Today is the Day Against DRM, the official day assigned to oppose Digital Rights Managment. DRM is a technology designed to stop you from reading, listening, and watching books, articles, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, movies, videos, TV, radio, and music. A few corporate groups are strong-arming your government into trying to change the law so that DRM is required in all media, and to make it a crime punishable with jail-time to avoid DRM.
DRM provides you with no value. It doesn’t help you read the newspaper online; it makes it harder to read. It doesn’t make it easier or more enjoyable to watch a movie; it makes it harder or in some cases impossible to watch a movie that you have PAID for. It doesn’t help you listen to music you have purchased; in fact it may require you to pay over-and-over again to keep listening to a single song that you have purchased.
DRM doens’t help artists either. It makes it harder for them to get their work out to an receptive audience. It makes it more expensive for them to publish their work.
Lobby groups for companies that buy the licensing rights for books, music, and movies from the artists that create content are fighting hard to make DRM part of your life. Maybe you want to fight back? Maybe you don’t? Here are a few things you can do either way:
- Don’t use iTunes, don’t buy an iPod, and don’t buy form the iTunes store. The files you get from iTunes can be “turned off” by Apple anytime they want. If they want to make a few extra bucks off you next year, they just have to change the system so that your files won’t play anymore unless you pay for an “upgrade.” There are plenty of places that sell plain-old MP3s.
- Check out MusicIP Mixer from musicip.com. Not only will it play regular old MP3s, but it will play Ogg Vorbis file. Ogg Vorbis files give you better quality for the same size file, AND the format isn’t owned by any company… you will always be able to play your Ogg music… forever and ever.
For more information visit Ten Things for OCT3