2008 Woodie Awards
Tech Talk: Downloading music with or without Digital Rights Managment
Zachary Leahan
Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Features
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There is a trend away from DRM (Digital Rights Management)-tainted MP3s. DRM is a technology that provides access control for multimedia content. The well-intentioned technology can drive users to go back to piracy via Limewire or Ares or to strip the DRM with third-party software like "myFairTunes7."
If you "buy" a 99 cent song from iTunes, you are limited to how many computers you can share it with, where you can play it, and how many times you can burn it. When the song is burned onto a CD, the iTunes DRM is lost in the process. If the tracks are ripped from the CD, the MP3s are DRM-free. The downside is that it uses CDs and loses quality during the rip to MP3. These drawbacks cause the mindlessly easy-to-use DRM-stripping programs to proliferate, because no quality is lost.
Despite the popularity of iTunes-purchased music, illegally downloading music via Peer-to-Peer clients like Limewire and Ares is still popular. Ares is the lesser of the two evils since it is a mature open-source project. This means the source code is made public so there's no malware, information collection, or unnecessary bloat concerns in the client.
The advantages are that the downloaded music is free, instant, DRM-free, and can be high-quality. The disadvantages are fake / distorted files, missing song information, and the legal issues.
To address the distorted song issue, users simply find files that many users offer. This method works since people generally delete tainted files. The missing song information isn't vital. To mitigate but not eliminate legal concerns, a supplement program called "PeerGuardian 2" blocks known agencies that collect information that may become evidence for a copyright lawsuit.
The appreciation of DRM-Free music is also shown in the popularity of a Russian site called allofmp3.com. It was shut down due to legal issues but vowed to come back. It offered low-priced, DRM-free music files. This means you could have cheap, high-quality music that you can play anywhere. It was even mentioned in an episode of "The Office" titled "The Injury." Pam got a new MP3 player and Dwight alluded to the service, saying, "I know this Russian website where you can download songs for two cents a piece."
If you "buy" a 99 cent song from iTunes, you are limited to how many computers you can share it with, where you can play it, and how many times you can burn it. When the song is burned onto a CD, the iTunes DRM is lost in the process. If the tracks are ripped from the CD, the MP3s are DRM-free. The downside is that it uses CDs and loses quality during the rip to MP3. These drawbacks cause the mindlessly easy-to-use DRM-stripping programs to proliferate, because no quality is lost.
Despite the popularity of iTunes-purchased music, illegally downloading music via Peer-to-Peer clients like Limewire and Ares is still popular. Ares is the lesser of the two evils since it is a mature open-source project. This means the source code is made public so there's no malware, information collection, or unnecessary bloat concerns in the client.
The advantages are that the downloaded music is free, instant, DRM-free, and can be high-quality. The disadvantages are fake / distorted files, missing song information, and the legal issues.
To address the distorted song issue, users simply find files that many users offer. This method works since people generally delete tainted files. The missing song information isn't vital. To mitigate but not eliminate legal concerns, a supplement program called "PeerGuardian 2" blocks known agencies that collect information that may become evidence for a copyright lawsuit.
The appreciation of DRM-Free music is also shown in the popularity of a Russian site called allofmp3.com. It was shut down due to legal issues but vowed to come back. It offered low-priced, DRM-free music files. This means you could have cheap, high-quality music that you can play anywhere. It was even mentioned in an episode of "The Office" titled "The Injury." Pam got a new MP3 player and Dwight alluded to the service, saying, "I know this Russian website where you can download songs for two cents a piece."
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