WEBVTT - How Digital Rights Management Works

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hey, everyone,

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<v Speaker 1>welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Polette. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>an editor here at How Stuff Works, and with me

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<v Speaker 1>as always is my lovely and talented co host, senior

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<v Speaker 1>writer Jonathan Strickland. Howdy, and uh. It's a good thing

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<v Speaker 1>that you're listening to podcast on this format because it's

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<v Speaker 1>not copy protected, right. Yeah, you can transfer this as

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<v Speaker 1>many times as you like, and we encourage you to

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<v Speaker 1>share this with everyone. Go ahead and have everyone hand

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<v Speaker 1>delivered copy of our podcast freely distributed. Absolutely, But that's

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<v Speaker 1>not the case for all audio files or video files

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<v Speaker 1>that you'll find in digital format. That's true. Um, actually yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>many different kinds of files, video games, software, all of these,

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<v Speaker 1>uh can come with a certain restriction which uh and

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<v Speaker 1>the BIZ is the is known as digital Rights management

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<v Speaker 1>or d r M. That's good. I actually thought that

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<v Speaker 1>was DERM. Yeah, yeah, I think some of the opponents

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<v Speaker 1>to DERM would agree, and there are a lot There

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<v Speaker 1>are a lot. DRM is one of those hot button

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<v Speaker 1>issues on the Internet where people get really really fired

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<v Speaker 1>up about it. That's true. And that's true well uh

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<v Speaker 1>speaking as a uh you know, as a musician myself, Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>I see, I see positives and negatives to it. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't want necessarily somebody to buy a copy of

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<v Speaker 1>a CD that my band is put out, rip it

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<v Speaker 1>and distributed freely for everybody to have. And then suddenly,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, uh, there are no copies of the CD

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<v Speaker 1>being sold because it's freely available online. Right, I see

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<v Speaker 1>a value to dr M, but there are some particularly

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<v Speaker 1>restrictive uh drms out there, and that those especially are

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<v Speaker 1>the ones that raise the ire of the general public,

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<v Speaker 1>I think. Right, So let's let's kind of lay the

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<v Speaker 1>groundwork here and kind of explain what what all of

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<v Speaker 1>this is. Um. So on the side of the people

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<v Speaker 1>producing the content that has the DRM in it, um,

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<v Speaker 1>what their point of view is is that they've got

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<v Speaker 1>this product they're offering for sale, and they don't want

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<v Speaker 1>it pirate ID and then distributed throughout the Internet to

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<v Speaker 1>just about anyone who has a connection, UM because you know,

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<v Speaker 1>obviously it hurts their bottom line, it hurts their profits.

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<v Speaker 1>They don't make any money off of that. And so

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<v Speaker 1>that's where you hear about companies saying that piracy is

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<v Speaker 1>this huge problem on the Internet. Now that that's debatable. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>people argue, Uh, if the argument is that we lose

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<v Speaker 1>this amount of money because of piracy, the counter argument

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<v Speaker 1>is the people who pirated that stuff, were they really

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<v Speaker 1>going to buy it? And if they weren't going to

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<v Speaker 1>buy it, did you really lose money? Because if no

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<v Speaker 1>one was going to buy that product in the first place,

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<v Speaker 1>then you're right back where you started from before the

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<v Speaker 1>piracy happened. Now that doesn't excuse private piracy by any

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<v Speaker 1>means I mean, but it is one of those counter arguments.

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<v Speaker 1>So DRM is one of the approaches to try and

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<v Speaker 1>head off piracy. Um. It's this, Uh, it's it's usually

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<v Speaker 1>within a digital file. It's usually some code that requires

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<v Speaker 1>a key that exists on a server somewhere for you

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<v Speaker 1>to be able to transfer that file from one location

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<v Speaker 1>to another, like to your from your computer to your

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<v Speaker 1>iPod for example, or other m P three player, or

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<v Speaker 1>even a computer to another computer. Or if you have

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<v Speaker 1>to upgrade your computer, let's say that you go from

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<v Speaker 1>XP to Vista for some reason, you might need to

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<v Speaker 1>be able to activate that key again. Um, Otherwise your

