Those CDs used technology from SunnComm International Inc. of Phoenix that blocked the discs from being copied onto a computer. Instead, the discs contained a second set of tracks in Microsoft's secure Windows Media format that could be copied onto a computer, transferred to portable players and burned onto a limited number of CDs.
The technology left several notable holes in the security, however. The burned CDs had no electronic locks to prevent them from being copied an unlimited number of times, and hackers quickly found a way to circumvent SunnComm's technology entirely to remove all the restrictions.
Since then, SunnComm and three other companies have developed a more secure approach. The new versions are designed to allow a limited number of copies that can be burned onto CDs that cannot, in turn, be copied.
EMI plans to begin selling secure CDs in the U.S. in mid-July; the artists affected include 30 Seconds to Mars and OK Go.
Both EMI and Sony BMG plan to let buyers get around the CDs' restrictions so they can get tracks onto iPods. Executives said they were willing to sacrifice security in the name of playability.
Still, the technology leaves at least one analyst skeptical.
"Here you have a product with declining sales, and for the same price you want to decrease the potential value of it," said analyst Phil Leigh of Inside Digital Media. "Basically, music companies are saying, 'We're going to lock up the front door of the store now, but the back door is still remaining wide open.' "
