Actually you must have me confused with Christopher Baus. I think DRM is the most boneheaded and harmful idea to have come to the whacky world of online-media (and this is the industry that gave us Boo.com and the dot-com bubble). DRM stands for “Digital Rights Management”, a collection of computing technologies that restrict what you can do with digital content.
For example, a DRM scheme might allow a song to be only played three times. An attempt to play the song a fourth time will fail because the DRM scheme will not permit you to do so. Another kind of DRM might limit a downloaded song to be played on a single machine only. If you copy the files onto a CD and give them to a friend they will not play.
DRM does not manage your rights, it restricts them. I’m not going to justify my feelings with meaningless phrases like “Information wants to be free… man”. I do not need to tell you about erosion of Fair-Use, because no such concept exists in British Law. There are many other compelling reasons why DRM is an awful thing.
As a Linux user most of these DRM schemes are irrelevant to me. The DRM encumbered files are unplayable unless I spend time cracking the content. This is a nuicance, Fortunately I do not need to be a hacker to play downloaded content.
You can take advantage of the network to buy content from countries with more consumer friendly copyright laws. The notorious AllOfMp3.com Russian music store has an enormous range of premium content, all sold without DRM and at a fraction of the price of the western stores. DRM is like locking and double-bolting all of your upstairs windows, but forgetting that the front-door is not only wide-open but illuminated by a giant flashing neon sign. Would you wait until somebody lets you into the thief-proof window or just legitimately walk through the front door?
DRM policies are just as much about locking content buyers into specific hardware and software platforms as they are about reducing piracy of that content. Microsoft want to keep you using Windows. And if you switch from Windows to a rival product, you will forfeit your DRM encumbered music collection. Apple, Napster and the other media companies are no better.
If you switch from Apple iTunes to Napster, will you still be able to play DRM encumbered tunes with the other company’s tools? If you emigrate from Europe to America will your iTunes content licenses remain valid, or will your content suddenly become unplayable? Who knows – to some extent the most off-putting thing about DRM is not ever knowing what you cannot do.
In summary, DRM is a self-defeating short term strategy: DRM punishes the honest music-fan and will not deter even a moderately determined pirate. Eventually Microsoft and all will realise that customers do not want DRM but it will take them a long and painful years for them to come to this realisation. In the meantime AllOfMp3.com will have become very wealthy.
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