Articles For Week 11
NBC "loves" iTunes, but wants more DRM, moolah
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/17305/nbc-loves-itunes-but-wants-more-drm-moolah/
Yahoo Tech News reports on the argument between NBC and iTunes. An NBC executive said that NBC really wants to put their shows back up on iTunes but without better DRM protection and more price controlls such a thing would not be likely to happen. The executive made statements that he felt that iTunes should act as a gatekeeper and patroll the user's files for pirated content. It doesn't appear as though the two businesses will make up any time soon as this and other problems like Apple's flat pricing for it's shows remain in the way.
This reveals what we have learned in class that corperations are very attached to the DRM that they say is working towards stopping piracy and getting back some of the money they have lost.
Microsoft reveals new content partners, DRM for Silverlight
http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20080414/tc_infoworld/98188_1
Elizabeth Montalbano reports for Yahoo News on the recent announcement of the DRM protections that will be present on Silverlight. The DRM is based on Microsofts PlayReady and will be available later this year at the release of Silverlight 2. The announcement was made at the NAB Show in Las Vegas.
The software industry, among others, is constantly making inrodes to create better and more secure DRM for an ever widening definition of new media. Video seems to be the hot topic with Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft all scrambling to put adiquate DRMs out there so that TV and Movie industries will choose them to hold their content.
Amazon DRM-Free Music Has Little Impact On Apple iTunes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20080416/tc_cmp/207200915
Antone Gonsalves writes for Information Week about the lack of impact Amazon's DRM free music sales have had on Apple's iTunes Music Store sales. While it was thought that the DRM situation, or lack there of, would cause iTunes cusotmers to jump ship, it seems at least on a first look basis that Amazon is not reaching those customers. "DRM stands for 'doesn't really matter,' " NPD Analyst Russ Crupnick said. "The vast majority of people don't experience DRM [problems]. The iPod and iTunes work great together, so none of that really bothers consumers that much."
What people complain about and what they act on may be two different things. While user dislike of DRM is very high, according to the sales reports, at least for now, people are still satisfied with Apple's managed content.