My OperaDRM (Digital Rights Management)
Sunday, February 18, 2007 12:56:01 AM
Another nut that sees only the thief in the consumer as we know it today...
It look like it’s an open letter season in the DRM world. Two weeks after Steve Jobs has posted on Apple’s website his considerations about the DRM role in music industry, Macrovision CEO Fred Amoroso has expressed, also in an open letter, his opinion about the subject.
In his already famous letter, entitled suggestively "Thoughts on Music". Apple’s boss made some considerations about the famous iTunes download service, how it evolved in time thanks to the famous iPod and what the future might bring for online distribution of music. Jobs confessed the fact that the DRM imposed to customers on iTunes was a consequence of tough negotiations with the world’s four largest record companies, which he wanted to bring on iTunes.
The alternatives Jobs enumerates in his letter are known to anyone: either Apple licenses the FairPlay DRM technology to others, or record companies start selling music in un-protected formats like MP3 and without any other DRM constraints. What has really caused a storm in the music industry is Jobs’ clear option for the second path.
"Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats," Jobs wrote. "In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat."
Jobs mentioned in his letter that since 2001 there have been over 90 million iPods sold, and more than 2 billion songs sold from the iTunes Music Store. That means on average, each iPod user has 22 songs from iTunes.
Jobs admitted though that only 3 percent of music on the average iPod is from the Apple store. Conversely, the other 97 percent of music on that iPod is not legally downloaded; it's ripped from CDs, casually shared among friends or illegally downloaded.
What Macrovision has to say about DRM? According to Fred Amoroso letter, DRM increases not decreases consumer value and will increase electronic distribution. “Well maintained and reasonably implemented DRM will increase the electronic distribution of content, not decrease it. In this sense, DRM is an important ingredient in the overall success of the emerging digital world and especially cannot be overlooked for content creators and owners in the video industry. Quite simply, if the owners of high-value video entertainment are asked to enter, or stay in a digital world that is free of DRM, without protection for their content, then there will be no reason for them to enter, or to stay if they've already entered. The risk will be too great.” wrote Macrovison’s CEO.
Also, Amoroso believes that DRM needs to be interoperable and open. “I agree with you that there are difficult challenges associated with maintaining the controls of an interoperable DRM system, but it should not stop the industry from pursuing it as a goal. Truly interoperable DRM will hasten the shift to the electronic distribution of content and make it easier for consumers to manage and share content in the home – and it will enable it in an open environment where their content is portable across a number of devices, not held hostage to just one company's products. DRM supporting open environments will benefit consumer electronics manufacturers by encouraging and enabling them to create ever more innovative and sophisticated devices for consumers that play late running premium content from a number of sources.”
Fred Amoroso also claimed that without DRM to keep users from stealing content, the music and movie industry would pull their media from the market.
“I believe that most piracy occurs because the technology available today has not yet been widely deployed to make DRM-protected legitimate content as easily accessible and convenient as unprotected illegitimate content is to consumers. The solution is to accelerate the deployment of convenient DRM-protected distribution channels—not to abandon them.” said Amoroso. “Without a reasonable, consistent and transparent DRM we will only delay consumers in receiving premium content in the home, in the way they want it. For example, DRM is uniquely suitable for metering usage rights, so that consumers who don't want to own content, such as a movie, can "rent" it. Similarly, consumers who want to consume content on only a single device can pay less than those who want to use it across all of their entertainment areas – vacation homes, cars, different devices and remotely. Abandoning DRM now will unnecessarily doom all consumers to a "one size fits all" situation that will increase costs for many of them.” he wrote
Also, Macrovision’s CEO offered his help to Apple. “We offer to assist Apple in the issues and problems with DRM that you state in your letter. Should you desire, we would also assume responsibility for FairPlay as a part of our evolving DRM offering and enable it to interoperate across other DRMs, thus increasing consumer choice and driving commonality across devices”, wrote Amoroso.
Macrovision is one of the biggest names in the copy protection market and the company has an experience of more than 20 years, working closely with content owners of many types, including the major Hollywood studios, to help navigate the transition from physical to digital distribution.
