Ding, ding - the penny drops at Sony

A massive internal struggle has been raging for years at Sony but new signs suggest that reason is about to win. The electronics arm is at loggerheads with the "software" (music and movies) wing over how Sony as a group makes it difficult for consumers to manipulate and transfer the CDs and DVDs they've bought.

This internecine battle is most manifest in Sony's vain pursuit of copy protection, specifically by refusing to fully support MP3, insisting consumers use instead its proprietary Atrac format. Though Atrac is less restrictive than it was even two years ago, many people have responded to Sony's mallet-headed lockdown simply by not buying the products - a trend which allowed rivals such as Apple to steal a march in the music-player market.

The realisation is now slowly dawning among Sony suits that this was a giant mistake - the newest Sony players now support MP3 natively. And just today, Ken Kutaragi, head of Sony Computer Entertainment (the PlayStation people), fessed up to the error of their ways.

Kutaragi is tipped as the next boss of the entire Sony operation. He would do well to put his words into action. In the meantime, persuading his colleagues to abandon Atrac (particularly in its online store, not yet available in Ireland, if ever, given the delay so far) would be a start. We need another music format like a hole in the head.

Then he could make sure the forthcoming PlayStation Portable and PS3 (for which he is directly responsible) are as open as possible.