impossible to do it. The sooner the international community has better control of its copyrights in digital media, the better. If you can't stop a technology from developing and being implemented, you minus well use it to your advantage and make a profit from it. Eventually we'll be buying our MP3's and this disc will only be an after-thought.

What good is technology these days when the media industry has its say as to what kind of crippling technology goes into it?

Im sure that Sony developed some DRM for this thing. it will be hacked, and there will be new thechnology, which will be hacked again and so on...But there are two ways for musical companies to live with technology:
1. Put a policeman near every computer in the world.
2. Make better music, and promote it. And to develop new technologies every year so the quality will increase, and provide new services and content with disks. So that when the disk protection will be hacked, there will be something new on the market wit better quality.
Way 2 of course better, and some companies like sony are making steps towards technology. But there is a glitch: production price. Right now CD costs about $17-18. This is the maximum, because nobody would buy a 10 tracks album for $20+. Companies would have to sell new discs for the same money, or people just wont buy it. But making a CD is 20 cents or so, the DVD audio or any new medium costs at least $1-2. And these guys just dont like the idea of paying more money!! So they are sticking to CDs and filling their pockets with cash while fucking the consumer and suing anyone who is against them.

Unfortunately, given the police-state mindset the RIAA and its sheep--er, members adhere to, we're more likely to see option #1 implemented, as per 'SaMaL's' analysis.

Of course the RIAA dumbasses automatically think a 100 hour disk will propagate more piracy. What a bunch of arrogant assholes! I'd love to rip my entire CD collection & burn them to a couple of these 100 hour disks, (read: exercising my fair use rights - are you listening RIAA?) then I could box up the originals & put them in a closet to reclaim the space.

How typical of dying industries to flail against new inovations that further drive nails into their coffins. Hell, if the RIAA were around a hundred years ago, buggywhips would still be on the market & Henry Ford would've been arrested for putting coach drivers out of work!

Heh, the media/software companies dont like people that make backups of their product. Since these types of people dont have to fork out more cash for a replacement if one of their toddlers eats a CDR or DVDR.

backups so many backups

Em, this kind of thing already exists.

I can go and buy a £50 portable cd/mp3 player that'll play any old CDR of mp3's I make on my PC. It's not new, at least in terms of players.

An MP3 CD recorder would be new, but anyone with a PC and a £30 CD-R drive can already do it.

/me is excited.

Is it just audio or what?

jezabatch- Uh, I think you need to read the article a little closer.

1. Sony probably does use DRM in their disc, but it will be hacked.
2. ATRAC compression in the sony disc - highly propritary. I would guess Sony is hoping this format will become popular enough for them to start licenceing the codec. That means no freeware sony-big-disc writer software.
3. CD sizes - small(650), medium(700), large (750), XL(800). But XL requires a high-capacity writer and doesn't work in some CD drives.

1) No, sony just sucks, look in hardware section of DM. Their boombox is pathetic with MP3s.

2) ATRAC, is nothing special, it has a lot of artifacts at the 100 hour mode . I'll pass 'til I see an iRiver that can play Ogg Vorbis GT3 version or MPC...

I was a bit confused, sorry mother.

I think the point to be made here is that this is about business and producing new products that people want. Sony and Philips have continued to do this in spite of the RIAA, MPAA and other organizations. These products make waaay more money for Sony than their music division ever will, and Philips has been at odds with the RIAA on numerous topics. So, in the end it the products that sell, which consumers like, and are profitable that win the day in the free marketplace.

This just shows Sony's willing to be at odds with part of its business in order to get more and better business since the benefits most probably out weigh the draw backs. This also could be a sign that Sony knows the RIAA pitch is a bunch of B.S. and they need to get back to selling what consumers want.

"This also could be a sign that Sony knows the RIAA pitch is a bunch of B.S. and they need to get back to selling what consumers want"

airider, thats exactly right. Sony knows who controls their future & it isn't the jackboot RIAA thugs, its you & me & our wallets full of disposable cash (ok, maybe not THAT full these days). Sony knows the consumer votes with their wallets & they want to be on the winning ticket. (i.e. a company could make the world's finest buggywhip or rotary dial telephone, but if there's no consumer demand, who cares?)

I agree

Sony are unpredictable. One day they make good unrestricted hardware, the next they come out with something like netmd. Its the sony split, the electronics and entertainment dfevisions fighting.