Filed under: Audio, iTS, Internet, Interviews
TDMW interviews DefectiveByDesign
Remember those crazy DefectiveByDesign kids in hazmat suites trying to give customers the 411 on DRM outside Apple Stores? TDMW (The Digital Music Weblog) snagged an interview with the DbD collective on the state of DRM, what their beef really is and where they believe things are headed. The group has been snagging some major news coverage as of late, and this interview is a really interesting window into their stance on DRM and what it's doing to our culture (example: ooh, sorry - your mom isn't authorized to borrow that CD).In the interest of avoiding another bloody war over whether we should be shopping at the iTMS, however, I'll just direct your attention to TDMW's interview for your reading enjoyment.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sir Not Appearing in this Blog said 3:34PM on 8-02-2006
I don't know what the 401 is on DRM. Can you enlighten me?
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Steve said 3:42PM on 8-02-2006
401? How do you give someone the "Unauthorized"?
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Colin P said 3:50PM on 8-02-2006
Have neither of you been to college or are you trying to be funny?
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kevin said 3:50PM on 8-02-2006
If everyone in the world just used Apple DRM, there would be no DRM. Funny, that.
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Jim F said 4:04PM on 8-02-2006
401? I think you need to add 10 to that and give us the 411...
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andy said 4:05PM on 8-02-2006
thats not true, youd still be restricted to the ammount of burns / computers you can put it on, what a stupid statement
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kevin said 4:12PM on 8-02-2006
It's a generic statement, dumbass. "Apple" was only used because of this blog and its relevancy. As for arguing with me on the details of a blog comment...
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Tony said 4:21PM on 8-02-2006
Well, the "restricted ammount[sic] of burns / computers you can put it on" is a bunk argument anyway.
Burn the song to CD.
Rip the CD as MP3.
Play it anywhere you want, as many times as you want, on as many computers as you want, and burn it to as many additional CD's as you want.
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Brian said 5:22PM on 8-02-2006
these guys have way too much free time!!
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jh said 5:52PM on 8-02-2006
Do remember that it doesn't matter if Apple is good or bad.. the DRM is the issue. Whoever controls the DRM controls the media that the DRM is on. That means if Apple someday goes out of business, or sells their itunes store for a billion dollars or more to the RIAA , or whatever... that whoever controls the DRM controls your media.
Maybe apple is a nice company.. but.. in the end, the tunes you buy are not yours. They're whoever owns Itunes, and they can be deactivated at whim.
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fraser said 6:02PM on 8-02-2006
How about everyone just burns them to a CD, and Bob's Your Uncle.. DRM fee music
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michel said 6:25PM on 8-02-2006
I just like apple as everybody
and I don't dislike others companies
but NO DRM FOR ME. no and no and no at all
so , even if ITMS is a very good shop, I do not buy music.
even less on real crap or whatever sony/microsoft insane drm horrors
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AstroBryGuy said 7:25PM on 8-02-2006
The FSF is now in the FUD business.
According to the "Defective by Design" spokesperson, with DRM "you won't be able to make private copies or backups or share with family and friends."
This statement is untrue. FairPlay encoded files can be backed up, and Apple even reminds you to when you make a purchase at iTMS. I can burn a particular song to an unlimited number of audio CDs, although I can only make 7 copies of a particular playlist (So I
can't be completely lazy and give the same "Love Song Mix" CD to 8 different women ;-) ).
The DbD spokesperson also claims that another risk of DRM is that "Your personal viewing/listening/reading habits will be available in the same way that your telephone records now are." Do you have a membership at the local video store? Subscribe to NetFlix? Buy stuff on Amazon or eBay? Have one of those "preferred customer cards" for the supermarket? Guess what! They have your rental/purchase history.
The FSF has now officially joined the tinfoil hat club. Obviously, by referencing telephone records, they are trying to scare people into thinking that the big bad government is going to rifle through iTMS logs. The truth is, your ISP probably has much more damning information, since they can pull up all the pr0n sites you've been visiting. ;-)
I remember the howls from free software advocates when Microsoft spread FUD about the GPL being "viral". When it comes to disinformation tactics, I guess they've decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em".
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Mac Diva said 8:30PM on 8-02-2006
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is desperately seeking attention. Even after listening to its top lawyer speak at the Open Source conference last week, I don't see any rational reason for their attack on DRM, except that it does indeed get them attention. Another reason might be funds. Perhaps an attack on Apple DRM is being funded by interests concerned about Apple's dominance of digital downloads and market share of digital music players. But, since EFF keeps who is funding the campaign secret, there is no way to know for sure. My other guess is that the folks at EFF have had mediocre careers and would like to be powerful pushing the likes of Steve Jobs around. Ain't gonna happen.
As other commenters have observed, the claims made by EFF in the Defective by Design campaign are largely fatuous. I was amused by the latest one though: If Apple goes out of business, iTMS's users content will be orphaned. Obviously, not if it has been backed up or converted to MP3s. Furthermore, ANY business may have fallen by the wayside five or 10 years from now. Yet, we don't lose sleep over that reality. Defective by Design seems to have attracted adherents not bright enough to know when they are embarrassing themselves.
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michel said 9:02PM on 8-02-2006
how can you transform in mp3 yours bought aac-encrypted music on itms ?
you cannot. you have to accept a loss of quality.
DRM is a pain the ass for all customers. simply that.
you can accept that if you want
but it's good to inform public.
and yes it's THAT important
and there are nothing to say about Apple. Apple is just doing what they have to do to be able to sell music
but DRM is BAD for customers. simply that. DRM is all about removing Freedom to use products we PAY !
it's not a rant against Apple ! itunes is the better shop and the ipod is a very nice player.
it's NOT againt APPLE
it's against DRM . Every DRM.
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Steve said 2:18PM on 8-03-2006
I am confused. If you want CD quality, by a CD. If you want a convenient file you can play on your computer and iPod, buy it from iTMS. If you don't want DRM, then buy the CD, rip it to your iTunes and put it on your iPod. If you want to remove the DRM, burn it to a CD and then rip it off of the CD back into iTunes. What is the problem? Where is the discussion? You have choices. Make them.
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