Universal tries it without copy protection

 The music group Universal Music wants to offer songs for download without copy protection in future. The music group announced in New York on Thursday that a test project in collaboration with various Internet platforms will be launched in August. According to Pressetext.ch, Universal is following in the footsteps of its competitor EMI, which made its music catalog available for sale without copy protection some time ago. The songs from the Universal catalog will be playable on all MP3-capable devices, including iPods, but will not be sold via iTunes like those from EMI. The company initially prefers to work with partners such as Real Networks, Amazon, Google and the online portal of the Wal-Mart retail chain. It is still unclear whether Universal will stick to the copy protection-free course for good. The management wants to make a decision after the end of the test run next January. The first step will be to clarify whether demand is correspondingly high and whether the move away from copy protection will lead to a reduction in the illegal distribution of music.