Consumerist
backlash
Posts Tagged “
Drm
”
backlash
drm
Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs
David says:Yet another reason not to buy DRM music. They are telling us that we have to burn our music to CD format since no additional computers or devices can be authorized after August 31, 2008. So let's see. Burn to CD, then rip said CD to MP3. Couldn't they just give us a tool to do it for us, just this once?David forwarded a copy of the email Microsoft sent him about the expiring DRM. Reading it gives us a headache. More »
Thanks to the demands of movie studios, as of April 15th any pay-per-view movies you record to your DirecTV DVR will disappear after 24 hours. [DirecTV] Thanks to Mark!
frustration
UPDATE: Microsoft May Slowly Be Fixing Their Broken XBOX DRM
A ray of hope from reader James—Microsoft was able to fix his broken XBOX Live account. Are they getting their act together? Maybe?Evening, Consumerist Editors (and hopefully readers)!More »
fair use
When Dean recorded HBO's new Tom Hanks-produced miniseries "John Adams"—which is not a pay-per-view or on-demand program—he was surprised to see it was flagged by Tivo's Macrovision software, which controls how many times you may watch a program and how long you can store it before it's automatically deleted. Now the question is, was this a mistake on the part of HBO or Dean's cable provider Comcast? Or—considering HBO's infamous anti-consumer stance on time-shifted programming—is it the beginning of a sneaky "back-door" approach to locking down all their content, something Tivo's own people said would probably not happen when they added Macrovision to their recorders in 2004?
More »
HBO Using Tivo's Macrovision DRM To Restrict "John Adams" Miniseries?
When Dean recorded HBO's new Tom Hanks-produced miniseries "John Adams"—which is not a pay-per-view or on-demand program—he was surprised to see it was flagged by Tivo's Macrovision software, which controls how many times you may watch a program and how long you can store it before it's automatically deleted. Now the question is, was this a mistake on the part of HBO or Dean's cable provider Comcast? Or—considering HBO's infamous anti-consumer stance on time-shifted programming—is it the beginning of a sneaky "back-door" approach to locking down all their content, something Tivo's own people said would probably not happen when they added Macrovision to their recorders in 2004?
More »
drm
Microsoft Has No Answer For Their Broken XBOX Live DRM
Reader Kevin's XBOX 360 suffered the usual Red Ring of Death, so he sent it in to be repaired. He got back a different XBOX 360 with a different serial number. That would be no big deal, except Kevin has purchased a bunch of content through XBOX Live... content that is no longer fully functional due to Microsoft's broken DRM. More »
drm
Adobe Won't Fix DRM Screw-Up Rendering E-Books Unreadable
If you use Leopard on a Mac and plan on buying e-books, be very careful—according to the various complaints on this thread, Adobe's Digital Editions still doesn't work on Leopard, and yet most places selling Digital Editions e-books won't warn you of this, leaving you with activated books you can't return but also can't read. More »
Sony has agreed to sell its songs DRM-free on the Amazon MP3 store, completing the set—now all four big record companies are on board. It's amazing how a little iTunes competitiveness will bring a bunch of executives together. [New York Times]
Inspired by Radiohead's recent digital experiment, British violinist Tasmin Little is releasing her next album online for free, sans DRM shackles. "I've done this with no intention of making money... I want to make [classical music] more accessible." We think Radiohead should borrow a page from Little in return and put hilarious Glamour Shots on their "In Rainbows" website. [Reuters]
drm
Napster Drops DRM, Will (Finally) Sell MP3s
Napster, once a file-sharing service that famously drug the RIAA kicking and litigating into the digital music era, will finally drop DRM and start selling mp3s, says Ars Technica. More »
riaa
Sony BMG Will Drop DRM
BusinessWeek says that Sony BMG will join us here in the 21st century when they become the last of the top 4 big record companies to drop DRM.More »
In a move that would mark the end of a digital music era, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is finalizing plans to sell songs without the copyright protection software that has long restricted the use of music downloaded from the Internet, BusinessWeek.com has learned. Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony (SNE) and Bertelsmann, will make at least part of its collection available without so-called digital rights management, or DRM, software some time in the first quarter, according to people familiar with the matter.
error
Adobe's DRM Fails "Catastrophically."
In a stunning bout of honesty, Adobe's licensing subsystem would like you to know that it has managed to fail "catastrophically." More »
cancel the account
Canceling Napster Takes 30 Minutes On The Phone
Eliot Van Buskirk over at Wired found that he was no longer in need of his Rhapsody, Napster and Yahoo! Music subscriptions now that the RIAA is starting to warm up to the idea of DRM-free music. More »
music
Amazon Expands DRM-Free Music Store, Adds Warner Music
Starting today, Warner Music songs are now available on the Amazon MP3 music store, in DRM-free formats and at prices competitive to what iTunes charges. According to Reuters, Amazon has now reached "deals with music labels Universal Music Group, part of Vivendi, and EMI. The remaining major recording group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, has yet to offer its songs for the service." Sony BMG, you guys are very, very old dorks. More »
Fox and Apple have reached a deal that would allow movie rentals through the iTunes Music Store. No official announcement yet, so no details on pricing, date, or how the rentals will work. [Reuters]
online advertising
New Microsoft Patent App Provides "Enforceable" Ads That Can't Be Skipped
Last year Microsoft filed a patent application, published yesterday, that explains a method by which embedded advertising can't be skipped. From the application abstract: "Enforcing rendering advertisements and other predetermined media content in connection with playback of downloaded selected media content. Playback of selected media content is made conditional on acquisition of a playback token that is generated in response to playback of the predetermined content." More »
copyright
Article Recounts Sony's Rootkit Debacle In Detail
Remember Sony's cringe-inducing copy protection scheme a couple of years ago, where they secretly installed rootkits on millions of customers' PCs and then pretended it was no big deal? ("Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" — Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's President of Global Digital Business.) There's a new article (PDF) about to be published in the Berkely Technology Law Journal called "The Magnificence of the Disaster: Reconstructiong the Sony BMG Rootkit Incident." It's a very detailed and entertaining read that examines the conditions that led Sony BMG "toward a strategy that in retrospect appears obviously and fundamentally misguided." More »
drm
