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.
drm
Adobe Won't Fix DRM Screw-Up Rendering E-Books Unreadable
By 2.8.08
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.
By 1.11.08
../../../..//2008/01/11/sony-has-agreed-to/
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.
By 1.9.08
../../../..//2008/01/09/inspired-by-radioheads-recent/
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.”
Napster Drops DRM, Will (Finally) Sell MP3s
By 1.7.08
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.
Sony BMG Will Drop DRM
By 1.4.08
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.
Adobe's DRM Fails "Catastrophically."
By 1.4.08
In a stunning bout of honesty, Adobe’s licensing subsystem would like you to know that it has managed to fail “catastrophically.”
Canceling Napster Takes 30 Minutes On The Phone
By 12.31.07
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.
Amazon Expands DRM-Free Music Store, Adds Warner Music
By 12.28.07
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.
By 12.28.07
../../../..//2007/12/28/fox-and-apple-have/
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.
New Microsoft Patent App Provides "Enforceable" Ads That Can't Be Skipped
By 12.21.07
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.”
Article Recounts Sony's Rootkit Debacle In Detail
By 12.18.07
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.”
Walmart Hates DRM
By 12.3.07
Ars Technica says that Walmart has given an ultimatum to “some of the largest record labels, including Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, to provide more of their respective music catalogs in MP3 format (that is, without DRM) next year.”
NBC Cuts A Deal With Netflix
By 11.30.07
NBC has but a deal with Netflix that will let its users stream episodes of “Heroes” the day after they air. The deal will also provide access to past seasons of NBC shows, says a Netflix press release.
MLB Rips Off Everyone Who Bought Games Under Their "Old" DRM
By 11.7.07
Major League Baseball, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to deactivate its system for “authenticating” downloads, and they apparently expect people to repurchase the games in a new format. What?
Valve "Deactivating" Customers Who Bought "Orange Box" Internationally
By 10.24.07
According to reader Todd, there are quite a few customers are finding their “Orange Box” games have been deactivated by Valve because they bought them from a seller that wasn’t authorized to do business with US customers.
By 10.18.07
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Media companies including CBS Corp., Microsoft Corp., News Corp.’s Fox and MySpace, Viacom, Walt Disney and NBC have all agreed to some über-pact of copyright “guidelines” to protect their work, and have said they will announce the details later today. “The agreed principles include using technology to eliminate copyright-infringing content uploaded by users to Web sites and blocking any material before it is publicly accessible.” [Reuters]
"In Rainbows" Pirated A Lot, Despite Name-Your-Price Deal
By 10.18.07
Radiohead may have moved 1.2 million copies of its new album “In Rainbows” when it was released last week, but according to industry analysts, over 500,000 copies were downloaded through old-fashioned file sharing networks, eroding the perceived success of the distribution plan and possibly hindering similar release plans for other artists in the future.
