What if Apple stopped issuing DRM keys?
It happened to Microsoft and Yahoo. Could it happen to Apple?
The limitations of antipiracy software were dramatically illustrated last week when Yahoo Music announced the company would stop issuing authorization keys for the software that prevents its songs from being copied.
Microsoft's now defunct MSN Music service made a similar announcement last spring. Some CNET News readers have asked whether the same thing could happen at iTunes. The answer to that question is yes, it most certainly could.
If Apple ever stopped issuing keys for its FairPlay digital rights management then, just like at Yahoo and MSN, iTunes users would be prevented from moving their music to different machines or devices. That would affect most of the 5 billion songs the company has sold. (Following much public criticism, Microsoft said it would continue issuing keys for another three years and Yahoo is offering refunds.)
To be sure, the likelihood of Apple shutting off DRM keys anytime in the foreseeable future seems remote at best. Apple is the Internet's largest music retailer and may be the largest music retailer overall. The company is riding a wave of excitement over the new iPhone 3G, which besides being a phone and Internet-enabled device, is an excellent music player. Apple appears to be on track to dominate retail music sales for a long time to come.
Still, things do change. Who can say what will happen at Apple in 5 or 10 years? That's a long time from now. But the truth is, DRM's threat to iTunes users' music libraries is real.
If, for some reason, Apple stopped issuing new DRM keys, people's music would get stuck. Check out iTunes' terms of service. The company says that in such a scenario, customers could not hold it responsible: "In the event that Apple changes any part of the Service or discontinues the Service, which Apple may do at its election, you acknowledge that you may no longer be able to use products to the same extent...and that Apple shall have no liability to you."
What the Yahoo and MSN situations show is that DRM-wrapped music is never truly controlled by anyone other than whoever holds the encryption key. Whether it's FairPlay or Windows Media DRM or some other format, consumers are at their mercy when it comes to unlocking their music.
This means that music libraries can be threatened when computers go kaput. (Yes, the workaround is to burn the music to CDs, but then some sound quality is lost.)
While it may seem inconceivable, it's worth looking at what would happen if Apple stopped issuing keys. How would the company compensate customers for 1 billion lost songs?
MSN Music announced in April that it would no longer support the DRM keys on its music. Customers could still play and hear their songs but would be prevented from transferring them to other devices. Two months later, following public condemnation, Microsoft said it would continue to issue DRM keys for three more years.
On Friday, Yahoo Music said it would begin offering refunds to customers who purchased songs from Yahoo Music Unlimited. For people who would rather have DRM-free copies of their songs, Yahoo is also looking into whether it can provide unprotected MP3s.
The problem with Microsoft's approach is that it is only a short-term solution. In three years time, Microsoft could once again opt to end DRM support. And if Apple followed Yahoo's refund policy, it could prove to be mighty expensive.
Apple conceivably could strip DRM from its songs. From a technological standpoint, it wouldn't be hard to do. If Apple ever stopped issuing keys, the company could, in theory, work out a deal with the labels that would allow it to remove FairPlay. It's unclear whether Microsoft or Yahoo tried to negotiate similar agreements with the labels.
Software packages such as PlayFair and QTFairUse already do this.
The real hurdle would likely be the labels. Right now, EMI is the only one of the four largest recording companies selling unprotected song files on iTunes. Apple's agreements with the other three labels require it to offer copy-protected music.
This brings us to a question that has long been asked: At a time when more and more of Apple's competitors are offering DRM-free music, why does Apple continue to sell songs with antipiracy protections?
Who's to blame?
Apple's Steve Jobs says he wants to sell unprotected music. The recording labels have said Apple is at fault. With everyone pointing fingers at each other, the only thing that's clear is DRM has been exposed.
Yahoo and MSN have helped show that consumers of DRM-wrapped music play their songs only with permission of anyone trading in copy protections, and that includes Apple.
Guy Tennant, chief operating officer of Entriq, a company that helps online stores manage publishing, packaging, and protection of digital products--and this includes implementing DRM--says limitations with copy protections shouldn't come as a surprise. "You got what you paid for," Tennant said. "It is the consumers' responsibility to protect their investments. You have a volatile store sitting on a hard drive."
Tennant says he doesn't want to sound unsympathetic but reminds digital-music buyers that CD owners don't demand a refund from stores when they lose their discs. As for backing up songs to a CD, people should just accept the loss of quality because the only other alternative is to lose the music entirely, he said.
"The challenge for DRM technology providers is to create technology that is easy to use and fits consumers' perception of fair use," he said.
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET. 
