The battle over music copyrights and digital rights management continues to wage. If I buy a song or an album, I want to be able to listen to it on any device I might have, anywhere I might be. On my computer in my office at home, and on the one at work. When I entertain, I want to play it on the stereo in the living room. I want to be able to wake up to it on my alarm clock. To hear it in the car while on the road, and on my personal music player when I'm fitness walking or on a plane. I paid for it; I'm entitled to listen to it wherever I am, on the device best suited for that environment.
The problem is, the record companies fear that allowing such interoperability with music purchased and downloaded online would only lead to even more widespread illegal copying and sharing of music. So we have DRM. The music files you purchase from digital music stores are locked up to restrict what devices, and even what software, you can use to listen to them, and those devices depend on what music store you purchase from. If you buy from a store that sells Windows Media format, your software player is going to be Windows Media Player and you will have to use a portable device that has been licensed by Microsoft to decode the format (which does not include the most popular portable player, the iPod). And if you buy your music from Apple's iTunes store, you'll be playing it in the iTunes software on your PC, and on an iPod or iTunes-enabled cell phone only. So, if you want to have all the extra features of the iPod, but want to save a little money buying your music at some of the Windows Media stores which have slightly lower song prices, you're out of luck. And if you buy a cheaper brand of portable player but want to buy any songs that are exclusively available from iTunes, you're similarly screwed.
The only legal way around these restrictions is to burn the songs to a CD, then re-rip them to an unprotected and compatible format. But, this method is a hassle, and doesn't maintain your track information - you'll have to rename and re-tag the ripped songs. That's just too many hoops to jump through to listen to your legally purchased music on the device of your choice. And it doesn't do anything to stop the illegal sharing of music. Those who are going to share know how to get around DRM and will always find a way. If anything, DRM is only increasing the amount of illegal sharing. Many people who download music illegally do it in protest of the way they are treated when they purchase it legally. If they were allowed to enjoy their music in the way they choose without having to jump through so many hoops, they would be more than happy to pay for it.
So, this guy thinks he has the solution: stop selling music and start renting it. He says we should pay a monthly fee to listen to unlimited music streamed from the internet to any of our devices, whether it's our computers, home entertainment systems, car stereos, or cell phones and portable devices.
This idea is so flawed I don't even know where to begin. First of all, this won't stop the illegal file traders any better than DRM does. They will find a way to capture, save, and share the music they stream, just as they have found their way around DRM.
Secondly, in what universe does he live where reliable wireless broadband internet access is available wherever one may roam? Even the existing internet music streaming services out there are not reliable for the relatively small number of people using them. We're supposed to have the entire world streaming their music and be able to hear something that isn't completely chopped up garbage?
Third, if all the music providers and electronics manufacturers in the world can come together to agree on one streaming standard that will work on every music playing device made... then the same thing should be possible for a DRM standard for the music we purchase and download. And then there wouldn't be a problem in the first place. All this is going to lead to is yet another standards battle between two, three, even four different "alliances", leaving consumers still unable to use their own choices of providers and hardware and have it all work together.
And then what happens when someone falls on hard times and has to cut back on their expenses? Right now, if I hit a rough spot and have to stop spending money on certain forms of entertainment, such as eating out, going to the movies, etc., I still have all of the music, DVDs, and video games I have purchased in the past, and can use those things to entertain myself until I can afford to do other things again. But under this plan, if I have to stop paying that monthly music service fee... then I completely forfeit my right to listen to music? And you know that if one entertainment industry adopts a plan like this, all of the others will follow suit. So then when I'm broke, I can't listen to music, read a book, watch TV or movies, surf the internet, or play computer or video games. I guess I'll just stare at the wall, then.
No, turning music and other forms of entertainment into a rented service is not the solution to the DRM problem. It's time for the courts and the legislature to step up and start defending the fair use rights that the law already guarantees us. Make it a crime for these recording companies to use technology that denies us those rights.
![[photo of me]](/glasses144.jpg)
![[album thumbnail]](/photos/flood2010/thumbnails/albumthumb.jpg)
![[album thumbnail]](/photos/oregon2009/thumbnails/albumthumb.jpg)
