David Berlind is a ZDNet columnist who owns a $20,000 stereo that he can't play his $0.99 iTunes on, thanks to Apple's braindead DRM. Investigating this has turned Berlind onto the myriad of DRM horror stories, and he's vowed to become a DRM-hatin' reporter who will seek out and report on the underreported DRM nightmare.
Microsoft and Apple couldn't have asked for a better gift horse (Hollywood) to come their way, seeking a solution that ultimately gives back to it what it has for so long wanted. Both companies had a razor (the DRM playback technology) and all they needed were some blades (the music). Today, with every individual DRM-wrapped piece of content that gets sold, we are securing the futures of the DRM licensors (mostly Apple and Microsoft). That content will forever be useless unless you have something that includes their playback technologies.
The fact that you have 1000 iTunes store-bought songs means that you will be paying Apple to use that music for the rest of your life (directly for devices like iPods or indirectly through licensee's products like Motorola iTunes phones). With Microsoft aggressively licensing its DRM technology to multiple device manufacturers (for both audio and video) and multiple online content merchants, I've already said that its DRM technology is positioned to follow in Windows' footsteps as the next dominant technology monoculture even though Apple's players continue to sell like hot cakes. By continuing to buy DRM-wrapped content, we as consumers are actually unwittingly co-conspiring with Hollywood to give Microsoft and Apple the keys to the kingdom.
(via Deep Links)
