RSSJupiter Analyst: Interoperable DRM Won't Solve Music Industry Dilemma
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published February 16, 2007, 5:58 PM
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Scott Fulton, BetaNews: You said that if there were such a thing as an iPod killer, a true competition not just for the gadget but for the whole iTunes platform, then perhaps there might be more public attention toward the idea, "We've got to make things play right and play together." As of now, it's not an issue. Would it be to the industry's benefit, then, to subsidize an iPod killer?
Mark Mulligan, JupiterResearch: First of all, the music industry is in such a dire economic situation at the moment, it really doesn't have the resources available to be able to do that. And also at the moment, sales of the iPod are an incredibly important part of the digital music market, and Apple is the dominant force in all European markets, as it is in the US. If someone were to go out there to try to weaken the iPod, it's a gamble because it might be that all that happens is, it just weakens the overall MP3 player market. Apple loses some of its luster, yet the competition that's fighting hard against it isn't actually as great as people had hoped it would be; [in] a fragmented market, some of the impetus goes away, which the music industry can't afford to have at the moment.
It's going to be a heck of a thing to be an iPod killer. No one has managed it yet. Zune certainly isn't it. So it's not even as though there's a likely candidate that the music industry could back. Even if it did, it would then face potential sanctions from regulatory bodies.
Scott Fulton: Your earlier statement about trust, that the consumers appreciated in the past the position of trust [on the part of record manufacturers]...In the video industry, I've noted that when it comes to AACS protection for Blu-ray and HD DVD, a lot of consumers are vehemently opposed to the notion of investing even a dollar in high definition technology, after having read that with AACS, there is this concept called the revocation key...It's the feeling that people have that they're being distrusted that probably prohibits them from wanting to invest in that. So I'm thinking, even if there is this interoperable DRM solution, doesn't that feeling of distrust continue, if there's one standard or many?
Mark Mulligan: Absolutely. That's what's both dangerous and difficult about online music, the fact that if there's any type of digital rights management - whether it's interoperable or whether it's got liberal or very conservative usage terms built into it - it's something that's completely different from how people have experienced music up until the modern day. That is, music was there, you [decided] how you wanted to use it. Yes, regardless of whether there's an interoperable standard or whatever else, all that will mean is that it makes the pill slightly less bitter to swallow.
Words from the article.
"Vinyl, tape, CD - none of those had rights management on them. Home copying has been around for ages. Once the music industry lost its fight to stop having recordable cassette decks in in-home stereos, ever since then, the music industry has known and accepted that home taping is part of music consumption. People recording from the radio is part of music consumption. All of those things didn't stop the music industry having its strongest-ever decade of sales."
After that, corporations took over, cutting out the real musicians, replacing them with models. Quick turn over, very little investment, lots of return. That's the dilemma, popular music sucks. The music video culture, or vidiots, dancing around, selling soft drinks isn't my idea of music. It's Donny Osmond meets Micheal Jackson over and over again to that of beyond redundancy.
I despise the media industry with a passion. There's so many flakes and jail birds getting filthy rich off our teenage population it's disgusting. DRM is like gift wrapping garbage. Yeah, I'm old, so sue me. DRM+Jupiter, good combination.
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|So one day the old media companies are suing teenagers for having mp3 files in their shared folder, and the next day they are grea$ing up radio program directors to play the their music on free broadcasts.
Maybe it's not about the copying at all, maybe it's about controling popular culture.
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|Impersonal DRM, if it is coupled with lossless formats and if it is 'unobtrusive' is fine.
If you are asking, do I "like" it, the answer is no. But I understand the need for owners of digital property to establish usage standards to which each of us have a choice of accepting when we buy it (or not).
But the notion that our useage habits be tied to a personal data base that identifies what I buy, listen to, etc.etc.etc. is, with all due respect, crazy! We are already headed there already with the tracking of electronic 'money' and the potential for tracking each piece of paper money.
And if you are looking for an unobtrusive system that people might voluntarily adopt and cooperate with, such a system is NOT it!
I would be in the actively anti-DRM camp if only to prevent my personal information from being tracked - and I wouldn't care about the silly MP3 file!
But I am not prepared to surrender my right to anonymity. And I know that NO ONE would EVER misuse it! (Yeah!)
Neo, you almost sound like you are from the UK! As they are much further along that road.
