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Microsoft to Become Mobile DRM Standard?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the through-the-backdoor dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It seems most of the media has missed the significance of Microsoft's recent partnership with DoCoMo to put Windows Media DRM on i-mode handsets. If all the i-mode players adopt Windows DRM, that gives Microsoft access to a significant chunk of the mobile market. Couple this with the more recent MTV Urge announcement and you've got Microsoft set to own the DRM space - at least on mobile devices - by stealth. Telecoms.com has a take on the situation, but also reveals that the GSM Association may be on the verge of recommending Windows mobile DRM to all its members. Puts the French copyright and DRM legislation in a whole new perspective - interoperability issues can be solved by removing the competition."

7 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Neither M$ nor *AA get it . . . by PFI_Optix · · Score: 5, Insightful

    DRM is far from dead. Right now, they're trying to make it harder to create, distribute, and find pirated material implementing those unfettered formats. What they need to be doing is making DRM-enabled content affordable, accessible, and useable.

    What the industry needs is good, common-sense DRM. Today's DRM doesn't allow for things going public domain. It's not flexible enough to allow users to do what they want (and is legal) with what they paid for. They are presently erring on the side of profit...that's not going to work with consumers long-term.

    --
    120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
  2. Re:Neither M$ nor *AA get it . . . by DragonWriter · · Score: 3, Insightful
    DRM is dead. Unfettered formats exist and are in widespread use. Try as they might, they can't unring the bell.
    Maybe so, in the long run, though I'm not as optimistic as you are. In the short-run, the people who make lots of money controlling distribution of content like DRM, and will do everything they can to get it adopted in order to continue to profit from that control, and lots of people will go along because it will be the easiest way to get access to the most popular media content.
  3. Re:A _standard_ for DRM?! by Tx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    While standard is all about being open, fair and compatible with others

    Well, in reality it's just about the last of those three. But hey, one out of three aint bad ;)

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    Oh no... it's the future.
  4. That's Fine.... by eander315 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Use all the Microsoft DRM you'd like, I'm not buying that device.

  5. Re:Oh no! by macpeep · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think the success of the iTunes Music Store has shown that people don't care too much about DRM as long as it is transparent enough. Look at what URGE will offer. 9.95 for unlimited music. Anything you want. For those not willing to break the law to pirate music, or too lazy to do so, or both (this third category includes me) this is an awesome deal. For just 10 bucks a month, it's as if my music collection was essentially infinite. I don't care if I don't "own" the music. Why should I? For movies, it makes even more sense (because the replay value is much lower than for music) to have some sort of subscription-type system so that you just pay a flat fee per month and have unlimited access to unlimited movies. But to have such systems (either music or movies) be viable, it has to be protected so that you can't just have one person be a subscriber and then that person can copy the stuff to the whole world. That's just a fact of life. Because people can't be trusted NOT to copy, there has to be some system to prevent it. Or at least prevent it for the "casual user" that won't go jump hoops to crack it. I think it was Steve Jobs who said "to keep the honest people honest".

    The future will have DRM in the main-stream whether you like it or not. Of course you can always choose to get your media through some other channels, but if you think that "5 people" (obviously you didn't mean it literally) will be using DRM at the end of 2006, then you are seriously mistaken.

    Peppe

  6. Leveraging monopolies, to create more monopolies by guidryp · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This really isn't a surprise. Just business as usual. Microsoft has vast monopoly power that will allow it to gain monopolies in any emerging computing connected/related device.

    PDA's previously owned by Palm, will soon be a microsoft monopoly.

    Gaming. Sony faces the biggest threat ever and yet managed to make incredibly stupid moves that will make the move to microsoft gaming domination even faster. Microsoft is using it's clout with gaming house/publishers and outright buying them if all else fails. The end is microsoft will dominate console gaming. Only when is the question, not if.

    Media. Microsoft is agressively pusing it's DRM/codecs everywhere. It managed to get it's codecs into both HD-DVD and Blu Ray standards. It has just about every online media shop except Itunes. Itunes is an anomoly and it will be interesting to see how weathers the microsoft onslaught. I predict in 10 years. More than half the music sold will be using microsoft DRM.

  7. Re:ACK! by Ckwop · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Microsoft, DRM and Standard in the same sentence!

    Dude, be careful with your words, I almost had a heart attack...

    Ahh yes, Microsoft must love this. This is the one standard where breaking interoperability is a feature rather than a bug!

    Simon