Music on the move: music downloads and DRM

 

Gallery

By Alun Williams

Posted on 12 Aug 2005 at 17:27

With iTunes being the most popular service, you might expect it to generate the most complaints - 13.5 per cent of those who felt frustrated with the DRM surrounding their downloads cited iTune Music Store.

'The music once purchased from iTunes in AAC protected versions does not always work with digital music routers like Sonos/Soundbridge/Squeezebox 2/Rokus,' commented one respondent, 'and so DRM affects my decisions in the purchase of hardware to legitimately stream music from one room to the next.'

Another one raised the old chestnut of multi-device, multi-platform compatibility. 'I do not have an iPod. I do not want an iPod. I have downloaded music only available via iTunes (ignoring illegal alternatives), burnt to CD then ripped to MP3, simply to get it on my non iPod MP3 player. Pointless Mr Jobs... and so easy to bypass'

And a Linux user is equally unhappy: 'Any service which uses Windows DRM as I use a Linux Computer. iTunes was only possible using a circumvention of the DRM process.'

DRM specifics

We also asked you for your general views on DRM copy protection on downloaded music.

A large majority of 71 per cent viewed it negatively, agreeing with the statement that it was 'A restriction on what you can do with something you've paid for'. And 20.8 per cent felt that it was 'A way of locking people into particular download sites'.

Somewhat less negatively, 14.8 per cent declared that DRM was 'Necessary to protect musician's rights. A similar number declared it to be 'Necessary to protect publishers' rights rather than musician's rights'.

Interestingly, only 17.7 per cent declared it to be no different from other copyright protection. Potentially, this indicates a widespread misunderstanding of the principles DRM, which is nothing if not a mechanism for protecting access. It suggests over 82 per cent view it as a uniquely 'evil' imposition on the music download market.

We also asked: What impact has copy protection on downloaded music had on you? The responses here should give all download services pause for thought. Thirty-six per cent said it influenced them not to pay for downloadable music, and 26 six per cent declared that it affected how much you they were prepared to pay. For any company concerned about income and revenue margins, this should send a warning signal - about the potential custom that is being sacrificed because of DRM systems viewed as overly harsh.

Fifteen per cent agreed that it affected which type of music device they used, and four per cent specified 'other' effects: particularly the encouragement to buy CDs to have free control over a master copy, and the effect of being driven towards sites that don't impose restrictions. Others commented that it increased their reluctance to adopt the new technology.

Finally, 34 per cent boldly declared that copy protection had no impact on them.

The survey was carried out by Demographix.com

In a second article we look at the survey results about using a mobile phone as a music centre - Music on the move: music on a mobile phone.

NB: The randomly selected winner from the survey has been contacted by email. Thank you, again, for all those who took part.