RSSMedia's NMT Blog

Apparently the copy protection on HD-DVD has been cracked, in theory allowing the copying of 'certain titles'; surely no one is surprised? As technology advances it seems institutions are keener than ever to protect their revenues, often pursued despite the threat of alienating consumers (as Sony discovered in 2005). The region coding on DVDs and copy-protected content, often using DRM (digital rights management) technology, are highly disputed technologies: if you buy a CD the music is open to manipulation by you (copying, lending, remixing, for example), and many feel justified by this perhaps because of the physical ownership the CD format represents. Technically it's illegal, but who's really going to care if you remix a few songs for your own use? The music industry, if the use of ever-tighter security technologies are anything to go by. However, formats like WMA and AAC both allow the tight control of the uses of the music bought by consumers, in ways such as how many copies can be made, what devices can play the music and even how long the music will be playable.

A question you need to consider (even though there's no easy answer, as always): just because this type of control is possible, is it a good idea? Clearly there will be strong arguments on both sides, and you need to contemplate them given the twin focus of this unit - audience and institutions.

Labels: consumers vs institutions, DRM