DRM out!

After the initial hoo-haa over protecting music online and preventing piracy, the powers have now realized that all has been in vain.

DRM or Digital Rights Management is a method used by music distributors, book publishers and movie companies to ensure that their product is used by those who have paid for it. It's good to know that the consumer is still king.

The usage models were numerous and complicated. Most required special software or hardware to be used. The initial iTunes model, for example, would allow you to play your purchased content unlimited as long as it remained on the device that you purchased it from. So it could be played from your personal computer or your iPod. After experimenting for over a few years Apple launched DRM free versions that could be used across multiple devices. You still had to pay for your content but were not restricted in using it.

The latest news posted here is that the publishing houses have now begun to get rid of the DRM systems altogether. A study by Random House indicated that the pirates were only sharing content ripped from physical CDs or DRM-encoded digital downloads whose anticopying protections were overridden.

Personally I don't think someone would purchase content and distribute it free without making any profit out of it. That's what P2P really is, isn't it? At least I wouldn't.