According to a press statement released today by the company, the MP3s without DRM protection will be sold through a new website, MusicPass.com. Don’t rush to download your favorite music, because the address contains only a page with a press release.

MusicPass will debut on January 15, with 37 titles varying from Rock and Pop to R&B and Country style. Nothing unusual so far, but here comes the bad news.

The customers who wish to download the high-quality MP3 files will have to first buy Platinum MultiPass card. As Sony announced, the cards will be priced at a suggested list retail price of $12.99 which will include the complete digital album plus bonus material or, in the case of compilations, extensive track listings.

Two of the albums included in the initial offering - Celine Dion's Taking Chances and Kenny Chesney's Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates - will be made available both as regularly priced Platinum MusicPass Cards, and in special slrp $19.99 versions through which consumers will receive the complete album and bonus material, plus the choice of one additional album from that same artist's rich catalog of recordings.

In order to get the content from their MusicPass cards, consumers scratch the back of their card to unveil their pin number, based on which they will download from MusicPass.com their music files and/or bonus material.

Say what? In order to get the music I should first pay a visit to a retail store such as Best Buy, Target, and Fred's, then come home to scratch the back and log on the website to download the music? Hey, Sony, wake up! It’s 2008, not 1998.

On the other hand why should I pay $12.99 for a card, when a CD is somewhere between $14 and $16 and I can download a digital album for close to $9?

Maybe the Platinum Music Pass is a great idea for a gift cards and “great collectibles”, but if Sony will insist to rely only on this method to sell its DRM free music, then I foresee a short and painful future for MusicPass.com. Let’s hope that Sony will realize soon how complicated its method is and change its mind.

Anyway, let’s see what else Sony said about its latest idea. The MP3 files delivered through MusicPass play on computers, as well as on all MP3 players, including iPods. Until the end of January, the Platinum Multi Pass cards will be available at the Trans World (Coconuts, FYE, Wherehouse, & Spec's) and Winn-Dixie stores.

For the moment, Sony will roll out the service in US and Canada, where participating retailers include Best Buy, CD Plus, Future Shop, Shoppers Drug Mart and Wal-Mart. In addition, HMV will launch MusicPass in Canada during the first calendar quarter of 2008.

According to some reports, a Sony BMG official in Tokyo said that for the moment MusicPass.com will be available only in US and Canada.

Below you can check the complete list of the first 37 albums that will be available on launch. Good luck, Sony!