An Architecture to Securely Enrich and Distribute MP3 Files over the Internet

On-line music distributors are hesitant to release music in MP3 format, as this standard is an open-format and piracy of copyrighted music may be facilitated. Instead, they prefer to use proprietary formats and proprietary DRM systems. Users do not like this approach, as it limits the emusic flexibility without giving any benefit. In this paper we propose an alternative that enables vendors to securely distribute open-formats and users to have benefits from using legal media copies. In particular, we propose to securely enrich and distributeMP3 files with multimedia contents and to adopt security mechanisms transparent to users to protect vendors’ rights. No restriction is set on the MP3 audio play out, but only a legitimate MP3 owner can use both audio and multimedia contents; a non legitimate MP3 owner can still enjoy the audio portion, but no more than that. This way, users are stimulated to avoid music piracy.