Failure to DRM does not lead to chaos
Webplanet has published a note from PC Mag editor Lance Ulanoff: "The absence of DRM leads to chaos." It is important to understand that mp3 does not mean free. Accordingly, the dispute mp3 vs. DRM is not a dispute of various concepts, but only a dispute about which format is better.
It so happened that mp3 became the de facto generally accepted standard, which is supported by almost all modern music players, both software and hardware. A huge number of players can play exactly mp3-format. As for DRM, the industry could not agree and establish a single format of “protected music”. This is the root of the problem.
In principle, a successful model of distribution of music with DRM exists. Apple showed this by creating a closed, but self-sufficient ecosystem of iPod + iTunes + FairPlay. FairPlay allows you to play purchased AAC tracks from DRM to play on 5 PCs from iTunes, copy to an unlimited number of iPods and burn to CD. Everything is fine and wonderful ... As long as the user does not try to play the purchased music, for example, on his phone or on another (not iPod) mp3 player.
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This is where the criticism of Apple, FairPlay and DRM in general begins. The user wants to be able to freely dispose of the purchased music and not be held hostage to the chosen platform. If the main players in the music industry would agree on uniform rules of the game and a single DRM format, then perhaps everything would have evolved quite differently. This did not happen. CD sales plummeted, and digital music sales did not grow due to leapfrog DRM. In the end, the only way left for the labels is to recognize the mp3 format. What actually happened.
And what's wrong with mp3? This may sound paradoxical, but the main disadvantage of mp3 is the limitation of its use. I, as a bona fide user, for example, cannot give a purchased album in mp3 to listen to my friend. In the case of DRM, such schemes were possible. But this does not lead to chaos at all, as Lance writes. Yes, I can not send mp3, but instead I can send a link to last.fm, which now allows you to fully listen to the songs online. Send a link easier and faster than the album and then most users will do so.
Rejecting DRM does not lead to chaos, but rather eliminates DRM-th chaos.
It so happened that mp3 became the de facto generally accepted standard, which is supported by almost all modern music players, both software and hardware. A huge number of players can play exactly mp3-format. As for DRM, the industry could not agree and establish a single format of “protected music”. This is the root of the problem.
In principle, a successful model of distribution of music with DRM exists. Apple showed this by creating a closed, but self-sufficient ecosystem of iPod + iTunes + FairPlay. FairPlay allows you to play purchased AAC tracks from DRM to play on 5 PCs from iTunes, copy to an unlimited number of iPods and burn to CD. Everything is fine and wonderful ... As long as the user does not try to play the purchased music, for example, on his phone or on another (not iPod) mp3 player.
')
This is where the criticism of Apple, FairPlay and DRM in general begins. The user wants to be able to freely dispose of the purchased music and not be held hostage to the chosen platform. If the main players in the music industry would agree on uniform rules of the game and a single DRM format, then perhaps everything would have evolved quite differently. This did not happen. CD sales plummeted, and digital music sales did not grow due to leapfrog DRM. In the end, the only way left for the labels is to recognize the mp3 format. What actually happened.
And what's wrong with mp3? This may sound paradoxical, but the main disadvantage of mp3 is the limitation of its use. I, as a bona fide user, for example, cannot give a purchased album in mp3 to listen to my friend. In the case of DRM, such schemes were possible. But this does not lead to chaos at all, as Lance writes. Yes, I can not send mp3, but instead I can send a link to last.fm, which now allows you to fully listen to the songs online. Send a link easier and faster than the album and then most users will do so.
Rejecting DRM does not lead to chaos, but rather eliminates DRM-th chaos.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/19266/
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