Digital Trends
“No two ways about it: Piracy is legally and morally wrong.”
We’ve all heard it a million times. We’ve heard the analogies to walking out of a store with a CD under your jacket, sending software developers straight to the unemployment line or ripping food right out of a poor key grip’s mouth. And for some of us, we’ve even seen people we know ensnared by the law when they finally get caught gorging on free motion pictures and music.
Sometimes the old ways are the best. That, at least, seems to be the reasoning behind game maker Electronic Arts’ decision to switch back to the old serial copy code protection for the next version of The Sims, rather than use Digital Rights Management (DRM).
The company rain into a hailstorm of criticism last year when DRM limited users to just three installations of Spore. In a blog posting, The Sims division head, Ron Humble, said:
"The game will have disc-based copy protection – there is a serial code, just like The Sims 2."
Mega-retailer Walmart has been a (very small) force in the digital music industry for a few years now, first selling DRM-protected music in WMA format, and eventually converting to a DRM-free MP3 service. Last week, however Walmart warned its customers it would be shutting down the DRM key servers that authorize protected music purchased through Walmart: after October 9, customers would no longer be able to transfer the music to new computers or devices because there would be no way to authorize those devices. Walmart advised customers to burn the music to CD and, if necessary, re-rip it back into their computers using a DRM-free format. Which is essentially what those dreaded “pirates” do who are allegedly ruining the music industry, but we’ll let that point slide.
Walmart went DRM-free on its downloads over a year ago, realizing the future was in MP3s. But prior to that it sold its downloads in the WMA format with DRM protection.
Now Walmart is preparing to shut down its DRM servers on October 9 and is warning customers to back up the songs they own or they might well be lost.
When Microsoft did the same thing with its MSN Music Service, the protest was so loud that it extended the service for three more years, according to Vnunet, while Yahoo ended up reimbursing customers.
Ever since EA’s Spore landed at retailers, some gamers have been chafing at the limits of DRM technology included with the game. The most common complaint was that the game’s DRM technology only permitted Spore to be installed on three computers, and provided no way to de-authorize installations to enable another. So, if you installed Spore on a notebook and that notebook was lost or stolen, one of your permitted Spore installations went with it. EA has since eased restrictions a little—installations are now permitted on up to five computers—and says it’ll work on ways for user to de-authorize installations, as well as use up to five screen names for each copy of the game.
When Apple made a deal with record label EMI to offer the label’s catalog on iTunes in DRM-free format a year and a half ago, it was heralded as a major shift for the music industry. Consumers were fed up with the hassles of DRM schemes, there was no evidence they hindered piracy in the slightest, and predictions abounded that all online music would be soon offered in DRM-free format.
Lately, a good deal of the buzz surrounding digital rights management technologies (DRM) has been about removing DRM from media, particularly from music. In a now-famous pronouncement, Apple CEO Steve Jobs claimed his company would abandon music DRM technology “in a heartbeat” if only it weren’t demanded by record labels. In additional to creating the well-known compatibility gulf between iTunes and iPods on one side and virtually every other portable music player on the other, DRM is seen as a burden and an impediment to consumers: it has been argued digital music fans would by more music if only DRM didn’t make it so awkward to use. Still others slam DRM for restricting consumers’ fair use rights. Even Bill Gates has lamented the state of DRM technology.
Facing pressure from European nations and other market forces to open up its iTunes store or at least license its FairPlay DRM technology to other companies, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has made an unusual move: he’s published an open letter, “Thoughts on Music” in which be says Apple would get rid of digital rights management technology “in a heartbeat” if only record companies would let it sell unprotected music.
In the letter, Jobs outlined three possible paths forward for the digital music industry:
Speaking wth a small group of bloggers at his company’s Redmond campus during the company’s Mix n’ Mash 07 junket, Microsoft’s Bill Gates offered the opinion that he didn’t think anyone had gotten DRM technology “right” yet, and said he hoped the technology would evolve more flexible usage models, move away from device-specific intelligence, and cause less trouble for consumers.
Digital rights management, or DRM technology, is use to restrict copying and illegal piracy of digital media such as music and video. Microsoft is itself a primary developer of DRM technologies used by music services like Napster, Urge, and Yahoo Music, as well as movie download services. Microsoft recently introduced a new form of DRM technologies with its Zune media players. Apple’s iPods and iTunes music store use a different, incompatible DRM technology.
Apple may be off the hook in France: the French Senate has approved new legislation which would reform France’s copyright laws to bring them into synch with the rest of the European Union, but provisions which woudl have required digital media vendors (like Apple) to make their DRM system interoperable have been dropped.
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