I might start converting mine to a DRM-less format via iTunes and then archive them on BlueRay disk or some other long term mass storage media.
You can convert your iTunes library to non DRM format using iTunes' capability to do it. For instance when you burn a "music CD" as opposed to iTunes
Take Responsibility!! Don't blame others for your own negligence. If you subscribe instead of own, your out of luck.
But one thing your off on, if you subscribe instead of own you've lost nothing. You can just subscribe to another service and nothing lost nothing gained, you still just pay a monthly fee.
Apple will do just fine once Steve Jobs is gone, because his hand-picked successor will be cut from the same cloth as Steve Jobs. You don't think he's actually one of a kind in the world? Only amongst CEOs. and CEOs come from somewhere. Howard Stringer was a very unlikely choice to head up Sony, but he's doing better than anyone else likely would.
Hopefully, my doctor doesn't rely on the stuff he learned 30 years ago. Diagnosis and treatments may have changed a bit over the years.
Maybe someone could invent an on-line way of looking up medical information.
They have. It's called WebMD
www.webmd.com
I use iTunes Store for convenience, but if you don't backup, you're a fool, and I bet 80% of all computer users are exactly that.
Too bad.
Well, obviously: The store can't choose to revoke my ability to play a CD (or arbitrarily lock my CD to only the player I currently own) just because they decided they already got my money and didn't feel like letting me play it anymore. The store has no obligations to me (and vice versa) once I've paid for the CD. It's really not comparable to DRM.
The instant any store shuts down the servers without accommodating users they will be sued and the agreement will be challenged. Or, if Apple were to turn off the servers, I know of a great place to "upgrade" the music I already paid for at no cost.
The exception for me is I purchase Blu Ray movies and video games for consoles, but I am already locked into the DRM scheme because I purchase the console unit from a dedicated vendor $ony (PS3) and Micro$oft (xbox360). But so far, neither has attempted to lock out content. That being said, there is no way and I mean NO WAY I would buy videos or music from their online services.
For video and music content I either a) buy the physical media and then convert it to a digital format. b) Go on the "internets" and download a digital copy someone else has converted (without any DRM like never download WMV).
The will be both analog and digital options from 3rd parties no matter how tightly the media corporations attempt to lock the average consumer into a subscription/lease model. There will be alternatives that break their model regardless if they try a software or hardware strategy to take away my choice. And of course there is nothing stopping me from not watching or listening to their content.
There are plenty of other options all over the world. Most of the videos I watch now a days are DRM free video podcasts, streaming media, and tv shows from the BBC (and the like). Open domain content will be the bane of Media Corporations just like Open source is causing pain to Micro$oft.
Bleah. This would also result in a court looking strongly at those EULA's that companies are so fond of using these days.
This is no real issue anyway as DRM stripping programs are easy to find. This may become a larger issue if new DRM hits the market that is less trivial of a hack.
Also, what is this FUD about reduced quality when burning to a CD? If you buy music in .mp4 at 128kbit the quality is pretty low already. That can be upconverted to 1411 kbit AIFF format when burned. So where is the loss in quality?
If you really want to get the best quality just buy the CD. Rip to iTunes in AIFF or Apple Lossless. Then there is no DRM and you get a hard backup.
CD is a dying format, and government needs to step in, realize that 320kbps MP3 is the new standard (that is what I rip ALL my CD's in before I sell them back to the store or a friend), and pass laws saying that ANY DRM on files HAS TO BE REMOVED if they stop issuing keys.
"Will they let you remove the DRM for 20 cents a song when it happens?"
Apple is doing this already today. They allow you to upgrade your entire music library to iTunes Plus for 30 cents per song.
This is preposterous. When the owner loses a CD or it gets damaged, the content creator/owner had not hand in the event. And by what stretch of imagination is that equivalent to a company not issuing DRM keys or just going under and holding your legally purchased music hostile?
- by Shutterstuff August 1, 2008 3:41 PM PDT
- Blame the RIAA as it all points back to them. They fought recordable cassette tapes, video tape, CD, DVD and then spent more fighting digital music than all the previous battles combined. The only winners were lawyers and lobbyists. Consumers and musicians both lost in all of the above mentioned battles, all courteous of the RIAA.
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Showing 1 of 3 pages (73 Comments)DRM wasn't even a good idea on paper, let alone in the real world. 98% of my music is purchased CDs, but the little I purchased on iTunes or Amazon have been burned to music CD so I can rip MP3's if needed.
And I am one of the minority that has an external HD to back up my data? but it took catastrophic loss to get this in place? ;)