The Great DRM Debate

[Slaughter]

Before you purchase a track on Rhapsody you have the option of clicking on a link that leads you to an explanation of your purchase including this:

Note: Music purchased from Rhapsody is content-protected, and downloaded Rhapsody files will not play on other players. However, Rhapsody music burned to CD can be played in any CD player, and you can transfer and play purchased tracks on a variety of portable music players.

[dwschoon]

Did anyone hear about MLB deciding to abandon an old form of DRM? They decided to change their DRM supplier, and turned off the authentication servers, which made anything purchased with the old DRM unusable. They told customers they would have to repurchase the content if they wanted to continue using it. Any of these music services could do the same thing to try to force everyone to re-purchase any music that no longer worked.

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[MDeSade]

Originally Posted by Llorean

Do you think that if you rent a DVD from blockbuster, you have the right to then make a copy of that DVD on a VHS and retain that copy after returning it?

If you agree to a contract saying "I will not make copies of this file", what makes you think that you then have a right to do so? If you owned the file, then yes, you'd have a right to both preserve backups of the file and take steps necessary to convert the file for use when the original method is unavailable.

But where exactly are you getting the impression that exchanging money for the *use* of something is the same as owning that something? I've never felt that I was owner of a DVD I rented, or a movie I watched on Pay Per View (digital and DRM wrapped content) or even a 3-day DRMe'd download from an online rental service.

If they provide you a file, do you automatically own it, or if it's really true that you don't care what form it's in, do you admit that the file can just as easily be rented as the DVD?

If I exchange money for the 'use' of something, that means I should be able to actually 'use' it. If I need to convert it to another form to do so I do not see the problem.

As for Pay-Per-View/downloaded/etc., many companies are built on the premise that you will copy that content to watch at a later date. This would include any company that produces VCRs, set-top DVD burners, TiVo and many others whose sole purpose is to make copies of things shown on TV for the viewer to watch at a later date or to rewatch should they so choose.

As for for the last comment, if I rented a DVD that I was able to keep and not have to return, then I would probably make a duplicate of the DVD and use that so that the original was not ruined and stayed in a good as new fashion. Which I would think the 'owners' would be quite pleased about.

[MDeSade]

Originally Posted by Slaughter

Before you purchase a track on Rhapsody you have the option of clicking on a link that leads you to an explanation of your purchase including this:

Note: Music purchased from Rhapsody is content-protected, and downloaded Rhapsody files will not play on other players. However, Rhapsody music burned to CD can be played in any CD player, and you can transfer and play purchased tracks on a variety of portable music players.

And there is my own argument answered, even they know you can't stop someone from converting the DRMed music to another format so they can be played on a player of the 'buyers' choice. Which pretty much means DRM is basically a hoop they want people to jump through so you can put your music on someone elses player that didn't convert or conform to their DRM evilness