Robert Levy
02-02-2004, 09:21 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20040202/tc_pcworld/114571' target='_blank'>http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20040202/tc_pcworld/114571</a><br /><br /></div>"An industry group is launching a new system for protecting digital music, video, and software from illegal file sharing over mobile devices. The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) unveiled its newest Digital Rights Management (DRM) system on Monday. The OMA, based in La Jolla, California, also will unveil a licensing body, the Content Management License Administrator (CMLA), which will be led by Nokia, Intel, Panasonic, and Samsung Electronics, a spokesperson for Nokia says. Formerly known as "Project Hudson," the CMLA will promote the OMA's enhanced version of its DRM system aimed at securing handsets and other mobile devices, OMA DRM 2.0 Enabler Release, she says."<br /><br />"The latest version of the DRM system offers improved support for audio and video rendering, streaming content, and access to protected content using multiple devices, the OMA says."<br /><br />On one hand, vendors prefer selling digital content for platforms with DRM support. On the other hand, it can make life miserable for customers if not done right (and this is something very difficult to do right). Currently, Windows Mobile doesn't offer much of a DRM solution which could explain why the platform isn't a player in the multi-billion dollar ringtone industry. So what are your thoughts on DRM? Should Microsoft be doing more work around this or stay away?