Wednesday, April 25, 2007
DRM Doesn't Hack It: Music Freed
What hath Steve Jobs wrought? The momentum towards restriction-free music is unstoppable, and there will be no going back.
First there was Apple and EMI, then Microsoft and EMI saying they would sell music without digital rights management software that prevents tracks from being transferred to other devices. Apple made its decision for the wrong reason, but now they've set off an avalanche that now includes
Amazon and Michael Robertson (of MP3.com fame)'s
Anywherecd.com.
Consumers want music that they are free to rip to CDs or move to any mobile device, and paying a small premium is, well, a small price to pay. Music anywhere is a compelling sell, and this should spark a marketing frenzy for the reminder of the year.
Free internet radio stations are endangered thanks to the higher per-song royalties, so more people will be buying there music. Instead of offering ads against free music, advertising will be focused on promoting the pay-for services.
Posted By John Gartner at 01:15 PM
Permanent Link: DRM Doesn't Hack It: Music Freed
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(1) Comments on DRM Doesn't Hack It: Music Freed
The author says "digital rights management software . . . prevents tracks from being transferred to other devices."
He, like many others, is confused about the nature of so-called Digital Rights Management. Digital rights management does not prevent tracks from being transferred. DRM is simply an encryption protocol. Encryption is a privacy and anti-tampering tool, not an anti-piracy tool.
Here's how DRM works: The content is encrypted and distributed. The user buys the content as encrypted. The user has a device that decrypts the content and plays it, because the content is useless unless decrypted. Once it's decrypted, the user has the technical ability to pirate. It's as simple as connecting the wires on the back of the stereo.
Relying on encryption to prevent piracy is like trying to catch a baseball with a golf club: it's the wrong equipment for the wrong game.
Digital rights management, properly used, CAN be useful for assuring buyers of downloaded content that the content is genuine, but it can NOT assure the seller that the buyer won't redistribute the content.
Loye Young
Laredo, Texas
Comments by Loye Young : Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 09:22 PM
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