A random guide to DRM

A is for Apple

The iTunes Music Store accounts for more than 70 per cent of legal music downloads. These can only be played on iPods, which are protected by Apple’s FairPlay system.

FairPlay allows users to copy protected tracks to any number of iPods or standard, unprotected audio CDs. Protected songs can be played on up to five computers simultaneously

B is for Broadcasting

US content makers are lobbying hard to get broadcast flag technology through Congress. This will insert a digital watermark into a broadcast stream to restrict copying and transfer.

Meanwhile, in Europe the DVB Project is lobbying Brussels to get its Copy Protection and Content Management standard included in the next EU directive. The system is able to control which devices can be used to view programmes, thus stifling technical innovation.

Pay TV channels are usually protected by a system called CA (Conditional Access), which works by a combination of scrambling and encryption. Purists suggest it is not really DRM because the latter is usually applied to a specific piece of content.

C is for Consumers

Proprietary solutions like Apple's FairPlay and Windows Media DRM are limiting the right of consumers to play, copy and transfer legally acquired content. Indeed, many consumers suspect it's all a ploy to con them into buying the same content over and over.

Any DRM system should respect the privacy of consumers by including safeguards for anonymous reception and consumption of broadcasts.

D is for DAB

Remember when you used to play deejay with your first radio-cassette player and produce tapes to impress your girlfriend? The music industry does and has expressed concern about the potential for high quality ripping from DAB.

Record executives believe it could pose a serious threat to their core business.

Most broadcasters address this problem through the desynchronization of the most relevant metadata (i.e. artists' names and song titles). And as all budding teenage deejays know, radio stations still cross-fade songs for the same reason.

The music industry has called for more stringent safeguards.

E is for Europe

Commentators suggest the Apple boss may have been reacting to pressure from Europe when he called for the scrapping of anti-piracy software.

The European Commission claims that Apple has locked-in customers by refusing to license its proprietary DRM system, FairPlay, to other firms.

Elsewhere, the French Parliament has passed a bill compelling Apple to open up FairPlay, to rivals.

The Norwegian regulatory authority has upheld a complaint by the country's Consumer Council against the iTunes Music Store. French and German consumer groups have joined forces with the Norwegians to push Apple into an open DRM system.

F is for Four Big Record Companies

Universal Music Group, EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group between them control around 70 per cent of the music market. They believe that some safeguards are necessary to prevent rampant piracy.

I is for Interoperability

The music industry, as represented by IFPI and RIAA, is backing efforts to create an interoperable system. The idea is that when tracks are transcoded from one format to another, the DRM is preserved.

You'll find recent comments on interoperability by IFPI's CEO John Kennedy here.

It is not clear whether we are moving towards a ‘single’ system, with implied interoperability, or in the direction of a multitude of interoperable systems.

The simplest solution would be for everyone to adopt the system that dominates the market, but Apple has ruled out licensing FairPlay to other companies.

J is for (Steve) Jobs

Steve Jobs acknowledged earlier this month that the technologies used to prevent illegal music downloads are not having much impact. "DRMs haven't worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy," Jobs wrote on the Apple website.

Jobs says the only solution is to abolish copy-control software because licensing FairPlay would make it more vulnerable to hackers. He claims that DRM was imposed on Apple by the big four record companies.

Writing on the BBC website, Bill Thompson says he doesn't believe Jobs:

"This ignores the fact that some of the music on the iTunes store is also available without FairPlay or indeed DRM of any sort from other, less restrictive, services like eMusic.

"It also ignores the reality that Microsoft's widely licensed system has been cracked the same number of times as FairPlay, so the evidence would seem to indicate that Jobs fears are not justified."

I prefer to give Jobs the benefit of the doubt: not even Bill Thompson can be aware of the fine print of Apple's deal with the record companies.

M is for Mozart

It is not only modern day teenagers who create bootleg copies.

As a 14-year old, on a trip to Rome, Mozart heard two performances of Gregorio Allegri’s ‘Miserere’. The Vatican forbade copies, but Mozart transcribed the work from memory and his copy was published in London.

Richard Leeming includes this story in his excellent guide to DRM in the EBU Technical Review, although I think he'll find that Mozart heard the piece of music twice.

O is for Open Standards

The EBU favours an open, non-proprietary DRM standard to guarantee interoperability. (Detailed information about the EBU's overall position on DRM available here.)

However, the key players have not so far shown any real interest and even if they warmed to the idea, it would probably take a long-time to implement.

One of the problems is that there is a booming market for DRM software. Jupiter Research estimates that the market will grow to $274 million by 2008 from $36 million in 2003.

R is for Rootkit

The head of Sony BMG famously quipped, “Most people, I think, don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?” Several multi-million dollar lawsuits later, this is probably something he regrets.

The scandal centred around the surreptitious distribution of copy protection software on audio compact discs.

S is for Surveys

A survey by Jupiter Research has found that that more than 60 per cent of European music executives believe that abolishing copy control software would make more people buy the tracks.

A study published in the Journal of Political Economy suggests that illegal music downloads have had no noticeable effects on the sale of music.

T is for 'Thoughts on Music'

This was the title of 2,000-word essay published by CEO Steve Jobs on the company website. In the essay, Jobs calls for the removal of anti-piracy protection.

U is for Unrestricted

eMusic sells DRM-free MP3 downloads from a catalogue of 2 million tracks by independent artists.

According to reports, EMI will test the waters by releasing tracks by artists Norah Jones, Lily Allen and Relient K without anti-piracy protection.

The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of a growing number of outlets that are selling digital downloads in unrestricted formats.

V is for Vista

Recalling Gerald Kaufman's caustic comment about the British Labour Party manifesto in 1983, New Zealand blogger Peter Gutmann writes, "The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the longest suicide note in history."

It appears that the Vista DRM can downgrade audio that doesn't come from an "approved" source. And it gets worse:

In order to appropriately protect content, Vista will probably have to disable any special device features that it can't directly control. For example many sound cards built on C-Media chipsets (which in practice is the vast majority of them) support Steinberg's ASIO (Audio Stream I/O), a digital audio interface that completely bypasses the Windows audio mixer and other audio-related driver software to provide more flexibility and much lower latency than the Windows ones. ASIO support is standard for newer C-Media hardware like the CMI 8788. Since ASIO bypasses Windows' audio handling, it would probably have to be disabled, which is problematic because audiophiles and professional musicians require ASIO support specifically because of its much higher quality than the standard Windows channels.

As Andrea Lawendel notes in his (Italian) blog, this is a nightmare for SDR hardware and software developers.

Anyone foolhardy enough to have bought a Vista-equipped PC before Microsoft issues its first service pack, now has another reason to kick himself.

Z is for Zune

In a move applauded by the entire music industry, Microsoft has agreed to pay a percentage of the sale price of each of its new Zune players to Universal Music. Amongst other things, this is supposed to compensate for tracks that are downloaded illegally.