Oh the promise of Digital Rights Management. Ever since the dawn of technology, DRM of some form has existed with the promise being that if large companies supported it, the removal of basic (and somewhat fundamental) consumer fair use and rights would be made irrelevant. The likes of Apple and Microsoft aren't exactly going to kill their own music services and DRM servers, in turn locking you out of music you've actually paid money for. Are they?Sadly, that's not entirely the case. Whilst Apple understands the PR nosedive that would follow any attempt to 'disable' DRMed purchases, Microsoft perhaps does not. Today they've announced that, effective August 31st 2008 "[Microsoft] will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs ... purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers" which basically means this: once you've activated your allocated number of computers for the music you've paid your hard-earned cash for, you can kiss you music goodbye if you ever change your computer or operating system. Yes, you can still burn your tunes to a CD and re-import them in another (DRM-free) format. But the questions remains, why should this even be necessary?
Time and time again, DRM has proven not only totally ineffective in preventing piracy but also a method by which legitimate paying customers get treated as criminals for doing the right thing. If there's one thing consumers are repeatedly learning the hard way is that ultimately DRM only shafts paying customers. There is but one question now: how long will it take the labels to realize that DRM is about as welcome at the digital party as Lynne Spears at the Parent of the Year awards....
[Via Ars Technica]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-22-2008 @ 10:48PM
Jeebus said...
Time has come to abolish copyright entirely.
Reply
4-23-2008 @ 12:13AM
Steve said...
That's a bit extreme don't you think, and silly. Artists DO deserve to have their works protected. Now if you had said it's time to do away with DRM entirely I would agree completely.
4-23-2008 @ 12:42AM
Neil said...
Jeebus, please go easy on whatever it is you're taking/smoking. lol
4-23-2008 @ 8:22AM
Jeebus said...
@Steve
Why do they "deserve" that? Why does a musician deserve to be payed for the rest of his life every time his song is played or brought into a new home? Does the shoe maker get paid every time you take a step in the shoe he made? Does the accountant get paid every time someone reads the company's income statement? As a software developer, am I paid every time a line of code I wrote is executed?
Most of us in society is paid for work done, not for every usage of that work. Why should musicians, film makers, authors, etc. be any different?
4-23-2008 @ 12:44AM
moby said...
Abolishing DRM is preferable but not likely in an age of greed. However, money talks. The old way of doing business is dying and the giants have to either adapt or perish.
Most people, given a choice, will do the right thing. However, convenience and ease of use is paramount. I only recently started buying music again and from Amazon's DRM free stock. I refuse to be told what I can and cannot do with my own property.
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4-23-2008 @ 8:24AM
Jeebus said...
By definition it's not your own property. It's the property of the copyright holder.
4-23-2008 @ 1:14AM
Ryan Adams said...
Sounds like a good time to remove some DRM: http://personal.ryantadams.com/2008/01/20/playing-music-downloaded-with-ruckus-in-other-media-players/
Reply
4-23-2008 @ 9:55AM
superrrguy said...
I thought this was about MS not giving a shit about their customers.
DRM or no DRM, the fact that MS can't support songs that were purchased from their store is totally insane! How many customers are we talking about here that needed the support?
They should either continue to support the songs or release a patch to remove the DRM.
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5-01-2008 @ 11:47AM
sodapop said...
If you don't like DRM, don't buy it. Stop complaining. This post is utter crap. You completely over look the history of media distribution. Media wears out. Technology expires. 78s, 8-tracks, 45s, LPs, cassettes, and even CDs become unusable over time. Or the technology becomes obsolete. No media lasts for ever. (LPs and Cassettes wear out the fastest) Its unfortunate the MS is ceasing, but as you said you can burn it to audio. Thats much better than any of the previous media. Maybe you're too young to remember that.
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