The Register are reporting that Virgin Media are shutting down their music download service, which theoretically was once a competitor to Apple’s iTunes, but failed to capture a significant market.

Unfortunately this has the unintended consequence of rendering every download from the Virgin site unplayable. This is because every single file ever sold by Virgin Media contains “DRM”, a technology designed to limit how files can be played.

In this case every time a media-player wishes to play a download the player-software must first contact an authorizing server for ‘permission’ to play. If the server is switched-off then there is nobody to ask, and so the audio can never be played again.  An entire music collection could be rendered unplayable.

Music-fans will realize that the files they get for free and do not contain any DRM are  much better deal: Customers who buy from Virgin or Apple are paying a premium for an intangible product which is built to self-destruct at the whim of a corporate oligarch. Pirated audio and DRM free audio will last until you decided to delete it.

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