Improbus says:

Buy those DRM-free downloads.

They have to produce something I want to buy first.

Dan says:

I know John has harped on the lack of music discovery in the past. I rarely hear new music in my normal life anymore. The one place I probably would here it, if the RIAA was not so shortsighted, is in podcasts. Because, of the recent and past royalty rules, none of the podcast I regularly listen to have any music in them (except for a little bumper sound at the beginning or end). I would actually like to discover new music; my music collection has not grown in the last several years. It is really sad, terrestrial radio is so stale and all online forms of music are being “taxed” and regulated out of existence. The really ironic thing is that where I work (professional offices) nearly everybody listens to music with head phones. I periodically check and consistently find that with very few exceptions the music people listen to is several years old. I know some of that is the office working demographic, but there are a lot of fresh collage aged kids here too and it is the same with them. The music industry is costing on people still building there libraries, but once the library is built (acquired from a friend) demand goes to nearly zero. Music must be delivered everywhere and be constantly marketed if people are to discover it, which was why people traditionally signed with a big label in the first place. RIAA (and the companies represent) should be more worried about Myspace and other indie market places then DRM, and the per play cost of songs. The music labels should realize they have always been in the music marking business and not the distribution business. I wish they would get back to marketing music and promoting music. They are shrinking demand for there product and that is far more costly then the losses on any single sale of a track. The old saying a rising tide lifts all ships applies, but I think the RIAA is practicing the opposite and with a receding tide all ships are left grounded.

Martez says:

People who aren’t as tech-literate are just going to opt for the cheaper version. I know people who buy their music on iTunes and they aren’t going to be ponying up the dough because “the quality is good enough and I only listen to the music on iTunes anyway.” Trying to tell them about the evils of DRM and that the statement was more important than the increased quality resulted in blank, uninterested stares. It could go either way, depending on if the people who are so pissed about DRM that they ‘steal’ music support non-DRMed music and starting buying tunes again. I don’t think any of the tech-heads I know will. They’ll just cross their fingers, hope, continue bitching, and wait to see what everyone else does while they keep downloading it for free.

Legit, non-DRM music is great, but most people still won’t bother when it’s just so easy to get it for free.

grog says:

prevention of the copying of any data stream is fool’s errand and anybody with any knowledge of digital technology knows it,

the riaa is just scrounging to come up with ways to protect their ability to sit on their fat lazy asses and make money in predictable fashion

their pursuit of doomed anti-copying technologies only goes to show that they are too stupid to understand technology and too lazy to change with the times

industries come and go — look at what became of the might railroads

Lou says:

Ah, haven’t been on the DU in a while and the usual DRM crap being spouted. So, in the interest of the usual repetition, I’ll do my part.

1. Nobody, out of the 50 or so friends that I know that have iPods and download from iTunes gives a rat’s butt about the DRM. As the resident geek among a large group of people, I’m constantly helping them with all of their computer (and music problems), and no body has ever complained about it. Nobody. They can burn CD’s (and then copy them if they want to), they can share there iTunes with their family, no problems.

2. People on this board always want other peoples property (intellectual) to be “free”. But I’d bet my bottom dollar that everyone who complains about it,locks their doors when they leave their home. Locks to guard their property, OK. Locks to guard other peoples property, BAD.

3. I personally am a libertarian and believe in freedom, but also believe in punishment towards wrongdoers. It would be so nice if someone said, “Get Rid of the DRM to allow fair use, but once fair use is violated (ie: copying for friends), throw the book at them”. But then I’m sure someone will come back with the disproportionate punishment argument. Nobody seems to remember that the original intellectual property holder is being stolen from one dime at a time.

Personally, I find it so sad that this board cares more about consumers than the original creators, who by all rights can and should decide how their creations are delivered and used.

1. Remove DRM from music, but replace it with

BubbaRay says:

#10, Hop, I’ll just label myself as a conservative liberal libertarian music lover and player, crank up the old analog equip., and annoy the neighbors at 2AM with 1.1KW + B&W 7.2. Again, thanks much for the Sennheiser tip, great phones.