Murky has written about DRM, and the fact that owners of MP3 players don’t buy many digital downloads, but are very likely to buy more CDs than somebody who doesn’t own an MP3 player. Superficially, this “blows the pro-DRM arguments for music out of the water.” But it isn’t even as simple as this. Perhaps the reason why portable music player owners buy more CDs is because they like music better anyway? NB: I hate DRM.
Archive: DRM
I was going to download the War Child Music album, but those jokers at 7 Digital are behind this. So it’s WMA files (that I can’t play on my computer) with DRM.
IDIOTS.
It says
Tracks are available in MP3, WMA and AAC formats so they will work with any computer or portable player.
But I can’t find links to MP3 or even AAC formats anywhere. Read the small print.
This service works on PC or Mac (* only selected tracks).
PC requirements: running Windows 98 or above with Windows Media Player 9 or above.
What a load of bollocks. This is like Oxfam selling a cardigan wrapped in cellophane that you can’t take off. I’ll just have to wait for the CD release, or just not bother at all.
In the eyes of the media company anyway (old Scottish joke alert; sorry).
“If consumers even know there’s a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we’ve already failed,†says Peter Lee, an executive at Disney.
Disney executive Peter Lee suggests consumers should be treated like the unknowledgeable children that visit his fairy tale parks
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Well for the first time I just bought a download. I’ve never bought a download before because I like to get, you know, stuff for my money (yes, fancy boxes).
Anyway, what I didn’t know when I bought (the download-only) Glósóli was that I was not paying for an MP3, but a WMA file. Windows Media Player hasn’t worked on this computer for a long time — I’ve never been able to find out why. The file won’t play in iTunes because of DRM. It won’t play in my iRiver either, presumably because of DRM. It won’t even play in Winamp because I need to enter in a password, something which apparently only works on Windows Media Player.
Infact, the only place I can play it is on my brother’s computer, which isn’t very convenient for me. And I’ve only managed to hear the song once so far.
First impressions then. It sounds like a cross between Svefn-g-Englar and Smáskífa, with a beat added in. Then it gets very rocky towards the end (in a mainstream rock sort of way). Then there’s the obligatory Sigur Rós tinkling at the beginning and end. So I think it’s okay, but I really need to listen to it again before I can make up my mind.
The only way I can listen to it again (without intruding on my brother’s space) is to download it illegally. In a format that I can actually use.
Well done 7 Digital and Sigur Rós! Take some advice from Bleep.
We believe that most people like to be treated as customers and not potential criminals – DRM is easily circumvented and just puts obstacles in the way of enjoying music.
The strange thing is that they allow you to download it up to three times. But then they make you bend over backwards, tell you what you can and can’t play it on, and then make you type in your email address and password. I’d have liked to have been, you know, told about this or something before I paid for it. It was only 99p, so no major harm done, but it has made me pretty grumpy.
Update: Message board thread on this. You can’t play the file at all on a Mac (although fans have found out — too late — that it will be available on iTunes from tomorrow), or, of course, on an iPod (which is surely almost synonymous with music downloads). And even many people who do have Windows Media Player can’t play the file either. What an all-round mess-up.
Update: I’ve now got Glósóli on this computer. I did this simply by recording it onto the iRiver from my brother’s computer.
- I shouldn’t have needed to do that
- This shows how useless DRM is
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