Musicload stated that three out of every four calls to their customer support phone service are as a result of consumer frustration with DRM.
Many
online music stores employ DRM to restrict usage of music purchased and downloaded online. There are many options for consumers buying digital music over the internet, in terms of both stores and purchase options. Two examples of music stores and their functionality follow:
- The iTunes Store, run by Apple Inc., allows users to purchase a track online for $.99 US. The tracks purchased use Apple's FairPlay DRM system. However, with the use of iTunes Plus, users can download DRM free music for an extra 30 cents.[7]
- Napster music store, which offers a subscription-based approach to DRM alongside permanent purchases. Users of the subscription service can download and stream an unlimited amount of music encoded to Windows Media Audio (WMA) while subscribed to the service. But as soon as the user misses a payment, the service renders all of the downloaded music unusable. Napster also charges users who wish to use the music on their portable device an additional $5 per month. Furthermore, Napster requires users to pay an additional $0.99 per track to burn it to CD or listen to it after the subscription expires. Songs bought through Napster can be played on players carrying the Microsoft PlaysForSure logo (which, notably, do not include iPods or even Microsoft's own Zune).
- Wal-Mart Music Downloads, another online music download store, also uses DRM. It charges $0.88 per track for all non-sale downloads. All Wal-Mart Music Downloads are able to be played on any Windows PlaysForSure marked product. However, this music will not play on the Zune. The music does play on the SanDisk's Sansa mp3 player, for example, but must be copied to the player's internal memory. It can not be played through the player's Micro SD card slot, which is a problem that many users of the mp3 player experience.
The
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is an extension to
United States copyright law passed unanimously on
May 14,
1998, which criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology that allows users to circumvent technical copy-restriction methods. Under the Act, circumvention of a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work is illegal if done with the primary intent of violating the rights of copyright holders.
Open-source software to decrypt content scrambled with the
Content Scrambling System and other encryption techniques presents an intractable problem with the application of the Act.
All aimed at us, the consumer, made and enforced to make more money, large companies lobbying the goverment for favors, demanding more from joe consumer, forcing their products that they want you to buy, and only theirs on you, any other product is a violation of their rights.
Remember tapes? They would play on ANY player, quality or crap. Who here uses anything but a ipod or other forced hardware crap? My point exactly.