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<v Speaker 1>we won't be able to access that file. Yeah. For example, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>chances are you're probably listening to this podcast through uh

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<v Speaker 1>the iTunes store and Apple. Apple has what it calls fairplay, which,

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<v Speaker 1>uh if you buy a CD or I guess if

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<v Speaker 1>you buy an album from iTunes and you want to

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<v Speaker 1>play it on your computer, you know that computer is

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<v Speaker 1>authorized to do that. You can authorize up to five

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<v Speaker 1>computers to to play that file and you can you know,

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<v Speaker 1>any iPod that is registered at that computer can can

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<v Speaker 1>do that, and you can burn it to a CD.

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<v Speaker 1>And as long as you're listening to it through iTunes, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>through a registered computer, you can listen to it as

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<v Speaker 1>much as you want to. Um. Now, if you're like

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<v Speaker 1>me and you have five computers registered, if I wanted to, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, pop in a backup CD of iTunes files

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<v Speaker 1>that I had on my work computer, I would be

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<v Speaker 1>stuck because I've already got five computers registered. Actually one

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<v Speaker 1>of them is an old hard drive that is now

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<v Speaker 1>out of my computer, So I really should de authorize

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<v Speaker 1>all of those again. But UM, you know, essentially they say, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you can make make copies, you can make backups to

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<v Speaker 1>this file because we know that you can only uh

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<v Speaker 1>play this on a on a computer that has been

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<v Speaker 1>authorized by us to do that, and that actually can

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<v Speaker 1>present some problems if the service goes belly up. Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's happened several times in this year, as being

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand eight, just in case people from the far

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<v Speaker 1>off distant future are listening to our podcast. But yes,

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<v Speaker 1>several times this year we've had services halt uh. Services

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<v Speaker 1>that offer dr M to music they've stopped. Um. And

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<v Speaker 1>these aren't necessarily small services. These are usually big names

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<v Speaker 1>um MSN, ber Soft Networks, that's a pretty big name,

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<v Speaker 1>Yahoo Music, Walmart. Now we should say that all of

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<v Speaker 1>these services offer DRM free music now, but that's that's

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<v Speaker 1>where the problem is. They used to offer dr d

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<v Speaker 1>r M to music. But that gets so much bad

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<v Speaker 1>press in the blogosphere. Um, it gets so much resistance

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<v Speaker 1>and there are so many potential problems that a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of these companies said, you know what, we're going to

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<v Speaker 1>move to a DRM free business model, which sounds great

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<v Speaker 1>except that that now you have a problem. What do

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<v Speaker 1>you do with all the DRM music that's already out

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<v Speaker 1>there that people have purchased before the switch. And the

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<v Speaker 1>one solution is that you just run the servers that

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<v Speaker 1>have the key the the the key that needs to

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<v Speaker 1>be activated. If you want to move port your music

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<v Speaker 1>from one machine to another, you could just run those forever. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not really economically feasible to do that, though, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>you could use those machines for something else if you

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<v Speaker 1>if you stop doing that. But if you stop doing that,

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<v Speaker 1>that means that you have locked down those files on

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<v Speaker 1>the computers of the people who purchased that music. And

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<v Speaker 1>they purchased purchased it legally. You know, they didn't pirate this,

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<v Speaker 1>didn't steal it, So you're kind of punishing your customers

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<v Speaker 1>in a way. Yeah, yeah, another alternative to that. And

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<v Speaker 1>and but all these services gave their their users some

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<v Speaker 1>notice that they were going to shut it down. Sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>another too, Yeah, Walmart, I think was like two weeks

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<v Speaker 1>something like that. UM and Yahoo was a little tighter.

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<v Speaker 1>MSN was a little uh more out in front. And

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<v Speaker 1>they actually pushed back their their date on switching off

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<v Speaker 1>the servers because they got such a response from people

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<v Speaker 1>who had purchased files. I said, you know what, you're right,

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<v Speaker 1>We're gonna hold off a little bit longer than we

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<v Speaker 1>had planned to give you more time. Yeah, But basically

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<v Speaker 1>the solution that I had read about most frequently was

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<v Speaker 1>suggesting that people make an audio CD of these tracks

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<v Speaker 1>and then re ribbed them back to MP three files,

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<v Speaker 1>UM or whatever format you happen to use. Problem with

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<v Speaker 1>that is it degrades the audio quality, so you know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's passing passing it through a couple of filters. Essentially,

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<v Speaker 1>it basically removes compression information and more than that information.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's let's let's think of it this way. More than that.

