The iVue - unshareable music
The RIAA has contracted with a biometrics company called Veritouch to produce the iVue, a portable music player with a fingerprint reader. Current “legal music downloads” like the iTunes Music Store and the new Napster use a system that ties purchased tracks to individual computers. In the case of iTunes, you can “authorize” up to five computers to play tracks you buy (iPods don’t count against this total - you can put the tracks on an unlimited number of iPods as long as the iPod is physically connected to an authorized computer for the transfer). Napster may allow for more than one computer too - I don’t know.
But the iVue will tie tracks not to computers, but to the physical presence of their buyer (or, presumably, a reasonable facsimile). Mark is right: this has “a zero percent chance of catching on.” And I should hope not; do we really want to move towards a world where Blockbuster charges you a different rental fee depending on how many people are in the room while you show the movie? And modifies your TV to enforce that policy?