Yahoo Exec Speaks Against DRM

AWhiteFlame writes "Dave Goldberg of Yahoo spoke against DRM on media files last Thursday at the Music 2.0 conference in Los Angeles. From the article: 'According to attendees, Goldberg pointed to the experience of eMusic, which offers its subscribers access to MP3 files without any digital rights management attached. Rights management restrictions have created a barrier for consumers, he said, making it a hurdle to transfer music to portable devices, and creating incompatibility between music services and MP3 players ... A Yahoo spokeswoman said that Goldberg was 'basically trying to move the industry forward,' and wanted to prompt industry-wide discussion about what the consumer experience is."

Comments

Invest 2 years of your life..

[Tominva1045]

Just once I'd like to see someone in the digital-media-has-no-value-and-should-be-free crowd invest two full years of his life pouring everything he has into creating something digital.

Then I'd like to see him upload it to a p2p server, turn his empty pockets inside out, shut his pie hole, and walk away.

Did his two years have any value?

I would like a clarification- are people unhappy at the recent attempts at DRM implementation or the entire idea of DRM?

If digital media has little or no vaue, why do so many people want it?

If you want it, pay for it.

Re:So true...

[MillionthMonkey]

This is why I have no plans to buy an iPod, ever. Or any more CDs for that matter. I have to assume I'm going to get ripped off. If you have CDs, the RIAA argues, transferring them to an iPod should be illegal. You should have to buy the music all over again:

The [submitted arguments in favor of granting exemptions to the DMCA] provide no arguments or legal authority that making back up copies of CDs is a noninfringing use. In addition, the submissions provide no evidence that access controls are currently preventing them from making back up copies of CDs or that they are likely to do so in the future. Myriad online downloading services are available and offer varying types of digital rights management alternatives. For example, the Apple FairPlay technology allows users to make a limited number of copies for personal use. Presumably, consumers concerned with the ability to make back up copies would choose to purchase music from a service that allowed such copying. Even if CDs do become damaged, replacements are readily available at affordable prices. Similar to the motion picture industry, the recording industry has faced, in online piracy, a direct attack on its ability to enjoy its copyrights.

You can't burn your disk so you have a backup, or a copy for the car- you have to buy two disks. Since you can always buy more CDs (unless you don't have the money to fork over, or they aren't printing it anymore), the RIAA argues that you shouldn't be allowed to back up your CDs. If you buy music for an iPod, you can never back it up off the iPod- and if anything should happen to your iPod, well that's just too bad for you. Why do so many people buy iPods? It just seems like a waste of money.