Nov 12, 2007 - 07:09:34 CST
A recent column on the impending end of Digital Rights Management technology prompted a few reader responses.The restrictive DRM coding is embedded in many MP3 music files purchased online by consumers.
It controls how many copies you can make of a purchased song and on what devices your MP3 file is allowed to play.
For example, most of the MP3 music on Apple's iTunes store is DRM encoded, meaning the MP3s won't play in their original form on MP3 systems outside iTunes or the iPod.
But reader Andy Randall, of Bismarck, was quick to note that DRM-encoded MP3s can be burned to disc as music CDs, which then can be played on any CD player, and CD players are certainly systems outside iTunes or the iPod.
Andy is correct — there's nothing to prevent a person from taking any DRM-encoded MP3 music files and burning them to a music CD for playback or then recompressing the songs as DRM-free MP3s that then can be imported into any MP3 player outside iTunes or the iPod.
Indeed, there is even free or low-cost software available online to help re-record DRM files as DRM-free files.
My focus in the column was on directly copying MP3 files from one MP3 player to another without making any changes to the files. That's the most logical and basic use of an MP3 song purchased by a consumer. If I buy a song online, I should be able to simply play it on any MP3 player or MP3 system I own without dealing with DRM restrictions.
This should be no different than, in the old days, buying a 45 rpm record and being able to play it on any brand of record player I owned. This is common sense. It is what a reasonable person would expect he or she should be able to do.
The MP3 encoding format is popular because it greatly reduces the size of music files without sacrificing a lot of the file's audio quality. MP3 is a "lossy format," which means the process discards portions of the original file to achieve a small file size. Using an algorithm based on "psychoacoustics," or the way in which people perceive sound, the coding process removes sounds and frequencies the average person is not likely to hear in the original file or notice missing in the compressed file.
Problems arise when you recompress an MP3 file that was previously compressed. Because more information is being discarded with each compression, the audio quality of the file degrades quickly. The music develops a hollow, muffled sound. So, when you burn an MP3 to a CD and then resave the file once again as an MP3, you have significantly reduced the quality of that file.
You shouldn't have to degrade the sound quality of music you bought online simply because you want to move your files from one MP3 player to another. But DRM forces consumers to do just that.
What if you just intend to burn your purchased MP3 files to a CD and then play your music on various CD players?
That's not a problem, assuming you don't plan to burn too many CD copies of your music during your lifetime. That's because the DRM system mandates certain "burn limits."
In iTunes, for example, you are allowed to burn only seven copies of a song. After that, you are prevented by the embedded DRM code from ever burning another playable copy of the song. You can still play your original in iTunes, you just can't burn another copy to a music CD. Wal-Mart's mp3 music service allows you to burn 10 copies.
You shouldn't be limited on how many copies during your lifetime you can make of the music you purchased online for your own personal use. Think about it: CDs get scratched, chipped and gouged over the course of constant use. They warp. They break. They get lost. One song might be included in several personal CD mixes: A wedding collection, a soft moods collection at home, an oldies collection in the car.
We use music as lifestyle accessories throughout our lives. The music industry, through DRM, wants to tell you what you can wear and how many times you can wear it.
The solution, of course, is to do away with DRM. But the music industry, fearful and paranoid, automatically assumes the worst about you. It believes if you're allowed to buy DRM-free music, you'll immediately go about making copies for friends or for distribution on file sharing servers or you'll create and sell illegal music CD copies or compilations.
And, yes, there are those who do just that. Fortunately, they are small in number. The overwhelming majority of those who buy music online are decent, honest people who want nothing more than to enjoy and use the music they buy as they have in the past: Freely and easily for their personal use.
The music industry should stop punishing these people though "scorched earth" restrictions like DRM in a dubious effort to stop the few engaged in music piracy.
Online book campaign results
Earlier this year, I told you how North Dakota finished third in the top five vote-getting states in the Cheerios/First Book "Book Donation Challenge" (http://www2.firstbook.org/ericcarle/).
The top five states each received 20,000 free copies of the children's book, "The Tiny Seed," by Eric Carle. The books would be distributed through programs in the state aimed at helping disadvantaged children.
The folks at the Bismarck Barnes and Noble Bookstore, who were instrumental in helping get the word out on the challenge, sent me the list of organizations in the state that have received the books.
Nearly all the books went to Women, Infant and Children (WIC) programs in North Dakota, which are, in turn, distributing the publications to young people served by the programs. Bismarck alone received 6,000 books. More than a dozen other communities statewide shared in the other 14,000 books.
It's easy on any given day to find examples of what's wrong with the Internet or how the Internet is used for sinister purposes.
But when a brief bit of illumination appears in the digital world's otherwise dark sky, it's worth pausing a moment to share such good news. The Book Donation Challenge shows how the Internet can be used for a good cause. And North Dakota has 20,000 examples of the virtual world producing positive, tangible results.
Kudos to everyone who helped make this possible in North Dakota.
(Keith Darnay is the webmaster and designer for bismarcktribune. com.His Web site, featuring this column going back to 1995, is at www.darnay.com.iec.)
Kevin Samy wrote on Nov 23, 2007 8:23 AM:
Dear KEITH DARNAY wrote on Nov 13, 2007 2:49 AM:
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