Navio Systems Will Revolutionize DRM

Navio Systems is a startup based in Cupertino, Calif., the hometown of Apple, and this company is going to make waves. They have designed a system that stores the rights associated with a piece of content (ie. music, a game, a movie, etc.) within the file itself. Your rights to access this content is stored in a "digital locker" that tracks what you’ve purchased. The big deal about doing DRM this way is that Navio doesn’t care where that content came from — which means anyone can sell music, games, videos, etc. Anyone who? Well, there are already some big names going ga-ga over this technology: Fox, Sony, Disney/Pixar, Verizon, and Cingular are early Navio customers. Instead of duking it out with companies like iTunes about the prices, the rights-owners can just sell the content themselves, knowing it’s protected. By the end of next month, Navio will offer software to its customers (those big names) that will allow their users (like you and me) to play copy-protected videos on the iPod — ones that weren’t purchased from the iTunes music store! Stay tuned…