Is DRM All About Re-Selling You The Same Stuff Again?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20061229_001403.html' target='_blank'>http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20061229_001403.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"...this desire to sell all new stuff goes far beyond movies and music and Microsoft, all the way to the televisions and stereo systems upon which these old hits are played. This is an especially exciting time for TV manufacturers, because they have never really been in a position to participate in such a feeding frenzy. In the U.S., the old NTSC video standard made all video content backward compatible right up until today. You can still watch American Idol just fine, for example, on an old DuMont TV from 1948, but not for much longer. And it is not just TV and stereo manufacturers who want in on the game: PC hardware vendors, too, are eager to sell us all new parts, just as they always have been."</i><br /><br />Cringely tackles the DRM issue, and dishes out an opinion that's the opposite of <a href="http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt">another article</a> that has been making the rounds this week. Although I dislike DRM as much as anyone else - no, check that, I really hate it and bypass it whenever and however I can - I'm going to side with Cringely on this one. DRM is a fact of life and nothing in Vista is so draconian that it's going to hurt sales of the OS. I also agree with him that Vista is about selling new hardware - the upgrade pricing that Microsoft has chosen all but guarantees that only a few geeks are going to be upgrading their systems (raises hand). Most people are going to get Vista when they get a new PC - and I don't think that's such a bad thing for users (though it will slow the adoption rate of Vista a great deal).

[randalllewis]

Also new on the DRM front is the fact that Microsoft apparently can't keep its DRM scheme working with its own software.

I have over 1300 songs on my computer. Well over 100 of them were purchased from the now-defunct MSN Music. These tunes beame unavailale to me after I installed the final version of WMP 11. (No problem with the beta.) It took 6 e-mail exchanges with MS tech support to get the problem fixed- uninstall MSN Music Assistant, delete two Registry entries, uninstall IE7, unintall WMP 11, then reinstall WMP 11, play the tunes, and reinstall IE7. What a mess. In my last message to tech support, I noted that I planned to switch to Vista when it becomes available and wondered if I would have this same problem again. The answer- YES!. "Windows Vista RTM has a known issue with music purchased from MSN Music." I am stunned. They did offer me a workaround. Burn all the MSN tunes to CD and after I install Vista, rip them back to the computer! And this is supposed to be a sophisticated operating system? I have never fussed as much about DRM as others have to this point and I certainly don't mind paying a modest fee to acquire music. But damn, once I've paid, I should not have to put up with this crap!

[Jason Dunn]

Ouch...I feel your pain Randall, it sucks how DRM makes you a prisoner to their system when it's music that you've paid for. I tend to avoid DRM'd music, but sometimes it can be hard if you really only want the one song. I'd encourage you to try this out:

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/FairUse4WM/1156529648/1

I've used it and it works great - it strips the DRM from the WMA songs, giving you what you paid for without the stupid DRM limitations and their broken system.