DRM is the same thing as the record labels and some content providers saying “I’m Scared”. DRM (the cute way of saying Digital rights management) locks Music, movies, and any other type of content to a specific way of using it. An example of this would be buying a song from itunes but not being able to play the song without an iPod or the itunes media player. Another example would be Microsoft’s Playsforsure. The clever name is not very descriptive though because Playsforsure DRM does not work with every mp3 player (ex. Microsoft’s own Zune).
The internet tubes are filled with anti-DRM propaganda, and so I will spare you all the reasons that DRM is evil because at the end of the day it does that on its own. Rather Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢d like to spend a few minutes going over the opposite, and all the positive things about DRM free content.
The Compact Disc was such a great way to deliver music to a paying customer. I say was because in the age of downloads, the CD appears to be one the way out. However if I were the record companies I would be pushing CD’s now more than ever. CD’s are a way they can still feel safe and people can then do use the content they purchased to listen it in whichever way they prefer. My temporary suggestion to the dilemma that people run into would be “The Ten Dollar CD”. $10 seems to me to be a sweet spot, so why not suck in a little bit of the greed [record labels] and sell every CD for ten bucks?
I know I would seem to be trying to hold on to the past. With 13 billion songs (or whatever the number) sold on itunes, the general public looks to be saying that they want the convenience of buying songs online. It’s funny I use the word convenience because owning a song that you have to go through many illegal steps to get it to play where you want it to is not convenient. The opposite of DRM is freedom right? Well what’s the opposite of downloading a song? I guess the closest thing would be going to the store and buying a CD. As of right now there’s only one or the other. You can’t have freedom in a download. So what is the answer? I guess it’s to buy a CD, or download from the DRM free Emusic.com, or listen to the radio, or give up music. The answer is not Digital Rights Management.
Just a few bands and labels you’ll
find on www.Emusic.com
-Vagrant Records
-The Militia Group
-Doghouse Records
-Sufjan Stevens
-Dashboard Confessional
-MxPx
-Copeland
There is also www.downloadpunk.com
which is in the business of non-DRM mp3’s
More Links where you can find more info about DRM and alternatives
Defective By Design: Against DRM, points out the fact that this copy protection is crippled from the start.
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/en/about
Wikipedia: Information about which devices use DRM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Rights_Management#Devices_that_use_DRM
DRM.info: Article giving reasons to care about this
http://www.drm.info/fsfe/why
DRM does = “scared”, the record companies are scared that they might loose a few dollars if someone shares a song or plays it on a different player. DRM is trying to be good to the owners of the content but it only hurts the consumer. I’m giving DRM 2 more years, I’m hoping its not around after that. And in that time my DRM purchases will be very minimal as I want my songs and anything else I buy to work in the future.
I also agree with bryce and think DRM will go away at some point.
I try to stay away from buying drm media
yeah drm restricts you and i dont like being restricted
FYI play for sure DOES NOT work on microsofts Zune, it is an open format mp3 based DRM technology adopted by a number of online store partners and origionally championed by Microsoft before MS opened the Zune Marketplace store, which uses its own propriotary DRM.
furthermorem your complaint is as much with the stores that use drm as it is with the lables enforcing it. the real issue with drm is in the competing technologies enforcing it, not really in the fact it exists, did you know long before digital music rights were enforced on cds and dvds even moreso by using different key codes for players?
i’m not defending drm, as much as i am asking you to get more of your facts straight
also, realize the importance of intellectual property law, in this case copyright and what it might mean to fully devalue it, it essentialy would undermine the u.s. constitution
I’m guessing “Zune hater” is not your real name, or your parents are mean. Anyway the first thing is I know plays for sure does not work with the Zune, but both are Microsoft made DRM schemes and COULD have been made to work with each other, BUT Microsoft chose not to because they wanted what itunes has with a closed solution.
I like the Zune hardware, not the software side of it though. Same for apple though, I like the ipod hardware but the drm is not cool.
ask your parents what DRM is and whether it should be used, and they will look at you with a confused stare because the FACT is that most people do not know what it is, and they buy stuff from itunes and such and do not know that they can’t play the songs they bought there on a Zune or a Sandisk or some other mp3 player.
this article is not saying songs should not be protected in some form, I am against piracy, but the current DRM is not the way to go.
and we will talk about illegal downloading in the future. Anyway thanks for contributing to the discussion (I’m not being sarcastic)
This comment isn’t directly related, but I have become fascinated by what ex-Microsoft people create in the after-life. Here is a link to a video about it from the Microsoft Alumni Network’s After The Holiday Party:
http://heatherflanagan.wordpress.com/2007/01/20/you-must-be-the-gandhi/