Tuesday, December 4. 2007
It Has Been A While
It has been quite a while since I posted new original content on the .com side of DRM Blog, and even the .org site has been neglected for months at a time. I must admit that being a voice against DRM turned out to be much more work than I expected, but I think that it has been worth the effort. When I started this site I had much more free time than I do now. Having a full time job, running my own side business, and maintaining a family life all seem to suck the motivation for writing out of me. But here we are, quickly coming up on the three year anniversary of DRM Blog, and it seems appropriate to take a look back at what has happened in that time. Since starting this site lots of things have changed in the DRM world so I thought I would give you my perspective on the state of things.
When I launched this site I was very narrowly focused on the music industry. We tend to focus on the things that bother us the most, and I have always been a huge music lover and music consumer. The idea of paying for music that you could not use in all of your players was something that was unthinkable for me. I grew up in a time when cassette tapes, records, and CDs could be played on any matching device from any manufacturer. You did not have to worry about having to buy your music from the same company that made your player. Even now I wonder how manufacturers thought that could be a good thing for consumers. The only consumer electronics sector that I know of that works this way is the console gaming industry. You can only buy games for your Playstation from Sony and you can only buy games for your Xbox from Microsoft; however, even these industries are under pressure to change their ways. "We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible", says Gerhard Florin, director of international publishing for Electronic Art, during an interview with BBC News.
As time moved on I realized that DRM was not just an issue with music and so I began to look at other areas of interest. I considered all of the places where DRM is used and it seemed to me then and still seems to me now that the only places that DRM is really a problem is in consumer purchased media and hardware. The reason for this is that most consumers do not have the time, energy, or technical ability to understand every new piece of technology. The same can be said for many businesses I suppose but there are lots of services for businesses to help them make the right decision about hardware and software. This is why consulting is such a growing industry: it pays to be an expert in something. So after all this time, I think that helping consumers make the right decision should still be the focus of this site.
In music related DRM there have been several small changes and one really big change. The companies that make up the music industry oligopoly have finally started selling digital music without DRM. Yahoo was the first to try special DRM-free music purchases, but these were limited to a handful of singles that were used more as promotion for a new album than an actual attempt to sell consumer-friendly music. Finally, earlier this year, Apple started selling DRM-free tracks from EMI. Each DRM-free track was encoded at a higher bit rate and cost thirty cents more than a DRM-laden track. The straw that seems to have broken the camel's back is the Amazon's MP3 store which sells all of their tracks DRM-free and for as little as $0.89.
As good as things have gotten for music lovers, things seem to have gotten worse for movie lovers. Basically all of the digital video stores are horrible. All of the films are wrapped in DRM that only works with that store's software, and in most cases this software is shoddy and cumbersome. As with most DRM'd music, you never actually own the movie. You have a limited license to use it in the way that the seller wants you to use it. This license can also be revoked at any point along the way and you have to pray that the company you purchased from stays in business. With all of this bad news, there is one brighter spot for movie watchers. If you do not want to buy your movies but would rather rent your movies, then Amazon's Unbox seems to work well. I am not sure how I feel about Amazon Unbox rental program. On one hand it is very convenient to rent a movie without having to go to the store or wait days for it to be delivered from Netflix; on the other hand the prices seem to be really expensive for what you are getting. Most movies are $4 to rent for 24 hours and there is a limit to the number of times you can watch them. If you actually did go rent the physical disc then you could watch it as many times as you wanted.
In the end renting these movies serves a purpose. This actually seems to be one place that DRM is providing a product for consumers that some consumers want. On that note, there is one other place that DRM appears to be a small success: music subscription services. Services such as Yahoo Music Unlimited appear to be doing a small but profitable business. Basically these services allow you to rent music. You pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee and you then have access to all of the music in the service's library. The catch, of course, is that once you stop paying for the service you no longer have access to the service. One major catch with both types of rental services is that they are limited to one device at a time. This means that only one of the five computers in my house can access the service at one time. This limitation makes these services a tough sell with the people in my house.
Finally I want to touch on digital broadcasts and high definition media (HDM). Most people are unaware of the fact that the television industry in the United States is about to undergo a massive change. The process of switching from standard definition analog broadcast television to high definition digital broadcast television has been under way for nearly a decade. However, the majority of televisions in the USA are still analog sets. The FCC and Congress have agreed on the date of February 17, 2009 as the blackout date for all analog broadcasts. After that date people with analog televisions will either need to get a digital tuner or switch to satellite or cable. If you have family members or friends that still get their television through an antenna then please help inform them of the upcoming changes.
Another thing that most people do not know is that DVD is at the end of its life. DVD was designed to provide the best possible image and sound quality for analog televisions but it cannot deliver the quality of image possible on new high definition televisions. There is an ongoing war between three rival groups that want to be the replacement for DVD: movie download services, HD DVD, and Blu-ray disc. All three have advantages and disadvantages that have been discussed all over the internet so I will not discuss them again here; however, they all have nasty DRM in common. Blu-ray appears to offer the most to the consumer but it may also have the worst DRM. I own a PS3 which has a Blu-ray drive and the experience is very fulfilling. I have had zero problems with the DRM on any of the games or movies but I have not tried to make back-ups yet either. This is primarily because I do not have a Blu-ray drive in my computer but the makers of AnyDVD appear to have cracked the DRM on both HD DVD and Blu-ray so making back-ups should not be a problem in the future.
