The Year of Living DRMishly http://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,70049-0.html
By Ryan Singel | Also by this reporter This year may be the year that gadget makers finally conquer the living room, replacing DVD players, VCRs and personal video recorders with all-in-one media devices that serve up HDTV, pre-recorded movies and digital music. If so, it will likely also be the year that people learn the meaning of DRM, an acronym the industry says stands for digital rights management, but critics say should stand for digital restrictions mongering. DRM is intended to prevent unauthorized copying and sharing of copyrighted content, and does so by limiting whether and how files can be copied or converted into other types of files. The technologies come in many flavors. Audio versions of DRM include Apple's FairPlay scheme, which prevents iTunes customers from sharing a song with a friend or playing the song on an MP3 player that isn't an iPod. Sony made waves in the fall when it secretly installed spyware on users' computers to prevent them from turning CD tracks into MP3s. High-end audio companies are already running into difficulties with DRM. Steve Vasquez, the founder of ReQuest, which makes ultra-high end streaming audio networks for homes, says his company struggles with the limitations of DRM-protected audio files. "We have an open system that can stream off a server to another house, but the DRM mechanism doesn't recognize that possibility," Vasquez said. "We have clients who have multiple units in one house and multiple units in multiple houses who want to be able to use music in those devices as well as portable ones. DRM is a limitation that limits innovation." A similar system made by Sonos creates a mesh-wireless network that connects up to 32 remote amplifiers with music stored on a home computer, but the company hides music bought through Apple's iTunes store, according to co-founder Thomas Cullen. "We don't want to taunt them," Cullen said. "The best thing we can do is hide iTunes songs so they don't get an expectation they can play them." Ninety percent of his customers own iPods, according to Cullen, and many call in after first buying the system, wondering where their iTunes songs are. But after the company explains it is Apple's DRM that prevents the file from playing, users universally respond that they will go back to buying CDs that they can then rip into non-DRMed audio files, Cullen said. Sonos has an agreement with the subscription music service, Rhapsody, and will support Microsoft and Apple's DRM, when and if those services support playback in multiple zones and license the DRM at a fair price. The conundrum will only get more complicated when video is added to the home networking mix. Videos purchased through Google Video can be wrapped by Google-developed DRM that only lets a video to be played by logging in with the username and password of the person who bought the file. And commercial DVDs are commonly locked down using Macrovision's DRM. Meanwhile, Congress is considering legislation that would mandate that consumer electronics devices recognize DRM in high definition television signals, and prevent unauthorized copying. Despite having just introduced another DRM scheme into the mix, Google hopes that vendors will come together and solve the problem, according to Google Video product manager Peter Chane. "The market will explode if that happens," Chane said. "Today, if you are buying a device, you are buying into an ecosystem." "Consumers shouldn't have to think about DRM," Chane said. "That's why Google Video lets you download versions pre-encoded for iPods and Sony PSPs. That's the direction we are going to head." Though the company only offers this option for videos the seller has chosen not to wrap in Google's DRM. Much of the hype at this year's Consumer Electronics Show focused on integration -- high-end home-audio equipment with docks for iPods and satellite radio MP3 players, with promises that Intel's new Viiv platform will let protected content play seamlessly on televisions, computers and handheld devices. Viiv, which Intel has yet to be fully describe, would use a combination of DRM technology at the chip level along with a program that would certify third-party devices such as personal video recorders and MP3 players. Thus a show recorded on a Tivo, or an entertainment room device, could be transcoded on the fly to the right size for a portable video player or streamed to a unit in the basement recreation room. But that portable video player would not be allowed to transfer the file to a computer owned by a friend. Microsoft is hitching its plans for living-room domination to Windows Media Center and Viiv. Currently a PC running the Windows Media Center operating system can record television programs, show digital photos on a TV, feed music to a stereo system and burn recorded programs to DVD. Though Apple did not unveil a home entertainment computer that syncs with iPod music players at MacWorld, it is widely expected it will do so soon and be able to convince many iPod users to forgo systems like Windows Media Center that aren't licensed to play iTunes songs and videos. Industry watchers say it is unclear whether a full-on format war is in the making or whether consumers will simply not switch to DRM-laden technologies, such as the next generation DVDs, and stick with tried and trued formats like CDs that allow copying and burning. Doc Searls, senior editor of Linux Journal and the co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto, sees the DRM incompatibilities as an opportunity for do-it-yourself film and music makers. "The broadcast networks and satellite TV operators see Apple and Google and Yahoo as big partners and see deals to be made," Searls said. "This stuff is caged, (and) the stuff that is not caged will have an advantage. "It's inevitable that some people are going to make really good monies for a little money and distribute it on their own," Searls said. "There is too much talent out there that is going to take advantage of lower and lower threshold of production." Cory Doctorow, a science fiction writer and former spokesman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, believes technology companies will eventually decide that entertainment companies' demand for DRM is hurting their bottom line. That's when truly innovative gadgets will become available, he said. "No one can sell more gadgets by saying 'do less with your gadget,'" said Doctorow. You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
