Microsoft licenses watermark technology for sound

Microsoft yesterday announced a licensing agreement with the company Activated Content , which has developed a technology for introducing invisible digital tags ("watermarks") in sound files. This technology plays a key role in tracking advertising videos that are distributed via the Internet, as well as other digital audio and video content that needs to be protected from illegal copying.

Digital Content Publisher implements and manages audiolabels using the Activator Pre-Release platform, which includes a white noise generator and encoder. Technology support has already been announced by major media corporations such as Sony Music and Universal.

Digital tags are read by a decoder, which is installed on the end device (for example, on an Apple iPhone or Palm Treo computer) and retrieves encrypted data. For example, a link to the corresponding page from the advertiser's website may be embedded in the commercial. Or a direct link to the page where you can buy this song can be embedded in the music track.
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In advertising, technology can be used in much the same way as a similar “digital tag” technology for video files created by Microsoft Research .