Why DRM is inherently evil
Apr. 22nd, 2008 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acroyearSlashdot | MSN Music DRM Servers Going Dark In September:
Anybody else out there ever told you that "yeah, you can buy it, but you'll never be able to play it again" and actually succeed in that? Even today you can still get 8-tracks, reel-to-reels, and a betamax if you're desperate.
But with DRM? There's no way - nothing other than your original computer(s) will ever be able to play it, and when they die, your money is gone.
"'As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers,' reads the e-mail. This doesn't just apply to the five different computers that PlaysForSure allows users to authorize, it also applies to operating systems on the same machine (users need to reauthorize a machine after they upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, for example). Once September rolls around, users are committed to whatever five machines they may have authorized — along with whatever OS they are running."Yeah, you read that (somewhat confusingly written) report right: you may have bought songs, but you'll be unable in any way to transfer them to a new machine.
Anybody else out there ever told you that "yeah, you can buy it, but you'll never be able to play it again" and actually succeed in that? Even today you can still get 8-tracks, reel-to-reels, and a betamax if you're desperate.
But with DRM? There's no way - nothing other than your original computer(s) will ever be able to play it, and when they die, your money is gone.
