There has been much discussion in the media this week about DRM (Digital Rights Management) and downloadable music. Apple Overlord Steve Jobs has done a U-turn and now decided that he doesn’t like DRM, Jobs has told the press that the only reason songs downloaded from his iTunes store are locked with DRM is because “the big record companies made me do it”. Sceptics are saying this sudden change of heart is mainly due to new European DRM legislation which means come Summer Apple may not be able to sell downloadable music with their currently DRM setup in some countries.

Personally I’d love to have the convenience of downloading music from the iTunes store, the reason I don’t is I refuse to pay money for music locked into being stored on one computer and one device. If I go to the shops to buy a CD (or order CDs from Amazon) its less convenient but once I’ve got that CD I can rip, and then move or copy the files to which ever computer or mp3 player I want to use. Majority of digital Music is ripped from CDs, so why would people be anymore likely to copy just because it was downloaded?

The other reason I don’t use the iTunes store is I don’t think its great value for money. If I buy a CD it’s around the same price as downloading the Album but I get a nice case and a booklet, I can put that on a shelf with other CDs and impress chicks. I’d like to see Apple offer a subscription based service where the user pays a set free for as many downloads as they like. If people had no download cap on the iTunes store why would they bother “illegally” swapping mp3s with each other anyway?

Interesting Bill Gates stated in December 2006 that he feels that digital copy protection for music and video is too complex. Hopefully with big names in Technology realising that DRM is a problem this could be the begging of the end for DRM, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

# Pete Graham