Futuríveis
quinta-feira, dezembro 08, 2005
The anti-DRM crowd has some legitimate arguments
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Earlier, Freedom to Tinker took a look at how copy-protection helps musical labels and electronics companies create vendor lock-in. If all your music is un-copy-protected, you can throw out your iPod tomorrow and go buy a competing music player. But if all your music is copy-protected by Apple, you run the risk of losing access to your music library if you switch brands.
Vendor lock-in is, of course, an old, old hazard for enterprise IT managers; now, the media and consumer electronics companies are introducing that risk to the public at large. Thanks, guys.
Sony, and the rest of the media companies, are doing a great job convincing their customers to stop buying music and instead get pirated versions. The pirated--in other words, stolen--versions are altogether better: They're free of course, and unencumbered by copy-protection which might prevent you from playing your music on any devices other than those approved by the companies that distributed the software. For example, Sony's copy-protection doesn't allow its music to be played on iPods, and, likewise, users of the RealNetworks Raphsody service can't--legally--play their music on iPods, either.
And if you want to play your music on your PC, as many people do, copy-protection technology creates security vulnerabilities.
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The Sony debacle has had the beneficial effect of bringing the copy-protection debate into the mainstream. Previously, the general public has perceived the debate as one between legitimate business interests, represented by media and electronics companies, fighting against a bunch of teen-aged thieves and crooks. Now, no less a mainstream outlet than the New York Times has recognized that the anti-DRM crowd has some legitimate arguments.
The Times earlier this week featured an anti-DRM editorial by Damian Kulash, lead singer for OK Go. Kulash writes: "Conscientious fans, who buy music legally because it's the right thing to do, just get insulted. They've made the choice not to steal their music, and the labels thank them by giving them an inferior product hampered by software that's at best a nuisance, and at worst a security threat." He also writes that, what an emerging band like OK Go needs is exposure, and he's willing to trade some theft--or even a lot of theft--in exchange for the additional sales that exposure will bring.
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InformationWeek Weblog: Sony: The Company That Couldn't Shoot Straight
Earlier, Freedom to Tinker took a look at how copy-protection helps musical labels and electronics companies create vendor lock-in. If all your music is un-copy-protected, you can throw out your iPod tomorrow and go buy a competing music player. But if all your music is copy-protected by Apple, you run the risk of losing access to your music library if you switch brands.
Vendor lock-in is, of course, an old, old hazard for enterprise IT managers; now, the media and consumer electronics companies are introducing that risk to the public at large. Thanks, guys.
Sony, and the rest of the media companies, are doing a great job convincing their customers to stop buying music and instead get pirated versions. The pirated--in other words, stolen--versions are altogether better: They're free of course, and unencumbered by copy-protection which might prevent you from playing your music on any devices other than those approved by the companies that distributed the software. For example, Sony's copy-protection doesn't allow its music to be played on iPods, and, likewise, users of the RealNetworks Raphsody service can't--legally--play their music on iPods, either.
And if you want to play your music on your PC, as many people do, copy-protection technology creates security vulnerabilities.
...
The Sony debacle has had the beneficial effect of bringing the copy-protection debate into the mainstream. Previously, the general public has perceived the debate as one between legitimate business interests, represented by media and electronics companies, fighting against a bunch of teen-aged thieves and crooks. Now, no less a mainstream outlet than the New York Times has recognized that the anti-DRM crowd has some legitimate arguments.
The Times earlier this week featured an anti-DRM editorial by Damian Kulash, lead singer for OK Go. Kulash writes: "Conscientious fans, who buy music legally because it's the right thing to do, just get insulted. They've made the choice not to steal their music, and the labels thank them by giving them an inferior product hampered by software that's at best a nuisance, and at worst a security threat." He also writes that, what an emerging band like OK Go needs is exposure, and he's willing to trade some theft--or even a lot of theft--in exchange for the additional sales that exposure will bring.
...
InformationWeek Weblog: Sony: The Company That Couldn't Shoot Straight
posted by CMT, 6:36 da tarde