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|While I don't believe in current DRM technology, I do agree that something has to be put in place to protect digital products. You don't walk into a store and walk out with a product you haven't paid for without some kind of bad consequence. Human beings unfortunately are opportunistic and some to the maximum degree. Some people have absolutely no problem whatsoever taking into possesion an item that they havent paid for....I'm 100% sure that absolutely no DRM will open the doors to thieves and leeches. And some hide behind the term "sharing"....Sharing is a black and white term, it's not grey. Here's a single definition for 'sharing' - "the full or proper portion or part allotted or belonging to or contributed or owed by an individual or group" - plainly put, since even though we buy music/movies/intellectual property in general; we don't own it. We purchase the right to listen to it but we don't own it, as far as sharing goes we can allow other people to listen to it through us, but we CANNOT/SHOULD NOT give it to someone else like a piece of food, it's not right. When you give away a 1/2 of an apple, we lose a half. When you give away an mp3 but keep a copy, we lose nothing. Now if you gave an mp3 away and lost it, I would consider that a fair trade. Anyway getting back on track....I think there is a need for SOME sort of protection because some people have no conscience, or at least bury it. Just like you have doors and alarms and car and house keys to protect these possessions, there needs to be some sort of digital protection. Therefore, I think an open drm standard would work IF they could figure all the kinks out. Attach digital purchases to people's SS# or some people id (Tax registration number, social security, etc)....noone is willing to give out their SS# publicly, so that would probably stop rampant piracy dead in it's tracks. Ofcourse the hackers would crack away, but who cares. What you want is the ease taken out of 'general' piracy, people who do it because they can and it's easy...mom's, dad's, friends who simply copy CDs etc., but put into customer activities with these files.
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|I am not against DRM, I am only against people like Steve Jobs who claim they are against it, when it has made them millions of dollars.
If iTunes wanted they could allow you to have unlimited amount of devices to access the material you purchase, perhaps not unlimited, at the very least more then 5 devices.
Just think about my statement, if you were allowed to place the products you purchase on any device, what would the harm be, as long as you had to perhaps approve said placement of the device.
Perhaps the term unlimited is an extreme, since people would abuse that, although I suppose if they made it where if there so many devices past a certain point it would lock you from adding new devices. I do think it should be more then 5, or at least develop software that could be portable that would allow you to place said products on other devices then be able to remove them easily when your done.
At this time iTunes is much to heavy to do something like that. I also don't have an iPod so that functionality does me no good.
Really I see no problem with DRM I purchase everything I use, so its not a problem to me. I do feel you should be able to download the product as much as you want, I mean you did purchase the "right" to view it.
Music Industry is so freacking whacked, due to special interest groups that try to protect the rights of the music companies its not even funny, and it has nothing to do with the people that makes those companies millions and millions of dollars because they are able to write and bring us customers what we like.
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|Wow, you need to do some research before you look stupid AGAIN...
Steve Jobs was FORCED into using the "Big 4's" DRM scheme if he wanted to sell their music.
DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU POST IGNORANT COMMENTS!
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|And the Big 4 FORCED poor ol Steve into entering the market and making big bucks!
Pooooooor Steve!!!!
But gee, if they didn't have to deal with competing incompatible DRM formats, one player could potentially address the ENTIRE market, instead of only portions of it!!
And then poooooor Steve could potentially "be forced" into controlling even more of it!
Don't you just hate it when they FORCE someone to expand their business in order to enter into a market?
Ignorance? Unfortunately that is one commodity that is present in spades!
ROFLMAO!
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|I'm going to keep my comments to DRM and music, as opposed to where some of the other commentaries have drifted towards.
Music has been, for close to 60+ years now viewed as something you purchase. When you bought a record, a cassette tape, or a CD, you were buying a physical product that was yours to do with whatever you wished. The idea that you were not buying the music itself only recently became the prevailing thought pattern when digital came into the picture.
In today's groupthink within the record industry, you no longer buy a physical product (even a CD) but rather a license to play the product. This goes counter to the way that we as consumers have believed. So when you purchase that CD, you don't have any rights to the music that comes along with it. It still belongs to the record companies who can and do dictate what you can do with it and how it can be played. DRM provides the industry some measure of control, but it's control at the expense of alienating your customer base who have been copying music since the first portable tape players existed.
Now, if the industry came up with a common system to protect their product while at the same time allowing the consumer the right to be able to make copies *as they have been since those early days* then it's possible for a compromise. But as long as the industry treats the consumer as the enemy, then we will continue to treat the industry with the lack of respect that they give us.
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|I hope none of these folks discoverers that basic file and data encryption is a form of DRM.
Nope, wouldn't want to employ anything exotic such as that!
Besides, no one cares if their personal data or credit card information is compromised. The lack of any form of DRM is more important than secure data.
Well, except when it affects someone accessing 'your' information, and so long as it doesn't stop 'you' from accessing someone else's information!
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|DRM is doomed to fail as well because the first time it misbehaves (and it will,) or locks down a system with some critical data on it, that system will be abandoned.
Which is why I'm so surprised at Vista and Windows Server's success. DOn't admins realize that they are headed down a very scary path of Microsoft controls your data?
Oh well. It'll be fun to watch.
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|(sigh) Microsoft doesn't control your data, mjm, because it's not their DRM.
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|Why I don't like DRM:
1. Many viruses have better interoperability than the DRM programs (if you can call them that) do.
2. Internet makes any software countermeasures completely useless--one hacker hacks it, and everyone in the world can bypass it.
3. It's a waste of time, resources, and technology to build the ultimate DRM that is cracked withen days.
4. Interferes too much with operation of the computer EVEN WHEN IT WORKS AS DESIGNED (cpu utilisation, resources, etc. Reminds me of ScamWare: the programmers obviously don't give a rat's a** about code optimisation!)
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