h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

DRM is something that will affect everyone in coming years, but I suspect most people haven't heard of it yet...

DRM is, plain and simple, about restricting access to music, videos, documents, software, etc, etc.

Examples are already out there:

DVDs which force you to watch the trailers and legal notices before you can see the film - no fast forward allowed...

CDs which can only be played a set number of times...

Ripping music with Windows Media Player can leave it unplayable on a different machine... or if you lose the software 'keys'.

Coming soon (the technology exists now):

Documents which can only be read within a specific company, preventing 'leaked' documents;

PCs which only run software approved and 'signed' by a central agency - the potential for monopolies is huge;

VCRs which won't play videos recorded by someone else for home use...

...and many more.

The biggest fear is that DRM will be gradually phased in, until it's in every device and is completely unavoidable. (In fact, a proposed law in America would make it mandatory in all new devices, I believe).

So, my first question... how many of you have actually heard of DRM?

And, now that I've rambled about it for a bit... how many of you actually care, or see it as a reason for concern?

will probilly be hacked before you sing


"music was my first love and will be my last"


one other challenge:
who sang it? who product it? where was it produced?

Since DRM will be built into the hardware, it won't be at all easy to hack.

In addition, the DMCA in America makes it a criminal offence to tell somehow how to get around such protection... and they *will* go after you... whether you're in America or not. Similar laws may be coming in Europe.

DVD regions was hacked before DVD had become general use.

what about countries as China or Indonsia who have already lack of copyrights some one there publish it on web no one can say you can not read it, because of USA first Amendment.

Russia might be another source.

I think that once people realise what happens they will stop funding a whole bunch of things...consumer power makes a huge impact if we want it to...like cds that wont play on a pc or dvd player...these are not fit for purpose (in fact they aren't even legally cds) and can be returned to the shop for a full refund (preferably after you've made a tape).

If big media companies continue to restrict new technologies I can foresee consumers deciding that old technologies (while not quite so wizzy or fast) are still usable and preferable...I've still got my windows 95 cds and all the software that goes with it, I've also still got all of my audio tapes (plus a betamax video player ), I deliberately bought a cheap dvd player so that I could use a software hack to make it multi region and I wont be buying a recordable dvd player until they make one that will be compatable with my old dvds (recordable dvd players = the new betamax/vhs). I am also still able to tape tunes off the radio and will happily continue doing that.

I truely beleive that these large media companies will do nothing to stop pirating and will only succeed in alienating the consumer with these ott tactics.

Ah, an optimist

Hopefully that is what'll happen... but I suspect the transition will be too slow for most people to object...

I, for one, will be very careful when buying hardware from now on, though...

but the fact is that they DO need to protect their rights...

i dont much like the idea of control, and they wont use it responsibly. so im against it.

These measures are all illegal according to the concept of copyright. Look at the word Copy-Right. That is what you're purchasing when you buy a book: the right to a copy. That copy now belongs to you. You can read it, you can give it away or sell it. You can put it in your attic and unpack it decades later to read it again. You can't do any of that with a limited play cd. These measures designed to "protect" the copyright of digital media, are in fact denying your rights to the copy you've purchased.

Quite so, Uncle Heavy... the whole issue is about a compromise between the rights of artists/producers and the rights of the general public.

DRM promises to make sure they hold all the cards...

Don't be fooled. Artists make *very* little from their work. I doubt many of them would approve of these measures anyway. Metallica are an anomaly. When record labels cry "artist" in defense of screwing you out of more money, don't believe them.

Very true. They still have rights, though...

I have been screwed by Sony and DRM. I bought a "net MD" primarily for use as a tool for editing music composed, played and recorded by my band and me onto MD and can't use the software to transfer from MD to PC because the MD is not copywrited or tagged or something.

Nice MD player though.

PP

Nasty...

In fact I just spotted something about our Sound Blaster Audigy card... apparently it stops its high quality digital output when software such as Media Player asks it to... it admits that this is a DRM measure .

:eeks, bookmarks, stays tuned.

I take it you hadn't heard of DRM, then, Wayfarer?...

Hmm, here's an article about that proposed law in the US:

http://electronics.cnet.com/electronics/0-3219397-8-9508589-1.html

The key bit being:

...the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act, which forces technology and consumer manufacturers to make only equipment that cannot play media files that are not authorized...

That was back in March, though - does anybody know the current situation?

I remember, back in the late 70s, when VCRs were just coming onto the market, the hollywood studios were up in arms about all the revenue they were going to lose because people would just stay at home and watch videos. They soon shut up when they realised that VCRs represented a chance to get people to buy the same product twice.

Instead of concentrating on trying to prevent copying, if they spent a fraction of their resources on making their catalogues available for download *at reasonable cost* and worked with the internet community on a realistic method of making micropayments, not only would they open up *another* new revenue stream, but there would be ancillary benefits for all.

But big corporations rarely do *anything* that would simply benefit their customers. They have to control.

I wish they'd lighten up, personally.

where are videos you play 4 times, erased and recycled as empty tapes?

Region codes on DVD always struck me as particularly insulting to the user:

Tech Guy: "And because it's digital, the format doesn't matter, you can play them anywhere. No more problems with PAL/NTSC."
Marketing: "Great. Now make it just as crap as videotape, please."