Slashdot Mirror
Chronicling the Failures of DRM
Barence takes us to PCPro for a look at the failures of DRM and a discussion of its impending death. Quoting:
"Luckily, DRM is dying, at least in the download sphere. Napster's Dan Nash believes that DRM-free is 'the general way things are going.' In his opinion, record companies 'have no choice but to adapt;' those that 'stick to DRM on a pay-per-download basis will not remain competitive.' In the US, Napster has joined Amazon in selling DRM-free content in MP3 format from all the major labels. ... Going DRM-free makes sense not just for consumers, but for the industry. Deutche Telekom says three out of four technical support calls its Musicload service had to deal with were the result of DRM. And when it offered a DRM-free option to artists they saw a 40% increase in sales."
They pretty much own the audiobook download market, and DRM has been an important part of their strategy from day one.
I'm pretty certain its what keeps getting them new titles to release. Book publishers aren't exactly keen on digital formats if they aren't protected from instant dissemination.
As for myself, well blow me if the drm doesn't 'fall off' within ten minutes of my purchases.
Not that I then share them, in spite of the horror stories spread by the drm producing companies.
I paid for them, and I don't see why anyone else should have them for nothing, it's just that I don't see why I should keep the drm around, restricting my ability to play them back on any device I choose when I am in all other respects abiding by the end user license.
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
But before I get modded down as a troll, it's true: DRM turns your purchases into glorified (read: overpriced) rentals since the companies that so graciously allowed you to pay them to use their product can STOP you from using it any time, for little or no real reason (see: Mass Effect and BioShock's DRMs, Steam, the Yahoo! Music store debacle, Zune not "PlayingForSure" after all, etc.) And consumers may finally be getting fed up with be treated like the criminals - especially when the DRM-free pirated versions are vastly superior to our legitimate ones.
....is, it's about time.
The companies that are using DRM are finding concrete, solid evidence that people will pay if they STOP using DRM. The stereotypes of users that they felt were accurate, and reinforced by entities such as the MIAA and such, are, in fact, inaccurate, and now they can start taking that realization to the bank.
Common sense begins to prevail. Imagine that.
If iTunes lets you burn to a standard audio CD, its effectively letting you strip all the DRM away anyway (at the cost of a CD-R for each ~70 minus of music you want to strip, and your time waiting for it to do so)
Apple's motiviation, of course, is to make it as easy as possible on *their* platform to part the drooling masses from their money. At .99 per track, you are pay $15-$20 for an 'albums worth' of music anyway, almost as much as a CD. And Apple doesnt have to physically produce anything, or store or transport physical product. In exchange for NOT getting a physical medium, it should cost *less*. In exchange for having to go through hassle to get it in a DRM-free format, it should cost *less*. And Apple should reimburse you for each blank CDR you have to buy. They've got both ends of the long stick, thats for sure - they get people to *pay* for the privilege of being Apple's distribution network.
"Having to run iTunes" (and having to run one of the two proprietary platforms it supports to do so) is "too much fuss" for me. If I have to pay, I expect to use *my own* software to download it, and I expect to not have to waste a CD-R to get something I can copy to anything I want.
I don't want 'code (proprietary software)'. I just want 'data (music)'.