In fact, Macrovision’s response is just one of the many reactions generated by Steve Jobs’ letter. Jobs' comments prompted John Kennedy, the chairman and CEO of IFPI - the global representative of the recording industry - to respond: "After such a long period without interoperability, it seems to me that the right thing to do would be for Steve Jobs to sit down with the industry and say, 'I believe these are the consequences if I allow interoperability,' and for the industry to explain how we believe that some of the side effects that he believes are inevitable are not inevitable. There would be a sensible discussion of the pros and cons, a risk/reward assessment, and a discussion to make sure we are not throwing out the baby with the bathwater, and, most importantly, to preserve the right of all rights holders, big and small, to decide whether they want to implement DRM on their intellectual property."
In response to Apple’s boss letter, Michael Robertson, founder of music download site www.mp3.com said that he is not convinced of Jobs’ good intentions until Apple embraces an open business model.
“I want to challenge you to take actions to bolster your words to insure you are genuine and your letter wasn't simply a deflection shield to escape government scrutiny.” Robertson came up with a list that should remove any suspicion concerning Jobs’ intentions: start selling some content in MP3 format in the iTunes store, publish the database format for iPods so other music software can be used, open the doors for iTunes software to work seamlessly with other stores, make iTunes software for Linux.
Also, Warner Music Group chief executive Edgar Bronfman said in a conference call with analysts that Jobs’ stance is "completely without logic or merit." "We advocate the continued ... protection of our and our artists’ intellectual property," he said.
Also, two days ago, in another open letter, the Coral Consortium, a group that promote interoperability between DRM technologies asked Steve Jobs and Apple to join the group.
Coral Consortium are not trying to abolish DRM and they think DRM can work, what holds it back is not DRM but the business practice behind DRM usage. In the letter to Steve Jobs, they make this point clear.
“Dear Mr. Jobs, The directors of Coral Consortium were pleased to hear about your interest in interoperability. We agree with you that this is a big problem for consumers. They should be able to acquire content from a wide variety of competitive service providers and play their purchased content on a range of devices and platforms from different manufacturers. This is an issue that is very important to our membership.” wrote Coral Consortium
It look like it’s an open letter season in the DRM world. Two weeks after Steve Jobs has posted on Apple’s website his considerations about the DRM role in music industry, Macrovision CEO Fred Amoroso has expressed, also in an open letter, his opinion about the subject.
In his already famous letter, entitled suggestively "Thoughts on Music". Apple’s boss made some considerations about the famous iTunes download service, how it evolved in time thanks to the famous iPod and what the future might bring for online distribution of music. Jobs confessed the fact that the DRM imposed to customers on iTunes was a consequence of tough negotiations with the world’s four largest record companies, which he wanted to bring on iTunes.
The alternatives Jobs enumerates in his letter are known to anyone: either Apple licenses the FairPlay DRM technology to others, or record companies start selling music in un-protected formats like MP3 and without any other DRM constraints. What has really caused a storm in the music industry is Jobs’ clear option for the second path.
"Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats," Jobs wrote. "In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat."
Jobs mentioned in his letter that since 2001 there have been over 90 million iPods sold, and more than 2 billion songs sold from the iTunes Music Store. That means on average, each iPod user has 22 songs from iTunes.
Jobs admitted though that only 3 percent of music on the average iPod is from the Apple store. Conversely, the other 97 percent of music on that iPod is not legally downloaded; it's ripped from CDs, casually shared among friends or illegally downloaded.
What Macrovision has to say about DRM? According to Fred Amoroso letter, DRM increases not decreases consumer value and will increase electronic distribution. “Well maintained and reasonably implemented DRM will increase the electronic distribution of content, not decrease it. In this sense, DRM is an important ingredient in the overall success of the emerging digital world and especially cannot be overlooked for content creators and owners in the video industry. Quite simply, if the owners of high-value video entertainment are asked to enter, or stay in a digital world that is free of DRM, without protection for their content, then there will be no reason for them to enter, or to stay if they've already entered. The risk will be too great.” wrote Macrovison’s CEO.
