The Changing DRM - Apple leads the way!

Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs has come out with a rather interesting and exciting brief on Apple's website.  He published his “Thoughts on Music.” He urges an “open” format that will work on all music players. Finally! We have a solution, Steve Jobs is going to open up the iTunes store and all songs from there can play on anything, right?

Not quite yet. He would love to do that for you, but the big bullies (i.e. the recording companies) aren’t too happy with that idea. They are the ones that force stores to use DRM.  The normal CDs these recording companies sell are DRM free, but when you go to buy a song online, it’s encrypted. 

Microsoft has not followed Steve Jobs on this point.  The Zune, their direct answer for the iPod, features its own form of DRM. Your answer for why Microsoft decided to create another DRM format is better than mine at this point. They put a lot of marketing and development into PlayForSure, but it seems as if they decided to scrap it all with their Zune. 

You might think that Play For Sure is dead and buried now, but it isn't quite dead yet. Microsoft has announced their DRM for smart phones, called PlayReady. This will be backwards compatible with PlayForSure, so you can use any song that has PlayReady in any device compatible with WMP 10.  At this time it is still in the development stages; Microsoft is trying to sign carriers for this DRM.  I don’t think it will go too well however.  Wireless providers such as Verizon Wireless already have their own music content available. 

Yahoo is one of the first to take a step toward burying DRM. They have a few songs so far that are DRM free. Is Yahoo’s motive to end the customer’s headaches or another reason? As you may know, the most popular MP3 player by leaps and bounds is Apple’s iPods.  As of now, the only place people could buy songs for their iPod is the iTunes Music Store.  If Yahoo or any other company starts selling DRM free songs, then iPod owners could go to any store and buy their songs.  Opening up the market for songs for their iPods would put a big hit in iTunes sales. 

Conclusion

Digital Rights Management has been around for a while and has caused people nothing but headaches. Every major recording company has tried repeatedly to perfect the best protection. All have failed miserably. Since the initial release there have been people around the world that have been able to crack it. It's likely that crackers will always be able to get past the protection. It’s a cat and mouse game and the crackers are not only winning, but costing the companies millions.

However in the near future this may change. The recording labels may throw in the towel. It appears that we may have DRM free music sooner or later.  Until then, may we continue popping pain relievers and screaming at our computer screens.