DRM: Dumb Recording Managers

Digital Rights Management format for burning released CDs does two things: limit the number of copies of a song you can make and determine the file formats you can use to burn CDs (MP3 is not one of them). I am sure that piracy accounts for money loss for the record labels. That's a cryin shame. I'm sure it also accounts for some loss for the artists. That actually is a shame.

Here are my experiences as a music buyer and a few reasons why I think DRM is idiotic.

• Back in the day, when there was Blockbuster Music, record stores allowed you to listen to CDs in the store before you bought them. While this was undoubtedly a pain in the ass for the tattoo-laden, overtly pierced employees who already looked uncomfortable in their blue collared embroidered polo shirt uniforms....it sure made making the right purchase easy. I'm ok with spending a dollar or two more per CD if I can make sure I listen to it first. I'm not ok with hearing a really great single that the record company puts all its money in to produce and market and then finding out $15 later that the rest of the CD is either EXACTLY the same or COMPLETELY different. I hate to "single" artists out, but there's been a long line of one hit wonders throughout history. Now I use the complex mix of Amazon.com reviews/previews and iTunes before I buy anything. Sometimes artist sites might even have a couple songs free for the listening. This doesn't have much to do with DRM, but the conversation reminded me of it.

• Further back in the day I endeavored to squeeze the marrow out of life by pseudonymic exploitation of the BMG Music Club. 12 for the price of 1? Signing up your friends gives you more free CDs? Meet Edward A Coker, Ned A Coker, and Belle Coker. That's 45 cds for the price of one. Piracy and exploitation have been around forever. Just because the MP3 format is much easier than bootleg taping doesn't mean its newfangled.

• When the skies part and the clouds retreat to their dark corners of the earth...when what was once the darkest night of ignorance is alit with a glorious shaft of light that can pierce even the most sinful soul...when cheetah and antelope embrace in tenderness and the fraternity of beastkind... That is how the world aligned when I entered college and gathered the three mystical pieces of the Holy Trinity of Music Appreciation: Napster, a High Speed Internet Connection, and a CD Burner. 1997-1998, R.I.P. You were fast, free, and wonderful to me. I certainly wouldn't be this into music if it weren't for Napster.

• More on the big N. Napster was wonderful and it really got me hooked to the music scene. Not only was I able to find a bunch of obscure bands that I'd never have found otherwise by cross-searching someone's collection- many of those songs lead me to investigate artists and get into the ones I previously hadn't....leading me to purchase their CDs at the store. I got into Air, Hooverphonic, Blackalicious, and countless others this way. The mix of Napster, burning my dormmates favorite CDs, and scanning the Duke Network really helped to broaden my horizons and force myself outside the Smashing Pumpkins/Weezer bubble I had put myself in. MP3, in my case, lead me to spend more money on CDs than I would without it, especially since record stores were starting to revoke the "free listen" policy

• I believe musicians should get credit for their work. If another band covers their song or remixes it, they need permission and to pay a commission. Putting a limit on the amount of times a person copies the CD that they purchased is just plain stupid though. Might as well make the CD self-destruct after X amount of listens. If I purchased it, why can I not copy it for my own perusal or backup purposes?

• The Darwin Awards: this year's metaphorical winner- DRM. Sony BMG and soon-to-be EMI have painted themselves into an evolutionary corner by only allowing their CDs to be played on Windows Media compatible software and devices. Arise from the gene pool DRM! Read a freakin' electronics magazine! Look around you at the gym. There's one little white plastic and metal imp everywhere, and it isn't WM compatible. It's iRidiculous not to have their CDs work with Apple. Its clearly at the front of the music industry. Hide behind rocks in bland-enviro-blending clothing? No thanks, let's stand in lines and wear easily-targetable red!

• And yes, Sony BMG has offered help to those fans that ask. Those wondering? For iTunes: rip the CD into a Windows Media file, burn the tracks onto a blank CD (without copy protection) and then rip that CD back into iTunes. So basically, they are creating a big pain in the butt for consumers who didn't even know they would encounter this unwarranted problem AND they aren't really protecting artists because they are releasing info on how to bypass the bad security to any that ask.

Sure its easy to think the record companies are greedy greedy mcgreedums. Sure they HAVE been screwing over artists for years just like gallery owners screw over painters and sculptors. But this seems like something just plain silly to me.