DRM, which stands for digital rights management, is on its deathbed.
(Also see Slow March To DRM Free Music Becomes A Sprint)
DRM was designed to protect copyright and curb piracy by preventing a user from copying his/her music, even if acquired legally, to multiple devices or computers. But DRM is dying.
You may not be “into” downloading digital music files right now, but you will be. Once upon a time, people resisted giving up those eight track and cassette tapes. They eventually crawled out of the Stone Age and bought compact disks. Now, CDs seem like relics.
(Whenever I’m “forced” to buy a CD, I always end up ripping it to my computer’s hard drive and copying the files to my iPod. Don’t you?)
The digital download is the new paradigm. Pros: There’s no plastic wrapping or case, and you don’t have to buy an entire album. Con: No lyrics booklet or liner notes.
Digital files are available in WMA (Windows Media Audio) and MP3 (Moving Picture Experts Group-1 Audio Layer 3) formats. Some say MP3s offer a “very high sound quality” compared to WMAs, and contain no DRM restrictions. As such, you can play MP3 files are almost any digital music device, including the iPod and the Zune. WMAs, which are compatible with PlaysForSure devices, are not compatible with the iPod or the Zune.
But the WMA format is dying, too. From Reuters/Billboard (emphasis added):
Another factor driving the labels’ decisions [to distribute DRM-free music files], sources said, involves mass merchant Wal-Mart alerting WMG and Sony BMG that it will pull their music files in the Windows Media Audio [WMA] format from walmart.com some time between mid-December and mid-January if the labels haven’t yet provided the music in MP3 format…Though Wal-Mart maintains a modest 2 percent market share in the digital download arena, its market share for physical CDs is considerably larger: about 22 percent, Billboard estimates.
The whole article is worth reading, but I wanted to highlight the Wal-Mart portion. I started buying music from Walmart.com because files were 10¢ cheaper than files in other online music stores. What I didn’t realize was that files were cheaper because they were WMA-formatted and DRM-restricted. When I tried to transfer these to my iPod, I couldn’t. Wal-Mart now offers MP3s, which I can transfer to the iPod, but these cost a few cents more. Hopefully, Wal-Mart’s “ultimatum” to record labels will result in 88¢ MP3s. It’s not about saving a few cents, however; it’s about freeing the music.
With behemoth’s like Amazon offering DRM-free MP3s and Wal-Mart threatening to pull WMA files from its online store, DRM will become a relic of a former age. While DRM’s purpose is to protect copyright, it’s proved to be too restrictive, and users have rebelled. All of this may not interest you now, especially if you’re still wedded to the CD. But it will affect you, and soon.
Freeing the music is not the same thing as free music. Artists and labels have a right to be compensated for their work. Don’t download music illegally!
1) Are you “down” with the digital revolution?
2) If not, why not?
3) If so, how is it changing the way you find, listen to, and buy music/books?
Related posts:
Other sources:
- Amazon and Wal-Mart unwittingly team up against DRM
- DRM deathwatch: Sony, Wal-Mart
- Are major record labels finally embracing MP3s?
