DRM: Digital Wrongs! How Is Amazon Fighting For My Music Rights?

I showed up wearing party attire that made the snappiest dresser jealous. This, of course, included my new button-down shirt with green florals. As I strolled through the room, I pointed to the far corner, used my thumb as a trigger, and gave a wink.

"Nice Shirt," a friend said as he walked up to me.

"Thanks. It's called an iShirt," I declared proudly. "I just got it online."

"Nice. What's that black plastic box hanging off the side of it?" he inquired.

"Oh, that's the SRM mechanism," I replied. "All of these new shirts come with it."

"SRM? What is that?"

"Shirt Rights Management. It restricts me so that I only wear this shirt with jeans," I explained. "If I try to put on some other type of pants, then the SRM device will explode, covering the shirt in permanent ink. But I can wear it with any jeans I want, as many times as I want. Not a big deal because I love jeans."

"Hmmm. That doesn't bother you?" my friend asked. "What about khakis? What if it gets really warm and you want to wear shorts?"

"Oh, SRM has thought of that," I stated proudly. "I can wear my shirt with 5 different shorts, as long as I register the shorts with the iShirt people first. The problem is that I already tried on my shirt with 2 different shorts when I was deciding what to wear tonight. I only have 3 more times that I can wear shorts. According to the SRM, those 3 times have to last for the life of the shirt. Khakis are out of the question. Why? Does that seem strange?”

While this fictional scenario may seem peculiar, it paints reality for most folks who purchase music online. The only difference is that the mechanism is not called SRM, it’s called DRM or Digital Rights Management. It is the reason why most downloaded music cannot be used however the purchaser wishes.

Why DRM?
The reason for DRM is simple: to prevent stealing. Restrictions came about several years back because of the gluttony of internet music sharing. This sharing violated copyright laws and robbed the music industry of its revenue. Peer to peer sharing networks enabled individuals to make their music collections available to anyone with internet access. The enabling websites included the original Napster, which now has transformed into a legitimate site that sells downloadable music. People would log into the old Napster, search for someone that had a song they wanted, and then download it from their PC – without ever paying for it. The music industry’s solution to this problem was to create formats of music that would restrict people from sharing the music so easily. Music formats with DRM were created, including the AAC format from Apple and the WMA format from Microsoft. The DRM electronically restricted the use of the music. While this helped curb sharing, it also created limitations for those who wanted to use the music legitimately.

Consequences of DRM
Most folks don’t even realize the limitations that DRM brings. People are fat and happy using iTunes to download songs at $0.99 a pop and playing them on their iPods. What happens if iPods fall from grace and consumers decide to later buy a competing device. Gasp! Can that really happen? Well, if it does, all of the protected AAC formatted songs that the consumer purchased are useless. They won’t play on other music players. And what if the consumer wants to burn a photo slideshow DVD and use a purchased iTunes song as background music? Buzz! Thanks for playing! Using the AAC music likely won’t work. Suppose a consumer wants to play music on her phone. Well, she better search hard for a phone that plays the AAC format because most do not.

Here is a summary of what Apple does permit: “Burn the music you buy to an unlimited number of CDs for your personal use, listen to it on an unlimited number of iPods, and play it on up to 5 authorized computers.” Seems reasonable until you start to get creative with how you use the music. This has is a sour point for a growing number of consumers, but optimism peered through the dark clouds last month. In April, Apple announced that for $1.29 it will offer EMI Music’s digital songs in a high quality, DRM-free version of the AAC format. This record label includes artists such as Coldplay, Norah Jones and Joss Stone. It appears to be the first step toward liberation.

The truth is that Apple is not the only one playing this DRM game. Rhapsody, Napster, Yahoo, and Wal-Mart, four of the most popular music download sites, all use a WMA protected format with similar restrictions. The WMA format will not play on iPods, but will play on a majority of the other personal digital music players. These other music devices are typically known as MP3 players because they were originally made for playing unrestricted MP3 music. Now they almost all support both MP3 and WMA formats.

DRM-Free
One site that does offer DRM-free MP3 music is eMusic. Their entire offering is in the unrestricted format. The selection, however, is vastly limited to niche music and emerging artists because the major record labels will not allow them to offer their music on their site. The big labels still fear the loss of revenue from illegal sharing. But changes in the horizon may change their opinion.

Just a few days ago, Amazon.com announced that later this year it will launch a DRM-Free MP3 music download store. It will offer millions of songs and albums from over 12,000 music labels. What Amazon adds to the equation is a hugely influential name that understands music preferences. They have sold music CDs for years and have the clout to influence. Although many of the big name record labels have yet to be mentioned, Amazon has announced that EMI Music’s digital catalog will be made available. Because the songs are DRM-free, the music will be playable on PCs, Macs, iPods, MP3 players, music-playing phones, and even as background music on a slideshow. This is big news and another step toward that liberation.

On their website, Amazon.com solicited feedback regarding their MP3 music store announcement. They received several comments from customers that currently purchase CDs from Amazon. These customers mentioned that they buy CDs instead of downloading songs in order to avoid DRM restrictions. The CDs can easily have the music ripped (extracted) and converted into the DRM-free MP3 format. The physical CD may cost a little bit more, but they say that it is worth the extra price. A new download store that features DRM-free music, however, was appealing to them. Now, with Amazon forcing the issue, it is up to the big record labels to make a move. To DRM or not to DRM? The music industry is taking note of consumer’s desire to use music however they wish. But the delicate balance between alienating consumers and protecting copyrights is a tricky one. Seeing everyone wear green floral iShirts is not impressive if everyone acquires it for free.