What is Digg?62 Comments
- inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't buy it. Yahoo has a long history of screwing things up. They're currently working their magic on Flickr, a site that is gradually declining in interest as more and more Yahoo-style rules start to emerge.
Here's my theory. "Hmm... we have to compete with iTunes somehow. How do we get some free publicity. What's that? Our marketing people say customers hate DRM? Oh, let's make a public statement against DRM. Then people will think we're all on their side and *****, and they'll come check us out. And then, we don't have to worry about delivering on that because the music industry would never go for it and we know it. Brilliant! We get to cozy up with potential customers and look like we're fighting the good fight on their behalf." - BOTW, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Blueice has it right. The bottom line is that for the majority of people out there, DRM is no big deal. Its not that they don't care in the abstract, but it is pretty easy to buy a song from iTunes and be able to play it on your computer, your ipod, and burn it to a cd. As a result, there is not significant market pressure to get rid of DRM, which actually is a boon to established companies.
Only when enough competition exists among on-line music stores, and enough customer pressure exists, will the major players and the record labels feel any pressure to ditch DRM. - jonhohle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2he only wants this so they can sell music that will be available on an iPod. that's what no music store besides iTunes has, but they all want (and need).
- blueice03, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I see this perception both here and on slashdot. There is a perception that there are these throngs of customers just waiting for someone to start selling DRM-less music, as if the floodgates of profit, cash, and even heaven itself would open up if this were to happen. The only problem is, there is no real data to support this (to be fair, not a lot to disprove it either). You have to admit that the digg and slashdot crowds are a very particular segment of the population and you would have a hard time trying to extrapolate any preferences from this segment to apply the population at large. In fact, when online music purchasing is still less than 10% of overall music purchases, suggesting the above perception to be true is a bit misguided. Yes, online music purchases are growing, but not at a rate that puts pressure on the record companies just yet.
However, in 5-10 years digital purchases may and should establish the majority of all music sold, and I believe if enough 3rd party music distributors (iTunes, Yahoo, etc) start exerting their influence and pressure on the records companies to eliminate DRM it will put them in an uncomfortable and defensive position with few options. It would be the same as if all those brick-and-mortar records stores that the record companies depend on currently for their sales all joined together and said, "this is how we want the music to be sold because this is how our customers want it". The record companies would have little choice but to comply.
All things being equal, I am heartened by Yahoo's comment and I do hope record companies start to see the picture that they have been blind to for the past 20 years. - IHaveIssues, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I expect damage control/retraction in a few hours.
- CaughtThinking, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He's only voicing what everyone has been thinking forever: that all this DRM stuff is consistently a waste of time.
- streetstealth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And yes, Ogg is future-proof too, but it's not present-proof. :)
- TheKricket, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1this would actually be a wise business move - i think to all of the times ive refused to download a song off of itunes BECAUSE of the fact that i wont be able to play it on multiple computers...
im not against the whole "paying" for music thing - as long as you get to do whatever you want with your purchased product... - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This dude is gonna be dead by the end of the week....
- archer75, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Until the labels provide a service like allofm3.com I will not purchase music from them. I am not going to pay for copy protected music or songs encoded in a low bitrate.
- streetstealth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Re: lock-in
Exactly. My major qualm about buying DRM'ed stuff is mostly the media longevity. If, say, Songbird becomes better at organizing and playing than iTunes, and I'd like to switch--I can't bring my purchased music over!
MP3 is the only future-proof solution. - jaysedai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I admire this comment, but you should follow the money, and you'll understand why he made it. DRM was never about copy protection consumer to consumer it was always about locking in monopolies. None of the companies selling DRM'd music cares about whether the consumers break it, they put the DRM on there so that they can lock customers into "their world" and to prevent other companies from playing in that world. In other words DRM is a competition thing.
