DRM and other stuff.
This post has been brewing around for a while, but it came to a head today when I realized something: The several HUNDRED songs that I have purchased off of iTunes are encrypted, and I CANNOT play them unless I have an iPod or iTunes. Well, this is all fine and good, because I have an iPod right now. But... what happens when it breaks? I run linux, iTunes doesn't run on linux yet (and it may not ever, I don't know and don't want to waste the money I spent on those songs on that off chance) and then I've got a bunch of worthless 1's and 0's that don't do jack for me. Well, this is all fine and good, I just decided that I'll use iTunes to convert them all to mp3's... kind of a pain, but hey, at least then I know I'll be able to listen to them once my iPod decides to crap out on me. Oh, what's this? We're sorry. You can't covert that file type to an mp3, because we want to make sure you're not pirating that music. Or who knows what their reasoning is.... and frankly, who cares?
Welcome to the world of DRM -- Digital Rights Management, for the uninitiated. But what it really is, is control. Money. Power. Apple has decided that they want the ability to dictate, who, when, and where you listen to your music. Now, granted, Apple's done a pretty good job of not making this TOO stupid, but when it boils down to it, Apple has more control over music that I bought and paid for than I do. (For me at least, this is going to change soon -- I've found a program that'll break the encryption, and then I'm probably going to stop purchasing stuff off iTunes -- at least, I will not purchase things nearly as much as I used to). However, go read Slashdot and you'll see several articles a day dealing with various companies trying to incorporate DRM into their products. Intel is hardwiring DRM into their new processors. Microsoft is building it into their operating system. Etc., etc., etc. All of this is in the name of combating piracy. (Translation: all of this is so the greedy big corporations of America can dig their fingers even deeper into your pockets and squeeze for everything you've got).
Well, ok, perhaps that's a bit cynical. Let's assume for the sake of argument that THEY really *are* doing this in an effort to prevent piracy. First off, who ever said that we wanted to put up with preventative measures for piracy? So piracy (i.e., stealing intellectual property) is wrong. Why should the people who don't pirate stuff have to suffer so much at the hands of the evil bittorrent P2P terrorists? That's quite ridiculous -- punish the people who deserve it, not the people who don't. I, the consumer, DEMAND complete control over what I have purchased! Dammit, I will not put up with someone else telling me that I can't use the stuff I bought FAIRLY FROM THEM!!! I want the freedom to be able to install my copy of Microsoft Windows on however many computers I own! I want to be able to listen to music that I purchased whereever and whenever I want to! It's my bloody stuff, keep your hands off of it!
Secondly, who ever said piracy is wrong? Why should I not be allowed to share my music with my friends? Of course, this is a really hot topic, and I wrote an entire 10-page paper on it for my hum class last semester, but the basic conclusion I reached is that we as humans don't have the right to prevent someone from making a copy of some piece of work and distributing it freely. The only thing we have a right to is the "fruit of our labor," and by distributing music, we're not depriving anyone of anything. The only way we deprive them of the "fruit of their labor" is if we try to sell something that someone else put effort into -- in effect, we're stealing money from them then.
However, the whole "is piracy right or wrong" issue is a little bit on the sidelines for this topic -- I'd be happy to debate it with you at some other time if you want. However, I do not live expecting to have my possessions that I legally and rightfully own to be controlled by someone else. Stop it. NOW.
Welcome to the world of DRM -- Digital Rights Management, for the uninitiated. But what it really is, is control. Money. Power. Apple has decided that they want the ability to dictate, who, when, and where you listen to your music. Now, granted, Apple's done a pretty good job of not making this TOO stupid, but when it boils down to it, Apple has more control over music that I bought and paid for than I do. (For me at least, this is going to change soon -- I've found a program that'll break the encryption, and then I'm probably going to stop purchasing stuff off iTunes -- at least, I will not purchase things nearly as much as I used to). However, go read Slashdot and you'll see several articles a day dealing with various companies trying to incorporate DRM into their products. Intel is hardwiring DRM into their new processors. Microsoft is building it into their operating system. Etc., etc., etc. All of this is in the name of combating piracy. (Translation: all of this is so the greedy big corporations of America can dig their fingers even deeper into your pockets and squeeze for everything you've got).
Well, ok, perhaps that's a bit cynical. Let's assume for the sake of argument that THEY really *are* doing this in an effort to prevent piracy. First off, who ever said that we wanted to put up with preventative measures for piracy? So piracy (i.e., stealing intellectual property) is wrong. Why should the people who don't pirate stuff have to suffer so much at the hands of the evil bittorrent P2P terrorists? That's quite ridiculous -- punish the people who deserve it, not the people who don't. I, the consumer, DEMAND complete control over what I have purchased! Dammit, I will not put up with someone else telling me that I can't use the stuff I bought FAIRLY FROM THEM!!! I want the freedom to be able to install my copy of Microsoft Windows on however many computers I own! I want to be able to listen to music that I purchased whereever and whenever I want to! It's my bloody stuff, keep your hands off of it!
Secondly, who ever said piracy is wrong? Why should I not be allowed to share my music with my friends? Of course, this is a really hot topic, and I wrote an entire 10-page paper on it for my hum class last semester, but the basic conclusion I reached is that we as humans don't have the right to prevent someone from making a copy of some piece of work and distributing it freely. The only thing we have a right to is the "fruit of our labor," and by distributing music, we're not depriving anyone of anything. The only way we deprive them of the "fruit of their labor" is if we try to sell something that someone else put effort into -- in effect, we're stealing money from them then.
However, the whole "is piracy right or wrong" issue is a little bit on the sidelines for this topic -- I'd be happy to debate it with you at some other time if you want. However, I do not live expecting to have my possessions that I legally and rightfully own to be controlled by someone else. Stop it. NOW.