Comments on: What if Apple stopped issuing DRM keys?

Sure, it's highly unlikely now, but what about 5 or 10 years from now? The fact is, consumers of DRM-laden music are at the mercy of whoever holds their encryption keys.

[technewsjunkie]

They're right. And Owning, rather than renting/subscribing allows you to protect you r investment.
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

[Zen-Masta]

Oh and just to add to my comment, I've never encouraged anyone to buy DRM music because CDs are still better. I always stock up on cds from my music club when they are 6 bucks each or less including shipping. So I usually buy about 50 cds a year.

[Zen-Masta]

In the spirit of being hypothetical, yes Apple would face a **** storm of rage that would quickly make yahoo and msn's ordeal seem like a minor inconvenience. Should this day come Apple had better be prepared to issue a credit towards DRM free music or SOMETHING.

[technewsjunkie]

You missed (or overlooked) this comment in the article: Tennant said "It is the *consumers' responsibility* to protect their investments."

Take Responsibility!! Don't blame others for your own negligence. If you subscribe instead of own, your out of luck.

[DrtyDogg]

@technewsjunkie, you are right in pointing that out, if you want to truely own don't buy music with DRM.

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.

[djames42]

What's lost in these discussions is the DRM on video content. Having come to the obvious conclusion that purchasing seasons of the few TV shows I watch via iTunes is far cheaper than the cost of cable service, I purchased an Apple TV. If Apple stops supporting their purchases, I can burn my audio files to an audio CD and the DRM is eliminated. There is no such ability with video content.

[letterrepdotcom]

Isn't it time, already, for artists to start selling their own work?

[Galaxy5]

Sure, just as soon as they start financing their own professional recording services, promotion, and touring. Look, I'm all for reduced record company influence, and I agree they're mostly evil. But a thousand garage bands trying to out-promote each other sounds just like noise. A&R guys, for all their faults, so sometimes manage to separate the wheat from the chaff.

[iertry]

Apple couldn't stop issuing DRM keys. They have too many customers that have bought too much DRM'd music. Yahoo and MSN were able to do it but Apple has a customer base. Seriously who actually bought music from MSN and Yahoo? I'm no legal expert but I could see court cases if Apple stopped issuing DRM keys and it wasn't put in the terms of service/eula (I haven't read these but I'm sure if it said this in there everyone would know about it.

[pjhenry1216]

Did you read the article? It *is* in the EULA. Its quoted in this article. They're allowed to stop the service whenever they want and the user isn't allowed to hold Apple liable.

[markedman0965]

Music. There are workarounds for that. The real issue is video. What would you do with any movies or TV shows you purchased?

[wylbur]

The thing about it its Apple has such a rocky history. You know after Steve Jobs dies (and, yes, even Steve Jobs will die), the company is going to go straight down the tubes... One can envision an end for Apple with ten or fifteen years that involved bankruptcy, dissolution of the company, and a decision by iTunes Stores new owners that they can make more money by telling us the keys were lost on a server vandalized by an employee who was upset about the complete loss of value of vested options. Free yourself and live the analog life! Death to Digital!

[mbelisle]

Your pronouncements on Apple after Jobs are straight out of the early 1990s. I don't think customers need to worry. Apple fans kept the company alive without Jobs once before. They'll do it again, especially since he'll leave an even greater legacy behind this time.

[pjhenry1216]

Ok, Death to Digital is a bit strong. There is nothing wrong with digital. Its DRM thats a problem and many more stores are starting to sell DRM-free music. People should just purchase DRM-free music only.

[ewelch]

You don't know what you're talking about. Steve Jobs is a big influence at Apple, but you really delude yourself if you think all the ideas are his. Jonathan Ivy is the one who comes up with the designs. Many other people contribute. Well, it's a small group compared to many other companies, but that's the genius of Apple. A small group of people with great taste ask themselves "what kind of products would we want to use ourselves?" (See all the interviews with top Apple people, this is always the question they ask.) You can't believe that's the question asked at Dell, or HP, or Lenovo, or even Sony do you? Not the question that overrides everything else.

