It’s funny how the term has become a rallying cry against copyright online: I was reading about the failure of BuyMusic.com vs iTunes.
Check this out: Stephen Van Esch writes:
BuyMusic’s DRM (digital rights management) system has been savaged by The Globe and Mail, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and TechTV. BuyMusic tunes can’t be transferred to portable music players.
What interests me here is implication that Apple does not use DRM.
Of course it has to. Apple never talks about it, which is smart. The article Van Esch quotes points out that there is DRM in both systems:
Apple’s “FairPlay” rules attempt to strike a reasonable balance between the desires of the music industry (“No copying!”) and customers (“No copy restrictions!”). Apple limits the number of CDs that can be burned using the same playlist, and prevents users from storing downloaded music on more than three Macs at one time.
BuyMusic.com has left the DRM decisions up to each label and copyright holder, which complicates the buying process. Some songs can be burned to CD just once; others can be downloaded, transferred or burned to CD an unlimited number of times. This is bound to create confusion when people attempt to make “mixed” CDs that combine music purchased from different labels.
Ironically, despite its name, BuyMusic.com does not actually let you “buy” music. The system’s “Terms and Conditions” note that content is “sublicensed” to users, “and is not sold, notwithstanding use of the terms ‘sell,’ ‘purchase,’ ‘order,’ or ‘buy.’”
As I’ve said before, iTunes has managed slip in under the social acceptability threshold with its DRM. BuyMusic makes the blunder (among many others) of calling it DRM when speaking to the music buyer. Foolish. Very foolish.