The Perils of DRM — When Content Providers Die

An anonymous reader writes "If you purchase music or movies online, what happens if the vendor goes out of business? Will you have trouble accessing your content? The question came up recently after HDGiants — provider of high-quality audio and video downloads — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. A consumer says his content became locked inside his PC. Walmart customers suffered a similar fate last year when the retailer shut down its DRM servers (a decision they reversed after many complaints). And if Vudu dies? Your content may be locked in a proprietary box forever. Time to start buying discs again?"

Comments

Re:How many times have you bought the same cd?

[Kamineko]

> PERFORM BRAILLE MUSIC

The grues are lulled to sleep by your masterful humming.

Re:Finally an original thinker

[tecnico.hitos]

Speaking of RIAA, anyone know the links to some good CC websites? Always a good thing to post in a DRM discussion!

http://www.jamendo.com/

It really has lots of good stuff.

Alternatively you may find out that some well known bands make some of their songs available for free on their sites. For example Coldplay ( http://www.coldplay.com/ ) currently have an album available on their website. It usually requires your email and while I'm not sure it's CC (and I'm guessing it is not) it's gratis. Of course, it doesn't happen as often with games and movies.