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.

[cerebral_but_dull]

Music is important to us but a triviality. How about your doctor, whose medical school digital textbooks are DRM protected, and he can't double check his recollection of what he was taught for correct diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases. We live in a brave new world where we are changing everything as fast as technology allows, which is a whole lot faster than common sense would allow. It takes a while to see the full scope of unintended consequences.

[regulator1956]

OMG, my doctor can't open his DRM medical books. Too bad the only set of information he'll ever be allowed to access are closed off to him. What !?!?!?!

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.

[tech_junky48]

@regulator

They have. It's called WebMD

www.webmd.com

[sciontcya]

Yes, this is correct - buy CDs and you're set.
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.

[mbelisle]

"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. "

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.

[zeroplane]

The answer is pretty simple, don't buy anything with DRM. PERIOD.

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.

[david.earl]

In the UK, there is a law called the Unfair Contract Terms Act where companies cannot impose unreasonable exclusions on consumers. It is up to a court to decide, of course, what is unfair. It would be very interesting for one of the consumer organisations to arrange a test case before the worst happens.

[Vegaman_Dan]

I suppose this means you are only renting content from the iTunes store and not actually purchasing it. If you can't keep it when / if Apple decides to discontinue it, you have no recourse. We're sorry that you spent hundreds/thousands of dollars on content that you no longer can use. We're also quite glad that you did and that we don't have any legal obligation to make it up to you for any reason.

Bleah. This would also result in a court looking strongly at those EULA's that companies are so fond of using these days.

[ralfthedog]

Yes and no. You can use the digital music and video forever without going to Apple to get a new key. The key is just to move the file to another device.

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.

[Lerianis]

But the fact is, ralfthedog, that most people change computers every now and again and guess what? A new computer is called a new device! That is the problem I have with DRM. Frankly, anything with DRM on it, if the guy who made it goes out of business, he should be REQUIRED to make a patch for his products that TOTALLY removes the DRM, no if's, and's, or but's about it.

[uhpl508]

This is a question of when they stop, not if they stop, and what the transition might be. Will they let you remove the DRM for 20 cents a song when it happens? DRM on audio for purchase is a dying fad already.

[Zen-Masta]

djames good point, I didn't even thought about that. I've never been a DRM fan myself so when it comes to music I wait for sales from my music club and buy real cds at 6 bucks each or less including shipping. Usually about 30 a year or so. And in regards to movies, I buy all my tv on dvd series when they're on special (never when they come out) and I subscribe to blockbuster.

[William Schnippert]

What if Apple stopped issuing DRM keys? What if Microsoft went bankrupt? Very unlikely.

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.

[stevicus]

when you rerip!

[Lerianis]

You shouldn't have to buy the CD in this day and age. The fact is that CD buying is EXTREMELY wasteful, to be blunt. All those CD's, hanging around your home, for the rest of time..... no, I am NOT going to keep them around my home, sorry!

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.

[Nighteye19]

And it's not just a matter if you lose the original... if they quit issuing keys then this is the only way to get around it without using hacker-written software to strip the DRM, which would net much better results btw.

[Yuhong2]

Yep, there is a reason why DRM on rented media (audio and video) are less evil than DRM on "bought" media.

[DrtyDogg]

I was thinking the same thing! It's different when you know you will not have it forever. That's how I work now, subscription lets me listen to anything I want. When there is something I really like, I buy it in mp3 format. Flexible and painless.

[Yuhong2]

"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."
"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.

[Lerianis]

Actually, it would be hard to do because they are MILLIONS of keys out there for MILLIONS of files..... it's almost impossible to make a tool to strip DRM from these files, unless there is a 'master key' (which I personally think there is one!).

[tech_crazy]

"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."

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?

[Shutterstuff]

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.

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? ;)