Now lets follow the money, Apple pretty much owns the digital player market, and is getting bigger by the minute. And nobody else can sell DRM'd music for it except for Apple. So yahoo wants in on that game and the only way in is un-DRM'd MP3 or AAC. But they need to convince the music labels it's a good idea. Hense this "trial balloon". - rajkalex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1DRM drives me nuts. I've tried the legitmate route and find that the songs are hobbled and I can't even use them to listen to a music cd in my car. If I really like an artist, I'll buy a song from whereever, DELETE IT, then download the song from any of the regular sources. The "illegal" version doesn't limit my ability to actually listen to the song. Great concept.
- msaleem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1someone has his head in the right place.
- xodex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yahoo gave the govt their search info when google refused. i guess this could be some PR stunt. maybe if steve jobs says the same thing, then that would matter.
posted by xLiKx (1) at 08:58 AM 2/24/06
That's right.... Amusing how easily some of us forgot about this, bad yahoo bad...! =p - modian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Later on that day at the conference, a mob-style hit was organized.
- xLiKx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0yahoo gave the govt their search info when google refused. i guess this could be some PR stunt. maybe if steve jobs says the same thing, then that would matter.
- kyriakos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yahoo is getting better by the day
- BenStockwell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Of course labels should sell music without DRM. I wouldn't touch the iTunes Music Store with a 10 foot pole.
- albrad84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0wow... I'm impressed someone in the music industry actually understands their customers. I always assumed it was just a bunch of monkeys with typewriters making the decisions at those places...
- hibiscusroto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0emusic emusic emusic!!! actually, i use itunes, but did sign up for a free trial to get a bunch of free songs from emusic...in mp3 format!
- burndive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They already have this. It's called Amazon.com: you buy a CD, rip it, and viola! DRM-free music. I don't know what the industry sees is the problem with selling un-DRMed music online. Distributing it over the Internet would give them the added bonus of being able to attach a uniquely-identifying tag to the files so they could trace the source of the file, assuming it hadn't been altered. Removing the tag is at least as inconvenient as ripping it yourself.
Incidentally, I recently took advantage of Sony's XCP recall to exchange my DRM-ed "Switchfoot: Nothing Is Sound" CD for an unprotected copy (at their expense). After they received my contaminated copy and before they sent out the replacement, they allowed me to download the album in unprotected MP3 format. It was, however, tagged with a unique ID that I'm sure they kept track of.
I don't care, really, because I don't plan on violating their copyright. Plus, I was able to rip the original CD without problem on my Linux box, and I can rip their replacement CD at my leisure.
But I get to keep my fair use rights. If I want to sell the CD I can, and I can play the songs on my car's MP3-CD player. - tardmongerster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Never gonna happen.
- glaive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I've used the eMusic service. It's great! $.25 per download, and you get the music in MP3 format without no DRM. Plus, they're giving away downloads! Sign up for an account and get between 25 - 100 downloads free.
If you visit the site, and it says 25 downloads, delete your cookies, and try again. - msaleem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0once in a while, even a company like yahoo! gets something right, and more people have to make stands like this. next up google.
- T3rry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0DRM is useless anyways, its a waste of record labels time and money because as fast as they can write a new DRM, its cracked, so there is no point.
They should keep the money they're wasting on DRM and give it to the artists. - Pottersquash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well duh Yahoo hates DRM. No DRM + Yahoo Music Engine + Yahoo 360 + Yahoo Mail + My Yahoo = Yahoo as your one stop web portal.
- Leviathant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well, doesn't eMusic already do that?
I think record labels should give away music :p - gotamd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What do all the Yahoo haters say now? ;)
- xodex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0HMMMM.. Yahoo!.... I might do just that...
- Leviathant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0err, give away like this - http://digg.com/music/Record_labels_testing_the_waters_with_promotional_torrents_
- copperkidd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If they sold music online without DRM and in a lossless codec that would get me to buy online.
- rosshosman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Or allormp3.com pay like 3 cents a song. In most people's opinion legally.
