Saturday, August 11, 2007

Universal Tries Going DRM-Free

Via Vnunet.com (UK) -

Universal has announced that it is abandoning the practice of embedding digital rights management (DRM) software in its music.

In a limited trial Universal will strip out the DRM from music sold via some retailers, including Google, Wal-Mart, and Amazon.com. Music sold on iTunes will still have DRM embedded however.

Universal said: "The experiment will run from August to January and analyse such factors as consumer demand, price sensitivity and piracy in regards to the availability of open MP3s."

Analysts are already warning that DRM in music is ineffective and Apple and Amazon have already started selling DRM-free songs. EMI is the only other recording label to dump DRM, with their band Blur releasing a totally DRM-free album shortly afterwards.

Universal artists include Amy Winehouse and 50 Cent.

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Not only have people (including artists and lawyers) been saying that Music DRM is ineffective...hackers have repeatedly shown that DRM is defective by design and doomed to fail over and over and over and over again.

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