Cnet has an intresting article about Microsoft's upcoming operating system, Windows XP. This OS will feature a new version of Windows Media Player and a new system called the Secure Audio Pathway (SAP)
The driver-level content protection scheme could lay the first realistic groundwork for the secure distribution of audio and video content over the Internet. Early reports have insinuated that this might be the end of the free trade of MP3 files--for Windows XP and ME users, anyway. But for most users, the only real effect of the system should be the availability of more digital music--if the SAP arrangement assuages the content owners' nightmares of people cracking the protection around the files that they want to sell. |
The SAP system is a bit confusing and has caused many people to overreact, fearing the worst. So I'm going to try to explain, in clear language, exactly what Microsoft's maneuver means for you, me, and the other 100 million or so online music fans in the world. To do so, I asked Mike Aldrich, lead product manager for Microsoft, about the company's plan to use its OS dominance to build a better mousetrap, as it were.
Source: Cnet.com
