Here’s a lovely example of how, in Macrovision’s words: “DRM increases…consumer value” from SimplyAudiobooks.com:
How many times can I burn or sync or listen to the audio book?
When you download a book from us, you’re granted a personal license that is associated with the IP address of your computer. The license allows you to transfer the files up to 3 times to an MP3 player and burn up to 3 times to a CD. You are not limited to the number of times you can listen to the title on your computer. However once the license is claimed to one computer, you will not be able to download or claim the license on another computer as the license is directly associated with the IP address.
This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read.
Ties to my IP address? I have a laptop. Which IP address are you going to use? My work address in the 192.168.x.x range? My home address in the 10.0.1.x range? These are assigned my DHCP and I may not get the same one on Tuesday that I got on Monday (generally speaking, the first person to turn on their computer gets 192.168.1.100, the second person gets 192.168.1.101, and so on).
At home, I have a Powerbook, a Slingbox, a MacBook, two Airport Extreme basestations and one Airport Express.
I suppose I could use static IPs, which of course is far less convenient, especially when one moves between two different networks.
Even the IP address for our DSL modem changes about once a week, so they couldn’t use that one.
So if the content is tied to an IP, does that mean that I can only use it when I’m at home but not at work, or at work but not at home?
The license allows you to transfer the files up to 3 times to an MP3 player
3 times to an MP3 player. “An” MP3 player. As in uno, as in one. (That “MP3 player” by the way, is not any MP3 player. It’s only MP3 players which play files infected with Windows Media DRM, as in not the iPod.) What happens when that MP3 player dies? Can you move those files to another MP3 player? What if you have to reformat the drive on that player because it has some problem?
Why 3 times? Why is there any limitation at all? At the risk of sounding like a 2 year old: It’s mine. Mine Mine Mine Mine. I paid for it. If I bought an audiobook on CD, I could play that on any CD player. I could, when finished, give it to anyone, or sell it. DRM tells me I can only listen to it in certain places.
Why?
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p> Once again, I have to ask: how is DRM increasing value to me?
Hrm. Maybe I misread this line: “DRM increases not decreases consumer value” — maybe they didn’t mean they increase value to the consumer… maybe they mean they increase the value of a consumer to the people who are selling content? I mean, if I have to buy multiple copies of the same materials (for example: Macrovision tries to prevent owners of VHS tapes (which wear out and degrade over time and with use) from copying that content onto longer lasting DVDs) then Macrovision has increased my value to their clients.
People complain about Apple’s FairPlay DRM, and they are right in the same sense that if I buy a song from the iTunes Store I ought to be able to listen to it on my Palm device or in my car. I can listen to it in my car only if I burn it to a CD, which I can do (7 times, I believe). I can then re-rip that CD and get an unprotected MP3. It’s a hassle, but a possibility (as it is with Simplyaudiobooks.com).
But let’s ignore that possibility for a moment. Let’s say that I don’t even make a CD with that song on it. Apple’s DRM lets me use that song on as many iPods as I want. Not just “an” iPod. Now certainly it is legitimate to say that you can only use an iPod, not any other kind of MP3 player. But if you have a 30GB Gen3 iPod in your wife’s car, an iPod nano that you use for biking, and an iPod with video, you can copy the same song to all of them. If you and your partner both have video iPods, you can both want the content you buy from the iTunes Store. And you can play that content on five of your own computers. How many normal families even have 5 computers in their home?
At my expense, of course.
eBooks which are sold without the ability for me to print out or copy the content mean that I might have to buy a hard copy. On the flip side, as previously explained, if I buy a DRM’d audiobook or eBook, I am prevented from giving it away to a friend or library, or selling it used. This, it might be noted, also decreases the value of the purchased content to me. You might not have thought about it this way, but part of your willingness to buy a car probably had something to do with your belief that you could, if you wanted to, sell it to someone else. Or, to turn it around: How much would you be willing pay for a car if A) you could not sell it or give it away or B) you could not let anyone else drive it? Or maybe you could designate 3 people to drive it, but only those 3. Would any sane company try to sell you a car like that? Would you buy it?
Where is DRM helping me again? I am sure that Macrovision would try to convince me that without DRM they would not possibly sell me any electronic content at all. Which means that there would be no electronic copies of that content. For example, J. K. Rowling doesn’t want there to be any ebook versions of the Harry Potter series. I am not sure if this is because of piracy concerns or because she doesn’t like ebooks.
When book 6 of the Harry Potter series came out, it took 12 hours for an unofficial ebook to be created. That’s 672 pages. 12 hours. Would that, perhaps, just perhaps indicate that there is interest for an ebook? Yes, but not an ebook full of DRM, I can promise you that.
Back to the Simplyaudiobooks DRM above…. I suppose what most people do after this is rip it from a CD back to an unprotected MP3, so it doesn’t matter in practice. But what happens when they decide to stop letting you do that?