SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Oak Technology Inc. here disclosed development of a chip-based approach to providing the highest level of protection against unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted materials with compact-disk recordings.
The approach is being jointly developed with startup Earjam.com Inc., which is leveraging its Internet music player technology with Oak's expertise in controllers for optical storage systems.
"We are enhancing CD-RW recordable/rewritable drive electronics to facilitate the protection of CD-based content," said Young Sohn, president and CEO of Oak Technology, which supplies controllers and software to many of the leading manufacturers of drives. "This chip-based approach at the controller level offers greater protection than media-based options, which are more susceptible to hacking or reverse-engineering," he added.
Oak said its new technology will allow users to read and record CD content, while precluding unauthorized distribution of music files through the Internet. The copyright protection technology was demonstrated by Oak and strategic partner Earjam.com at this week's Secure Digital Music Initiative Conference in Palo Alto, Calif. The two companies are continuing development of the technology for delivery to the marketplace in the future.
