the smedley log - suburban scrawl

Give the music back

I felt the presence of a kindred spirit as I read Jonathan Takiff’s piece on digital copy protection in today’s Philadelphia Daily News. And I assume, as far as the nuisance of “digital rights management” goes, I have many other kindred spirits out there. Takiff notes some particular difficulties with a new DRM program called “First4Internet”—past the drain on his hard drive:

… There was no “uninstall” option on the disc to get rid of the program. Online, I discovered that even savvy computer whizzes have been flummoxed by the computer crippling. To boot, they’d discovered that the First4Internet program includes something called a “rootkit” – a sort of software Trojan horse that hides how this DRM program functions and continues to monitor your computer’s operations (hmmmmm… ) even when no CD is installed.

Because a rootkit is also invisible to antivirus and security software, it actually opens doors for malicious hackers and viruses to invade your computer undetected, leading Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluely to dub the First4Internet program “ineptware.” … (source)

I especially liked Takiff’s article because it approaches the issue not from the perspective of a tech wizard, but simply that of a music lover (since, face it, most of us know less about computers than we do about our favorite music). Among other things I gleaned from this article, I learned of a class action brewing against Sony/BMG on behalf of consumers who gotten stuck with DRM-infected discs, which simply don’t function in a decent range of standard devices.

I’m sure other people knew of the dangers of this annoying technology long before I ever caught wind of it a few months ago, but reading Jonathan Takiff’s article just galvanized my resolve not to purchase discs that utilize DRM —and I’m considering looking into ways to join that class they’re forming for the lawsuit (-maybe I can get back my twenty bucks for that lousy Dave Matthews CD I picked up last winter, especially since it won’t play in my portable CD player).

I just want my music back, that’s all.

I understand they must be losing large sums of money to resort to something as invasive and annoying as this. It’s just a shame that they’ll inevitably lose that much more by the irritation this has caused to former paying customers like me. That and the music industry’s total lack of a proactive approach to solving their problems—it’s just sad.

Registration notice: The article referenced above resides at Philly.com, which requires registration, or perhaps just a trip to BugMeNot.com

[…] (And if you glossed over the preceding paragraph because you mistook it for some techie drivel, please note, if you buy newer CD’s from Sony-related artists, it probably concerns you more than you think — for more of what I think, read “Give the Music Back.”) […]