The Digital Music Weblog

• Down with DRM roundup
  

  Filed under: DRM

  
  
  We're two weeks into the new year and, as of yet, the major label system hasn't collapsed under the weight of overwhelming demand for DRM free mp3 distribution.
  
  Pity, that. But we still have 50 weeks to go, and a pretty good collection of Mp3 positive signs. Here's a roundup of the Death to DRM press we've been reading.
  
  • Our favorite major label bully is talking tough about his Apple re-negotiation. He must realize his biggest ace in the hole is...
    
  
  
  
  • RIAA as 17th Century French button maker
    

    Filed under: News, DRM, RIAA

    Ever think that there's never been an industry group in the history of man with the sort of bulldog spirited anti-competitive mindset of the RIAA? Think again. Techdirt draws an interesting parallel between the RIAA of today, and French button makers of the 1700's. It seems tailors began making buttons out of dense cloth, which outraged the established button making industry, leading to the government imposition of strict fines on the cloth button makers, and some rather-paranoid tactics to...
    
  
  
  
  • Another DRM failure ; HD-DVD rip hits torrent trackers
    

    Filed under: News, DRM

    It isn't digital music but, it's a perfect example of how DRM isn't an effective method of keeping your content from the hands of pirates. The first HD-DVD rip is available via Bittorrent, ending any and all speculation about whether the HD-DVD's DRM format has been successfully cracked.
    
    Brad Linder of Download Squad writes, "The breakthrough came when members of the Doom9 Forum tracked down several unique memory keys that BackupHDDVD needs in order to decrypt HD-DVDs. Apparently the...
    
  
  
  
  • Atlantic Monthly : Mp3 = VHS / DRM = Betamax
    

    Filed under: General, DRM, Apple, RIAA, IFPI, BPI, iTunes

    Michael Hirchshorn of The Atlantic Monthly takes a look at Web 2.0 music services and while drawing lines though a connect the dots progression comes up with several gems of inference. The highlight of which is a comparison of Mp3 to DRM "protected" media that contrasts VHS and Betamax, "One next step could be a move by the labels to make more pay-per-download music available without...
    
  
  
  
  • PlaysForSure doomed, again
    

    Filed under: News, DRM, Creative, Microsoft, Sandisk, Napster, Rhapsody, Real Networks, Yahoo! Music

    The grapevine says some at CES are being told Microsoft will no longer develop PlaysForSure, its proprietary DRM system, a move Microsoft swore up and down it would never make when the company failed to include PlaysForSure support in the Zune line.
    
    According to PC Pro News,"Microsoft will concentrate exclusively on its Zune platform, which is not...
    
  
  
  
  • Hypebot asks indie labels about DRM
    

    Filed under: General, DRM, RIAA

    Bruce at Hypebot has been an an anti-DRM rampage in the new year. He's started contacting industry figures and asking them a few questions each about how they view the Mp3, and on the flipside of the coin, DRM.
    
    His most recent victim target is Director of New Media for Beggar's/Matador Adam Farrell. Wanna know what Beggar's position is on Mp3 downloads? "At the end of the day, we support any steps that a DMS or device...
    
  
  
  
  • Grooveshark announces pay-2-peer
    

    Filed under: News, DRM

    What happens when P2P meets Pay-To-Play? Grooveshark, apparently. The just announced service will combine P2P distribution and Web 2.0 style crowdsourcing .
    
    According to the press release, Grooveshark will function much like popular P2P file exchanges. Members will be able to offer their media library for sale through Grooveshark and discover and share new music with other members (only MP3 or OGG files without DRM). The difference: Grooveshark will broker music transactions by charging up to 99 cents for each song...
    
  
  
  
  • EMI abandons CD DRM
    

    Filed under: News, DRM

    We're stumbling in little baby steps towards the end of mainstream DRM. EMI announced that every single CD it sells from now on will be free of DRM, and thus open to personal format shifting, such as the world should be.
    
    Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing writes, "I remember just a few years ago when an EMI customer-service rep sent an email to an irate customer promising that every CD in Europe would have DRM within a decade."
    
    EMI...
    
  
  
  
  • Eulogizing the CD, the ills of disposable music
    

    Filed under: General, DRM, RIAA, IFPI, BPI

    "The CD as it stands is dead", that's what Alain Levy of EMI told a packed room at London School of Business in October (Lomax's article says different but, we checked). John Nova Lomax of Houston Press is taking the time to eulogize it, examine why it's dying and take a cursory look at where the format is heading.
    
    Lomax writes, "Looking back over the past 45 years, it...
    
  
  
  
  • The first week of 2007 in review
    

    Filed under: News, DRM, Microsoft, RIAA, BPI

    
    
    
    A video look at the Digital Music highlights from the first week of 2007. Featuring music from The Blackhorse Remix Project featuring Musetta.
    
    There's also a YouTube version.
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