So, that is about it for this post. I have several new articles planned and I hope to keep DRM Blog updated regularly from here on out. If you guys have comments or question please post them and I will try to respond.
Thanks, Jimmy.
When I launched this site I was very narrowly focused on the music industry. We tend to focus on the things that bother us the most, and I have always been a huge music lover and music consumer. The idea of paying for music that you could not use in all of your players was something that was unthinkable for me. I grew up in a time when cassette tapes, records, and CDs could be played on any matching device from any manufacturer. You did not have to worry about having to buy your music from the same company that made your player. Even now I wonder how manufacturers thought that could be a good thing for consumers. The only consumer electronics sector that I know of that works this way is the console gaming industry. You can only buy games for your Playstation from Sony and you can only buy games for your Xbox from Microsoft; however, even these industries are under pressure to change their ways. "We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible", says Gerhard Florin, director of international publishing for Electronic Art, during an interview with BBC News.
As time moved on I realized that DRM was not just an issue with music and so I began to look at other areas of interest. I considered all of the places where DRM is used and it seemed to me then and still seems to me now that the only places that DRM is really a problem is in consumer purchased media and hardware. The reason for this is that most consumers do not have the time, energy, or technical ability to understand every new piece of technology. The same can be said for many businesses I suppose but there are lots of services for businesses to help them make the right decision about hardware and software. This is why consulting is such a growing industry: it pays to be an expert in something. So after all this time, I think that helping consumers make the right decision should still be the focus of this site.
In music related DRM there have been several small changes and one really big change. The companies that make up the music industry oligopoly have finally started selling digital music without DRM. Yahoo was the first to try special DRM-free music purchases, but these were limited to a handful of singles that were used more as promotion for a new album than an actual attempt to sell consumer-friendly music. Finally, earlier this year, Apple started selling DRM-free tracks from EMI. Each DRM-free track was encoded at a higher bit rate and cost thirty cents more than a DRM-laden track. The straw that seems to have broken the camel's back is the Amazon's MP3 store which sells all of their tracks DRM-free and for as little as $0.89.
As good as things have gotten for music lovers, things seem to have gotten worse for movie lovers. Basically all of the digital video stores are horrible. All of the films are wrapped in DRM that only works with that store's software, and in most cases this software is shoddy and cumbersome. As with most DRM'd music, you never actually own the movie. You have a limited license to use it in the way that the seller wants you to use it. This license can also be revoked at any point along the way and you have to pray that the company you purchased from stays in business. With all of this bad news, there is one brighter spot for movie watchers. If you do not want to buy your movies but would rather rent your movies, then Amazon's Unbox seems to work well. I am not sure how I feel about Amazon Unbox rental program. On one hand it is very convenient to rent a movie without having to go to the store or wait days for it to be delivered from Netflix; on the other hand the prices seem to be really expensive for what you are getting. Most movies are $4 to rent for 24 hours and there is a limit to the number of times you can watch them. If you actually did go rent the physical disc then you could watch it as many times as you wanted.
In the end renting these movies serves a purpose. This actually seems to be one place that DRM is providing a product for consumers that some consumers want. On that note, there is one other place that DRM appears to be a small success: music subscription services. Services such as Yahoo Music Unlimited appear to be doing a small but profitable business. Basically these services allow you to rent music. You pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee and you then have access to all of the music in the service's library. The catch, of course, is that once you stop paying for the service you no longer have access to the service. One major catch with both types of rental services is that they are limited to one device at a time. This means that only one of the five computers in my house can access the service at one time. This limitation makes these services a tough sell with the people in my house.
Finally I want to touch on digital broadcasts and high definition media (HDM). Most people are unaware of the fact that the television industry in the United States is about to undergo a massive change. The process of switching from standard definition analog broadcast television to high definition digital broadcast television has been under way for nearly a decade. However, the majority of televisions in the USA are still analog sets. The FCC and Congress have agreed on the date of February 17, 2009 as the blackout date for all analog broadcasts. After that date people with analog televisions will either need to get a digital tuner or switch to satellite or cable. If you have family members or friends that still get their television through an antenna then please help inform them of the upcoming changes.
Another thing that most people do not know is that DVD is at the end of its life. DVD was designed to provide the best possible image and sound quality for analog televisions but it cannot deliver the quality of image possible on new high definition televisions. There is an ongoing war between three rival groups that want to be the replacement for DVD: movie download services, HD DVD, and Blu-ray disc. All three have advantages and disadvantages that have been discussed all over the internet so I will not discuss them again here; however, they all have nasty DRM in common. Blu-ray appears to offer the most to the consumer but it may also have the worst DRM. I own a PS3 which has a Blu-ray drive and the experience is very fulfilling. I have had zero problems with the DRM on any of the games or movies but I have not tried to make back-ups yet either. This is primarily because I do not have a Blu-ray drive in my computer but the makers of AnyDVD appear to have cracked the DRM on both HD DVD and Blu-ray so making back-ups should not be a problem in the future.
So, that is about it for this post. I have several new articles planned and I hope to keep DRM Blog updated regularly from here on out. If you guys have comments or question please post them and I will try to respond.
Thanks, Jimmy.
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