This sums up DRM for me. I have no qualms about buying music of film DRM-free. Shops like Bleep or Emusic just sell high quality MP3 files at reasonable prices – and that’s fine. In the past I bought an audio book from Audible and it’s a right pain in the arse to listen to where I want – consequently I never used them again. In order to listen to it, I need to install iTunes and I need to remember some ancient audible.com log-in to authorise use of the files – which is years old and I’m probably using a different machine too which causes further problems.
So, the last audio book I wanted to listen to – I got on CD from Ebay and ripped which is slow (waiting for a parcel) – I’d have quite happily paid for it in MP3 format from a shop if that were possible.
These days, a lot of music is available in MP3 format legitimately, but considering a lot of the costs have disappeared, a lot of the shops seem to be over priced to me. However, it is the format that is most useful to me, and it is much cheaper that compact discs were at the height of the record industries taking the piss period when you’d need the best part of £20 in HMV for a single disc.
As far as I’m aware, there isn’t a way to legitimately buy DRM free films in the UK at the moment. You can buy films in digital format from iTunes, but they’re crippled with DRM. If I buy a film from iTunes, it’s tied to iTunes or one of those Apple TV boxes. I can’t for example watch it using Windows Media Centre. It’s a sad state of affairs that there aren’t any legitimate ways to buy films and watch them using a Windows Media Centre other than buying a DVD and sticking it in to watch! – Thank god for technology! You can rent short term DRM films, but buying is a no-no.
All of this is crap frankly and means that doing things the illegal way is far easier than trying to do it legally. The reason illegal music sharing became so popular in the first place was because it was made so difficult to get music legitimately. The same is true of films now.
Magazines are another area where DRM ruins the experience. I had an article published in a camera magazine some time ago, and I noticed that the magazine was for sale from Zinio. Zinio distribute magazines digitally, so in theory, when a new magazine in your subscription becomes available, you get notified, it downloads and you can read it.
In practice this is another DRM crippled file that you can do next to nothing with. Their DRM kept breaking and their support pages on their web site tells you to go wandering in the file system to delete files and uninstall their software before installing it again. This works but when it goes wrong, it’s a pain to go through these steps to get the DRM working again. This has happened several times during the year long subscription. That experience means I won’t use them again.
What’s wrong with using a PDF file that can be indexed by desktop indexing so it’s easy to find articles within the magazines. The Zinio distribution method has no advantages over the paper version. Indeed, the magazine I subscribed to was often available in the shops before my digital copy arrived. Because of the DRM, it wasn’t going to be use-able anywhere but on the computer it was locked to.
So, in summary, all of this DRM crap makes using modern technology a pain in the arse to use. You pay for crippled services that drive you mad and drive people to doing things the illegal way because it’s more convenient and doesn’t put you at risk of your purchases becomming unusable later.
![Portrait with a Clumber horse [10/52]
I actually intended to try and do quite a straight portrait and include the horse at the side of me. I stood with my back to the horse with my camera at ...](http://publicenergy.co.uk/Projects/52-Weeks/20100306-1145-0017-Edit/803460292_nQg6M-Th.jpg "Portrait with a Clumber horse [10/52]
I actually intended to try and do quite a straight portrait and include the horse at the side of me. I stood with my back to the horse with my camera at ...")
Diana 5:04 am on November 12, 2008 Permalink |
I’m not sure if it’s available over there, but I’ve been using Amazon’s MP3 store lately. Being a mac user, I love the convenience of iTunes, but I have been reminding myself more and more, to go buy via Amazon. The downloader is easy, one click buying and DRM-free. And a side benefit is they have a higher bit-rate.
publicenergy 11:13 am on December 22, 2008 Permalink |
The Amazon MP3 store launched in the UK recently. It's not that nicely presented, but it is good value and the files are good quality which is what really matters.