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<v Speaker 1>What's one of the big big things about digital files.

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<v Speaker 1>They're so attractive. There's no physical format that you have

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<v Speaker 1>to deal with. You don't have to store something, you

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<v Speaker 1>don't have to be this is it. It kind of

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<v Speaker 1>defeats the purpose for the digital file in the first place.

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<v Speaker 1>If you just wanted a physical format that you could

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<v Speaker 1>have and then you could, you know, rip music off

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<v Speaker 1>of it whenever you wanted, you'd go out and buy

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<v Speaker 1>the c D. You wouldn't go buy the digital files.

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<v Speaker 1>So now what they're saying is that you have to

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<v Speaker 1>go out by blank c D s, put a CD

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<v Speaker 1>in there, burn your files your music to that CD,

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<v Speaker 1>and then put in another computer waiting, which does strip

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<v Speaker 1>it of the d r M and also some of

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<v Speaker 1>the quality of the files. As Chris mentioned, UM, but

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<v Speaker 1>it also means that you've got another c D thing around,

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<v Speaker 1>not if you're using a rewritable one, you can use

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<v Speaker 1>the same CD over and over rickon. But other other

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<v Speaker 1>than that, it's really, you know, it's not a very

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<v Speaker 1>green method to deal with this problem at all. You're

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<v Speaker 1>generating more waste. It's the the you can Chris is

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<v Speaker 1>laught because you can see them about to explode. This

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<v Speaker 1>is one of those things that get no. This is

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<v Speaker 1>this is one of those issues that does get me

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<v Speaker 1>riled up. I agree with with people like Veronica Belmont

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<v Speaker 1>who she's a podcaster as well and a host of

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<v Speaker 1>several different tech related shows UM who Her argument was

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<v Speaker 1>that why shouldn't why doesn't Why why don't they offer

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<v Speaker 1>a certificate so that you could purchase the new DRM

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<v Speaker 1>free version of whatever files you bought UM using that

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<v Speaker 1>certificate and then you you don't have to worry about

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<v Speaker 1>you can just delete the old one if you want to,

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<v Speaker 1>and you would have a DRM free version. I think

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<v Speaker 1>that's a great gesture. Now, granted it does create a

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<v Speaker 1>headache for the providers, because you have to figure out,

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<v Speaker 1>how do you say, all right, well, they can only

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<v Speaker 1>get the files that they previously purchased because they you

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<v Speaker 1>know what if you use that certificate to buy all

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<v Speaker 1>new files and so essentially they just gave away a

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<v Speaker 1>whole bunch of product for free. And you know, in business,

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<v Speaker 1>that's usually considered a bad move giving anything away for free. So,

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<v Speaker 1>uh yeah, there's some issues there, but I think it's

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<v Speaker 1>I think it shows a much better approach to customer

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<v Speaker 1>service than just saying, hey, go out and buy some

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<v Speaker 1>blank CDs and you know, you're on your own and

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<v Speaker 1>after October nine, that's it. I mean, well, speaking of

0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.080
<v Speaker 1>customer service, that that actually takes me in in a

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<v Speaker 1>different direction because one of the other things that Jonathan

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<v Speaker 1>and I talked about for this podcast was the long

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<v Speaker 1>anticipated and um hotly hyped Well that's an interesting way

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<v Speaker 1>to put game from Electronic Arts Old Spore. Yes, everybody, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, everyone was talking about it, and uh I

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<v Speaker 1>was one of these people that's that's very excited to

0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.320
<v Speaker 1>see this game. Well, when it came out, it turned

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<v Speaker 1>out that they that Electronic Cars had put in an

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<v Speaker 1>DRM system very similar to Apple's fair play in which

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<v Speaker 1>you could install the game on three computers, but only

0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.120
<v Speaker 1>three computers, and if you wanted to install it on

