Tuesday, 28 October 2008 DRM and its Failures so Far

After a little research is it very apparent from the vast amount of documentation across the net that DRM is a subject which is hated and investigated in equal amounts. Corporations such as Sony, Apple Inc., Microsoft and the BBC have all spent a colossal amount of resources researching and implementing DRM technology. With this a colossal counter offensive has resulted from individuals, organizations and groups opposed to Digital Rights Management and all that DRM stands for.

The origins of DRM stem from the early 1990's and the advancement of digital media and in turn analogue / digital conversion technology. As this technology became more mainstream so did the need for a format of DRM, especially within the music and film industries.

And with the foundation of DRM technology came the entourage of solicitors and the legal train that represent the music and movie industries as a whole.
The likes of Apple iTunes Store, Sony and of course Microsoft all got their own versions of DRM, even Napster a former hero of pirate music have now got involved and use DRM.

One example of how DRM restrictions have gone too far is E-Books, due to the restrictions placed on this new technology , the format took far longer to get off the ground and is only now starting to see any real return for its investors.

Example of some of the DRM Technologies and associated devises.

• DVD Region Code Some DVD Discs 1996+ Many DVD-Video discs contain one or more region codes, denoting the area[s] of the world in which distribution and playback are intended.
• FairPlay The iTunes Library, iPod 2003+ The purchased music files are encoded as AAC, then encrypted with an additional format that renders the file exclusively compatible with iTunes and the iPod.
• 3-play Microsoft Zune 2006+ Music files that are received wirelessly from other Zune devices can be played only a maximum of three times on the device. Recipients cannot re-send music that they have received via the sharing feature.[citation needed] Initially, these files would also expire after three days whether they are played or not; that restriction was lifted in a firmware update released on November 13, 2007.