DRM Portfolio

Criteria A: Presentation of the issue

DRM which is Digital Rights Management is becoming a huge issue, and all companies are trying to use it so that music won’t be downloaded for free. Amazon launched its music download service last September, and now offers 2.9 million songs without copy protection from Warner, EMI, and Universal (as well as from 33,000 independent record labels). The three formats are MP3 and AAC, which are both open formats, and WMA, a proprietary format owned by Microsoft which dominates the market for online music sales, leaving some consumers confused about what will play where. Now, with the locks off Warner's music, the MP3 format gets a boost--and music downloading moves one step closer to being entirely DRM-free. Industry executives hope that initiatives such as iTunes Plus and Amazon MP3--which omit the DRM locks placed on audio files by an earlier generation of music services--will encourage consumers to buy more music. Warner believes that giving consumers the assurance that the music they buy can play on any device will spur sales, it may also prompt buyers to look at other digital music player brands, ending Apple's dominance of that market segment. (Sayer, 2008) The main issue here is that if they don’t find a way to use DRM then it will be chaos everyone will be downloading for free which mean violating certain people’s rights and sooner or later these people will stop showing and being able to show their talents and creativity.

Criteria B: The IT background of the issue

The developments that have enabled Digital Rights Management to occur are piracy, development of technology, and supply and demand. The technology works by people from the entertainment business having a Digital Rights Management which is exactly what is happening currently with iTunes, when you purchase a movie from there you’re not allowed to share it with anyone. All of the people from the entertainment business have to be aware and put DRM’s on their music, or movies. As for peer to peer software’s like limewire, they have to be abolished because if not then people will be bound to download stuff illegally. If this continues then there won’t be control on the money that the people from the entertainment business are making and sooner or later they will be out of business.

Criteria C: The impact of the issue

The stakeholders in the DRM would be the people who invest in it, therefore other companies that are investors in DRM. This is going to have an impact in society, also known as a social impact. This includes ethical issues, policies and standards, intellectual property, and control. The DRM issue is one that is both frustrating and confusing. James Frankel has published a number of his thoughts about this subject on his website: Music Technology in Education. In his latest article: Copyright or Copywrong III he brings up many good points and considerations about using DRM in the classroom and states that using a cracked DRM file in class, even if you own it, is illegal. [DRM] Any technology used to protect the interests of owners of content and services (such as copyright owners). Typically, authorized recipients or users must acquire a license in order to consume the protected material—files, music, movies—according to the rights or business rules set by the content owner.(The definition of DRM is from Google. Information about this tool) (Frankel, 2008).

Criteria D: Solutions to problems arising from the issue

“DRM is not where it should be, but you won’t get me to say that there should be usage models and different payment models for usage. At the end of the day, incentive systems do make a difference, but we don’t have it right with incentives or interoperability.” (Gates, 2006). The German company Akuma is letting their customers download music without DRM. The MP3 files contain a small high-pitched "watermark" that identifies the song's purchaser. This allows people to play the song on any device they want without restrictions, and allows law-enforcement to catch anyone who shares songs on file-sharing P2P networks. I think the idea is brilliant where the best of both worlds can comfortably collide, giving everyone what they want. The question I have still is how easy would it be to remove the "watermark" from the song? What about converting it to another format? Will this loose the track's "watermark" or not? It may not be the perfect solution, but then again it may be (Carter, 2006)

Criteria E: Selection and use of sources

(Carter, 2006)
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/09/18/the-drm-problem-solved/

(Frankel, 2008)
http://mustech.net/2007/02/25/drm-and-copyright-legalities-and-ethics

(Gates, 2006)
http://www.overclock.net/software-news/139834-bill-gates-opposes-drm.html

(Sayer, 2008)
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=11F436E79F69C368&p_docnum=1&s_doc_type=doc&p_queryname=800&p_product=SLCT&p_theme=newcat&p_nbid=E64U5ANXMTIzNDQyNzQ1My44NzYyNjg6MTo1OnFhdGFy

Criteria A: Presentation of the issue

DRM which is Digital Rights Management is becoming a huge issue, and all companies are trying to use it so that music won’t be downloaded for free. Amazon launched its music download service last September, and now offers 2.9 million songs without copy protection from Warner, EMI, and Universal (as well as from 33,000 independent record labels). The three formats are MP3 and AAC, which are both open formats, and WMA, a proprietary format owned by Microsoft which dominates the market for online music sales, leaving some consumers confused about what will play where. Now, with the locks off Warner's music, the MP3 format gets a boost--and music downloading moves one step closer to being entirely DRM-free.