RSSMedia's NMT Blog

Steve Jobs has called for an end to the use of DRM (digital rights management) in the music files sold online. It could be that this will remove one of the major obstacles to downloads rendering CDs obsolete; at the moment the CD format allows high quality audio that you can use as you wish (including copying, sharing, editing) - unless there's some sort of DRM used on the disc. Whereas DRM on CDs is rare, it's the accepted practice with downloads from legitimate sites. Some, like Steve Jobs, it would seem, think that preventing consumers freely using something they've paid for is unfair and hampering efforts to increase the take up of digital downloading.

Whether the music industry will agree is another matter; only once Napster forced them did they submit to the idea of online distribution. Downloads make sense in terms of a mainstream format for the majority of users (portable, instant, easy to store to name just three), but the majority aren't giving up on CDs - could it be the perception of the risk of formats that aren't universally playable and that are limited in either time, or number of uses? Imagine being told some of your CDs would only play in a certain brand of player! Or that you could list to the CD on just a few of the CD playing devices in your home!

Read about DRM in Wired magazine (the article linked here is from 2001 but it still contains relevant ideas, if not up-to-date examples).

Labels: consumers vs institutions, DRM, internet