More digital music nonsense, and SonyBMG and Universal Music have both admitted to Digital Music News that they will include 'watermarks' on the MP3s they plan to sell via the Amazon download platform, though they insist the watermark will only contain information on where a track was sold, and not the identity of the purchaser of the track.
Watermarks embed data into the music file and when Apple's DRM-free iTunes Plus launched last year with the EMI catalogue it was revealed the DRM-free AAC files sold would include information about the customer who had bought them, seemingly to discourage users from sharing their DRM-free files on P2P networks. Some IT types expressed concern that hackers could extract that personal information from the unprotected AAC files.
However, SonyBMG and Universal say the watermarks on their MP3s will only carry information on which retailer sold it, presumably so they can track if new legit DRM-free sources of music become active sources of music on P2P networks. DMM quote Universal's Peter Lofrumento thus: "Our watermarks simply identify the retailers offering the tracks. They are not transactional watermarks, which contain the identities of downloaders".
EMI have said they won't be putting any watermarks on their MP3s though. Warner are yet to comment on the matter.