Also, Amoroso believes that DRM needs to be interoperable and open. “I agree with you that there are difficult challenges associated with maintaining the controls of an interoperable DRM system, but it should not stop the industry from pursuing it as a goal. Truly interoperable DRM will hasten the shift to the electronic distribution of content and make it easier for consumers to manage and share content in the home – and it will enable it in an open environment where their content is portable across a number of devices, not held hostage to just one company's products. DRM supporting open environments will benefit consumer electronics manufacturers by encouraging and enabling them to create ever more innovative and sophisticated devices for consumers that play late running premium content from a number of sources.”
Fred Amoroso also claimed that without DRM to keep users from stealing content, the music and movie industry would pull their media from the market.
“I believe that most piracy occurs because the technology available today has not yet been widely deployed to make DRM-protected legitimate content as easily accessible and convenient as unprotected illegitimate content is to consumers. The solution is to accelerate the deployment of convenient DRM-protected distribution channels—not to abandon them.” said Amoroso. “Without a reasonable, consistent and transparent DRM we will only delay consumers in receiving premium content in the home, in the way they want it. For example, DRM is uniquely suitable for metering usage rights, so that consumers who don't want to own content, such as a movie, can "rent" it. Similarly, consumers who want to consume content on only a single device can pay less than those who want to use it across all of their entertainment areas – vacation homes, cars, different devices and remotely. Abandoning DRM now will unnecessarily doom all consumers to a "one size fits all" situation that will increase costs for many of them.” he wrote
Also, Macrovision’s CEO offered his help to Apple. “We offer to assist Apple in the issues and problems with DRM that you state in your letter. Should you desire, we would also assume responsibility for FairPlay as a part of our evolving DRM offering and enable it to interoperate across other DRMs, thus increasing consumer choice and driving commonality across devices”, wrote Amoroso.
Macrovision is one of the biggest names in the copy protection market and the company has an experience of more than 20 years, working closely with content owners of many types, including the major Hollywood studios, to help navigate the transition from physical to digital distribution.
In fact, Macrovision’s response is just one of the many reactions generated by Steve Jobs’ letter. Jobs' comments prompted John Kennedy, the chairman and CEO of IFPI - the global representative of the recording industry - to respond: "After such a long period without interoperability, it seems to me that the right thing to do would be for Steve Jobs to sit down with the industry and say, 'I believe these are the consequences if I allow interoperability,' and for the industry to explain how we believe that some of the side effects that he believes are inevitable are not inevitable. There would be a sensible discussion of the pros and cons, a risk/reward assessment, and a discussion to make sure we are not throwing out the baby with the bathwater, and, most importantly, to preserve the right of all rights holders, big and small, to decide whether they want to implement DRM on their intellectual property."
In response to Apple’s boss letter, Michael Robertson, founder of music download site www.mp3.com said that he is not convinced of Jobs’ good intentions until Apple embraces an open business model.
“I want to challenge you to take actions to bolster your words to insure you are genuine and your letter wasn't simply a deflection shield to escape government scrutiny.” Robertson came up with a list that should remove any suspicion concerning Jobs’ intentions: start selling some content in MP3 format in the iTunes store, publish the database format for iPods so other music software can be used, open the doors for iTunes software to work seamlessly with other stores, make iTunes software for Linux.
Also, Warner Music Group chief executive Edgar Bronfman said in a conference call with analysts that Jobs’ stance is "completely without logic or merit." "We advocate the continued ... protection of our and our artists’ intellectual property," he said.
Also, two days ago, in another open letter, the Coral Consortium, a group that promote interoperability between DRM technologies asked Steve Jobs and Apple to join the group.
Coral Consortium are not trying to abolish DRM and they think DRM can work, what holds it back is not DRM but the business practice behind DRM usage. In the letter to Steve Jobs, they make this point clear.
“Dear Mr. Jobs, The directors of Coral Consortium were pleased to hear about your interest in interoperability. We agree with you that this is a big problem for consumers. They should be able to acquire content from a wide variety of competitive service providers and play their purchased content on a range of devices and platforms from different manufacturers. This is an issue that is very important to our membership.” wrote Coral Consortium
