Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group plans to start issuing CDs in October with software that prevents music from being digitally copied into computer files, Reuters reports. In practice, this means that their CDs won't be playable in CD-ROM drives making it impossible to encode their contents into MP3 or similar files.

  Other record companies are still testing different copy protection technologies. BMG plans to start using anti-piracy software on promotional CDs in the United States, but at the moment not on CDs for sale to the public. EMI's representatives were not available for a comment.

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