This year will, I hope, see the death of DRM. For an example of why it deserves to die, let’s go to the (home) movies, and to Seth of the EFF. The central character is Davis Freeberg, but his blog has been so busy it’s been down recently.
The trouble all started when Freeberg bought a new monitor for his Vista computer. When he decided to watch streaming movies from Netflix, Netflix documentation warned him that the recommended means of fixing a problem with DRM-restricted Netflix programming “may remove licenses to other content using Microsoft DRM” — including, in particular, restricted programming he had already purchased through Amazon Unbox…
Freeberg’s conundrum is likely the product of… (mis)features that have been added to Microsoft’s Vista operating system… Unfortunately, these kinds of (mis)features generally (1) don’t stop pirates and (2) result in compatibility headaches for paying customers.
That being said I really hate DRM (Digital Rights Management) in music where the main purpose seems to be to punish the user who has bought the music or other media. For example I have bought a good amount of music from iTunes that I can’t play at work. Where I work the IS department blocks iTunes so any music I place on my work computer that has DRM can’t play. If I plug my iPod into my work computer and try to play songs purchased from iTunes it won’t play if it has DRM.
DRM no DRM…. I just want to be able to play my media on any platform that I choose. DRM is like going into your
local stereo shop and having to purchase a DVD player for each movie studio. So now I found a great decission – MelodyCan converter (http://www.convert-any-media.com) which helps me to resolve drm-protection problem.
Thanks for the comment, Ann. Thanks also for the link to the MelodyCan converter. I’ve got to say, though, that I think that the lack of a free version, however basic, is a severe deterrent to use of a product like this.