The Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACS LA) Group released on Saturday the v0.91 AACS specifications and made the interim licensing agreement for available HD DVD and Blu-Ray products.

AACS LA is developing the Advanced Access Content System, a feature that manages the content stored on HD DVD and Blu-Ray prerecorded and recorded optical media for PCs and CE devices.

The adoption of the AACS is essential in order to allow the play-back of high-resolution movies on HD DVD and Blu-Ray drives.

The release of this interim licensing agreement allows adoptors of either HD DVD or Blu-Ray technology to implement the AACS authorization keys in their hardware, although the specifications have not been finalized yet.

Although licensing has officially started, operations are to start after President's Day in the U.S. (20th Feb). According to industry sources, in maximum seven working days after the holiday, hardware makers will receive the required AACS keys. The implementation of the AACS keys in the hardware (drives) should also take less than a week. In approximately two weeks Blu-Ray drives should have working keys.

The v0.91 specifications can be downloaded from the AACS-LA Web site at http://www.aacsla.com/specifications/specs091.