http://www.eff.org/pages/customer-always-wrong-users-guide-drm-online-music
This article exposes several online music retailers who use false advertising. In addition to all being tricky in their advertising, they also utilize Digital Rights Management (DRM). The original intent of DRM was to prevent illegal copying of media files. However, online music stores use DRM to control what the consumer can do with their music much more than most downloaders realize. This article, though dated by a few years, accurately exposes some of the unadvertised restrictions that come along with each different music dealer.
The Apple iTunes store is far and away the most popular online media store. Billions of songs have been downloaded at $.99 each since its launch. In their advertisements, Apple states that once you download a song, you have "generous personal use rights." These rights include transferring your music to your portable music device, so long as it's an iPod. The purchased files are locked in AAC format, so don't even think of converting these to mp3, wma, or your file-type of choice (unless you know how to get around this stipulation). You are prohibited from making a backup copy of your media library, editing, remixing, or sampling files in any way. iTunes has branched out to sell videos and audiobooks which are just as stringent as their music files.
Next, Microsoft is examined. Their motto: "Choose your music. Choose your device. Know it's going to work." This "plays for sure" mentality is quite inaccurate. Every single file with DRM has some factor of unpredictability. For example, many online services sell their music with Microsoft's Windows Media Audio (wma) DRM. And whenever you are dealing with DRM, nothing will "play for sure." This slogan was intended to apply to portable music players, however, many of these devices do not even support wma files. And suppose they did - there is still no guarantee that your files will play a month from now because you, the consumer, are at the mercy of the retailer from which you downloaded your files. If the company stops their services, you could lose your entire library which you paid for song by song.
We all remember Napster (I think). The original widespread peer-to-peer file sharing program that was used by millions to transfer music almost a decade ago. After getting shut down by the law, Napster came back fresh and legal as Napster 2.0. Many audiophiles are attracted by the nostalgia of this name but be careful - this is nothing like the original Napster. It's just another online music store with hidden rules. For $15/month, you get access to their whole library. Unlimited downloads! As always, there's a catch - stop paying the monthly fee and you lose your whole library. This is a different strategy from other online music dealers and they are very tricky about it (I know from experience). Their homepage encourages you to try it free for a week. Without telling you, after the trial period is over, they take $15 off your credit card unless you unsubscribed prior to day seven. Unsubscribing is also very difficult!
It is tricks such as these that can be found time after time in online music. As we have seen in the past year, downloading music does not have to be this way. Amazon.com launched the first DRM-free mp3 store last September. It's better than its competitors in every way - high quality, (twice the quality of Napster) $.89/song, (that's a dime cheaper than iTunes, and dimes add up!), and oh yeah...no restrictions. No DRM means when you buy this, you can do whatever you want with it. Let us hope that this is the direction that the digital music world is moving. But the only way for this to happen is for consumers to free themselves from their deceptive musical masters.
1 comment:
I don't understand why companies think they can control things the consumer has already purchased. If you buy a book, the writer of that book has no right to come to your house and take it away from you. That's why I think companies who utilize DRM fundamentally have the wrong idea. By using sneaky tactics to "control" content, the company is losing the consumer's trust and just making things more confusing for themselves.
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