DRM in Music

If somehow you missed it, Steve Jobs posted some thoughts on DRM this last week and there have been a lot of responses to it. I wanted to give my own.

DRM, or Digital Rights Management, is controlling access to and usage of digital data. Meaning that, digital music files “protected” by DRM have restrictions built into the file that tell computers and other devices if they can use the file. For instance, the Apple iTunes Store sells music with DRM. If I buy a song on iTunes, I am limited to what I can do with it. I can burn it to X number of CDs, use it on X number of computers, and only play it on one of those computers or an iPod. No other mp3 player out there can play songs with Apple’s DRM attached. Now, there are cracks and hacks to get around this, but they are complex and illegal. The point is, your music purchased is not your own. It is “protected” by restricting your usage to whatever the company selling it wants to do.

DRM is not specific to music, but that’s all I’m going to talk about today.

Convenience and security is a slider. If you make something more convenient, it becomes less secure. If you make something more secure, it becomes less convenient. This is an inherent security rule. DRM with music has taken the slider as far as it will go on the security end. I bought a Sony/BMG CD a couple months back that won’t even play in my computer, let alone allow me to rip mp3’s from it so I can listen to it on my iPod.

It doesn’t inconvenience me because I use an iPod as my mp3 player, but what about people that want to use another music player? All the songs they bought off iTunes won’t play on it. Not that there are any mp3 players worth buying that aren’t iPods, but still ;)

Ok, back to Steve Jobs:

“The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.”

I want to believe this, but DRM has been very good for Apple. You want to buy music from the largest online music retailer? If you want to listen to it away from your computer you’d better go buy an iPod. That is GREAT for Apple. Now even more so with iTunes selling TV and movies. Maybe the iPod has enough market share and can stand alone as a device now. Maybe if every mp3 player under the sun could play iTunes purchased songs people would continue to buy iPods simply because they are the best. Who knows? I just can’t see Apple wanting to open it up like that. It sounds great to customers to hear Steve Jobs talk that way, but I can’t help thinking that this is just a PR piece and nothing more.

Also, even if Apple really did want to abolish DRM, the RIAA and the music companies would never let them. The RIAA has been calling for more DRM and more restrictive DRM every chance they get. The RIAA would like to see you pay for a song 3 times over if you wanted it on CD, your mp3 player, and a ringtone for your phone. After all, you aren’t buying a song, you are buying the rights to listen to that song on that medium (as they would say). If you want to use a different medium to listen to a song than the original medium you purchased it for, you should have to re-buy the song. That is ridiculous if you ask me! If I purchase a song, I should be able to listen to it however I want on whatever device I want! What ever happened to fair use and personal use without monetary gain?

I’m not asking to go back to and legalize the Napster days when people freely downloaded anything they wanted. iTunes has shown that people are willing to pay for music they get online. Remove the DRM – free our music! Take the slider and drag it over to the convenience side.

And Mr. Jobs, I hope you can bring the change you propose to the market. Out of anyone, you hold the most power.