Until now, music download services have operated over the Internet as well over the mobile phone network. In the UK, one of the UK's largest independent radio production companies, UBC Media Group has launched a trial the first music download service that will work over the air via Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB).
While a song is being played via UBC's service, an encrypted stream copy of the track is transmitted at the same time, which a compatible DAB receiver will store for a limited time. Should the consumer decide to purchase this song, the track will be decrypted, stored to keep and become immediately available for playback. At the same time, the customer will also be able to access a DRM-crippled copy for download from their online website.
The songs cost a fair bit more than iTunes at £1.25 and can be purchased using a prepaid account. This service will be trialled with 100 consumers in Birmingham from the end of July for 4 weeks. Music from the four major record labels Sony BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner as well as various other organisations will be provided as part of the service. Thanks to GristyMcFisty for letting us know about this news:
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To be fair, we're not quite talking iTunes here. UBC's system, which is being offered next month on a trial basis by Chrysalis Radio station Heart, simply allows digital-radio listeners to buy the track they're currently listening to and have it transferred to a DAB-compatible music player. |
In my opinion, if a song is sent via the airwaves as a
digital track in the clear, I cannot see the need to send a 2nd copy encrypted
when the player can simply cache the clear version instead and save bandwidth on
the already overcrowded DAB network in the UK. Even if the bandwidth is available, this should be used instead to improve the sound quality of the radio station, especially with most DAB radio stations operating at 128kbps or less in the older MPEG1 layer 2 codec (predecessor of MP3). On the other hand, this idea of being able to purchase the currently playing track is a nice idea since the consumer knows what they are purchasing, unlike trying to guess a song where a DJ does not name the song or artist after it finishes playing.
Source: The Register - Hardware
