The Sony DRM debacle.
A lot has been written on the technical side of this story but there are few comments on the broader picture. What does it mean to own a CD nowadays? Lets begin with what you can't do with the CD's you legally buy. Here in Belgium you can't legally lend it to friends. Buying a CD doesn't give the right to remix it, to play it at a party without paying even more, burn a mix CD for friends and believe me this list isn't exhaustive.
Now what can you do with your CD? Well buying a CD gives you the right to listen to the music you purchased whenever and where ever you want, as long you and your close family are the only ones present. If you consider that a normal cd costs 15 € for ten to twelve songs that isn't cheap.
Now lets get back at the DRM issue. When I said that you bought the right to play the music whenever and where ever you want this was without taking DRM into account. Well for Linux people the where ever part doesn't applies to their computers. And that's just for starters. In many cases the DRM protected CD's can't be played in many car CD players and old normal home CD players. Considering the fact that you usually can't get a refund if you unwrapped a CD you can't give it back 15 € looks even more expensive. As I wrote before you don't receive a lot of rights for 15€ and thanks to the DRM you receive even less.
To add insult to the injury this particular type of DRM makes it really difficult to move the songs to an Ipod. Why is that? If you believe the buzz on the Net Sony and Apple don't get along. So because they don't get along Sony punishes the consumer. Now you can't listen to the purchased music whenever and where ever you want because the Ipod isn't an option anymore. So you get even less for those 15 €.
On top of that Sony now even jeopardizes the security of your computer if you dare listen to their protected CD's. In their minds they have to revert to those technical measures to protect themselves from their own consumers. This strikes me as a little odd. Since when do corporations have to protect themselves from their main income?
To understand how this shift occurred I think you have to see that Sony (and others) don't consider the people who buy their stuff as customers but as consumers. With the advent of digital technologies and the possibility to mass copy the consumer even became the ennemy. I don't believe the word ennemy is too strong because they actually try to protect themselves from their consumers.
You might think that's it but no. The DRM cloacking technology goes one step further. It evens calls home to tell how many times you listened to the particular CD. This has nothing to do with DRM but if you consider your consumers as ennemies this could be seen as a way to keep your friends close and your ennemies even closer. In other words on top of giving you less rights for your euros, jeopardizing the security of your computer, considering you, the main income source as an ennemmy, Sony spies on you. The best part is that you pay for it. Don't we live in a beautifull world?
