SONY SHARES ITS
LOCKER COMBINATION

Sony Music Entertainment is gearing up to introduce its combination digital storage locker and subscription service in early January, Inside.com is reporting.

Dubbed Unsurface, the service will let users download Sony protected content, including music, movies and games, into a digital storage locker. The content will then be available for streaming only.

There will be a fee for Unsurface, making Sony's venture the first online subscription service by a major label distributor.

Unsurface is part of Sony's recently unveiled 550 Digital Media Incubator, which has invested in tech firms including Palm, Screaming Media and Yupi.com.

The launch of Unsurface will likely not affect Sony's trial use of other digital subscription services like My.MP3.com and RealNetworks' developing music service. "They're doing a lot of experiments," said a technology executive. Sony has previously soft-launched an Internet sales program for select music singles using technology developed by Microsoft, selling its "virtual singles" for $3.49 each.

Sony is currently negotiating clearance rights with various music-publishing organizations and declined official comment.