MP3.com has an interesting article about battery life in players. Buried in it is an suprising statistic about DRM protected files and what they do to battery life.
Those who belong to subscription services such as Napster or Rhapsody have it worse. Music rented from these services arrive in the WMA DRM 10 format, and it takes extra processing power to ensure that the licenses making the tracks work are still valid and match up to the device itself. Heavy DRM not only slows down an MP3 player but also sucks the very life out of them. Take, for instance, the critically acclaimed Creative Zen Vision:M, with a rated battery life of up to 14 hours for audio and 4 hours for video. CNET tested it at nearly 16 hours, with MP3s–impressive indeed. Upon playing back only WMA subscription tracks, the Vision:M scored at just more than 12 hours. That’s a loss of almost 4 hours, and you haven’t even turned the backlight on yet.
Sad thing is DRM only affects those who are honest. Real Pirates can bypass or avoid all known methods of DRM, And there is no theoretical method of creating DRM that would be unbreakable. DRM does nothing!!! It’s like the kings new clothes, nobody at the RIAA, MPAA, or major entertainment companies has the guts to say “we waisted all this time and money, sorry” so they continue the sham. Sad really…
True… sounds a lot like the government and gun control, to be quite honest. Those intent on breaking the law still do, regardless of how many laws they break in the process. These are actions being taken for the sake of taking action, not for solving problems.
That’s what you get for the ability to “rent” a million songs.
Buy the CD or song, then de-DRM it. Or you could download the song using P2P, then buy a DRMed copy, but play only the one you downloaded using P2P (no DRM). If the RIAA says anything or tries to sue you, you will have all the legal copies of the music to prove that you own all the music you downloaded.
On another point, you could always never buy it and be a thief (shame on you!)
Instead of complaining about DRM, lets celebrate. Look at the iPod. I have lots of NON-TECHNICAL friends who have it, who download tunes from the iTunes Store, etc.
The DRM seems to work well, and none of the users have complained to me about any DRM limitations, or lowered expected battery life.
As to the red herring title : “DRM Will Cost More Than You Think”, for shame. C’mon, its only a matter of expectations. Imagine a headline like “Going To Safe Deposit Box Takes Longer Than You Think and Requires Identification”, or “Concert Goers asked to Show Tickets To Get To Seats”. Security of any kind to uphold normal commerce has some cost, but we have no problem living with it in other things, I have no problem living with it for securing Intellectual Property.
You don’t see the costs and problems associated with DRM because they are hidden from you. But even when they’re exposed, you won’t even care, because you’re a sheep just like everyone else. (No offense, it’s just the truth.)
So true, as I listen to the George Thorogood CD I bought this afternoon. Right now I’m listening to a live version of “The Sky is Crying”. It is so apt.
Steve, Fusion:
I suppose the lock on your house, car, etc. are just there to keep yourself in a business model.
The original and MAIN purpose of DRM is stop intellectual property theft. If there was never any music theft, there never would have been any DRM. In fact, if I could wave a magic wand to eliminate all illegal copying, Apple and Itunes would shrink.
The fact is that the record companies were not going to release their music on-line till they were sure there would be roadblocks to stealing it. Apple offered their security system, so to speak, and the record companies accepted. Other companies are perfectly OK to design their own security system and in fact have (the Windows DRM).
If you don’t like Apples and their player limitations, go with Windows.
Just because you don’t like cost of Popcorn in a movie theatre, or wine in a restuarant, doesn’t mean you can bring in your own. There’s another restuarant down the street. You choose.