Eric Wilson
----
Opinions are like *****, everyone has one. Until it is proven in a court of law then don't believe what you hear. - joeyjojo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Never gonna happen."
Uh, *eMusic*!?...
eMusic is great and glad to see it get mentioned by one of the 'big boys'. Why eMusic doesn't get mentioned more is beyond me...GREAT prices, nice site, and NO DRM. We should all be flocking to eMusic. - BritOverseas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You can get un DRM'd music
AllofMP3
320kbps, no loss, no DRM, no problem. - archer75, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If emusic actually had songs that did'nt suck I may consider it.
allofmp3.com forever! - tmcleroy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Great idea but it probly wont catch on
- FinishdLawSkool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Sure DRM is stupid the way it is being applied. Sure it sounds cool that an executive from Yahoo is saying that.
But why isn't the weather being updated when I check it on the Yahoo page? - vampiro7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I just don't think the music industry gets it. I currently pay for yahoo music because I really love launchcast for finding new music. After downloading I use a program to remove the DRM and then get that music onto my ipod. I'm a paying customer that is severely inconvinienced by the DRM. I don't remove the drm to give it way. As with most copy protection it just inconveniences the paying customer. If I really wanted my music free I know where to find it and how to download it.
Where this is all going is that I am gaining more interest in things like podshow and their PMN music service which will soon go live. I want new music and pretty soon I will have many ways of finding it and getting it in non DRM files that completely bypass the RIAA. The days in which they control most distribution of music are coming to an end fast. Artists will be selling direct and if they want more sales they will probably be DRM free. - TKDWILSON, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0""""""""you can buy music online without DRM
I did it last night
http://downloadpunk.com/
www.emusic.com
"""""""""""
Or allormp3.com pay like 3 cents a song. In most people's opinion legally.
Eric Wilson - midgetbus87, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Record labels need to realize that all their artists make their money by touring, and by killing off cd sales, they're killing off the artist by destroying distrobution.
- Monkeman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"yay europe. this is extremely creepy stuff. i don't think humans should be messing around with nature on such a level. who knows what the consequences would be?"
Better not walk outside today, because, who knows what the consequences might be?
Protip: "SOMETHING BAD COULD HAPPEN" is NOT a good defense for blocking a lifesaving drug. SOMETHING BAD could have happened in the sixties when we went to the moon, like God could rise out of a volcano and smite us all for escaping from His great atmosphere (I mean, we had already done that, but you get the idea), but we did it anyway, and He didn't have any problems with it. Not to mention, more than forty years later, no terrible consequences have made themselves known yet.
The potential of negative effects shouldn't be an excuse for stifling innovation. - Mizark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have no problem with the DRM on my music.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I really think this is a good idea. I am quite sure there is money to be made by offering non drm whatever...the future of computing is a real problem with tpm and drm and well it's just such a POLICE STATE...NOT GOOD!! If Yahoo goes non DRM i'm jumping the AppleiTunes Ship and going to Yahoo music. Maybe in the future when things get worse..and I finish my current project I will look in to a non drm policy startup.
- Monkeman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0damn tabbed browsing!
- dixon151, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What? A good idea formed with common sense, with the distribution of music....impossible
- Blitzenn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It is too simple and makes far too much sense for RIAA to accept it. They would probably turn around and sue the record labels for doing it anyway. RIAA, America's Art Gestapo
- RBOnline, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well done Yahoo. DRM is the reason I avoid places like iTMS.
- rebrad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I won't pay to download DRMed music and I don't think I'm alone in that. If fact, I'm so feed up with the music industry that I won't buy CD either. XM radio gives me more music than I can listen to and all I have to do is turn it on and choose the type of music I want to listen to at a cost of less than one CD. The same is true of Movies. Why go to a lousy movie theater or buy/rent a DVD when I can wait six months and watch the same movie on my 65" HD in Dolby 5.1 on my free HD DVR that the cable company provided. I don't have to worry about being busted and I'm more than happy with the selection.
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