0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:28.920
<v Speaker 1>another computer, you had to call the company to have

0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:33.200
<v Speaker 1>them give you an additional code. Uh. This uh made

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people unhappy, right extremely unhappy, vocally unhappy,

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<v Speaker 1>to the point where they actually started going on too

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<v Speaker 1>Wears sites and downloading broken copies of the game, cracked

0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:47.960
<v Speaker 1>copies of the game so that they could play it

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<v Speaker 1>without this digital rights management embedded in the game. Not

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<v Speaker 1>only that, but they would go on to Amazon and

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<v Speaker 1>then negatively review the game, not on the merits of

0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.920
<v Speaker 1>the game itself, which many people say, is is a

0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.600
<v Speaker 1>fun game and it's enjoyable and play reviews. It's gotten

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<v Speaker 1>good play reviews, but a lot of the if you

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<v Speaker 1>went on to Amazon, I think I think they've managed

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<v Speaker 1>to purge most of these by now. But the average

0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.199
<v Speaker 1>vote was coming out to being like one and a

0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.120
<v Speaker 1>half stars. And you're thinking, well, this game was getting

0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:22.040
<v Speaker 1>such great reviews elsewhere, why is Amazon? Why is it

0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.920
<v Speaker 1>tanking on Amazon's Because Amazon allows average people who just

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<v Speaker 1>register on the site to come in and and rank anything,

0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:33.000
<v Speaker 1>rate any product, and um, there was a concentrate effort

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<v Speaker 1>by people who opposed this d r M to come

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<v Speaker 1>in and and just completely squish the score down to

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<v Speaker 1>nothing based on the d r M, not on the game.

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<v Speaker 1>Um so you had all these different reviews that just

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<v Speaker 1>kind of slamm d A for the whole DRM strategy.

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<v Speaker 1>Uh and, uh so it made some news just based

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<v Speaker 1>on that as well. Sure, I mean and and to

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<v Speaker 1>e A's credit, they did go and bump it up

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<v Speaker 1>to five computers that you could install it on. Um

0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.520
<v Speaker 1>you know, speaking from my personal viewpoint on this, I

0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.760
<v Speaker 1>see where people are coming from that. It's the it's

0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.000
<v Speaker 1>the principle behind it that you know, Hey, I bought

0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:12.840
<v Speaker 1>this game, I should be you know, if I forgot

0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.600
<v Speaker 1>ten computers in my basement and I want to have

0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:19.160
<v Speaker 1>people come over and place four, you know, I I

0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:20.319
<v Speaker 1>want to be able to do that. I want to

0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:21.960
<v Speaker 1>be able to put it on these computers or you

0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:23.880
<v Speaker 1>know what happens if my computer dies and I put

0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:25.959
<v Speaker 1>it on another computer ten years from now. I want

0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:27.520
<v Speaker 1>to still be able to play this game, but I'm

0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:30.120
<v Speaker 1>definitely gonna have a new computer by then, and so

0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:33.400
<v Speaker 1>many different iterations of the operating system that I'll run

0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:38.560
<v Speaker 1>out of the d R M R UM. I just

0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:40.800
<v Speaker 1>think that, uh, you know, people are being a little

0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:43.480
<v Speaker 1>hard on the a Uh. It just seems it just

0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:45.439
<v Speaker 1>seems to me that, you know, if they're willing to

0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:47.200
<v Speaker 1>give you another code, if you could say, well, you know,

0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.600
<v Speaker 1>my my hard drive tanked, I need to get another

0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:51.960
<v Speaker 1>code for this. You know, I do think they probably

0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:56.640
<v Speaker 1>you know, three machines was probably too few. Um, you know,

0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:00.320
<v Speaker 1>but by the time that a lot of people's computers die,

0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.720
<v Speaker 1>Sport two is going to be out right well so yeah,

0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.440
<v Speaker 1>but I mean to go on Amazon and rate the

0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.160
<v Speaker 1>game poorly that that was, it just seems like it's

0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.560
<v Speaker 1>a little too far. Yeah, that was definitely a little childish.

0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.720
<v Speaker 1>But but aren't there games that are there any old

0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.720
<v Speaker 1>games that you still play occasionally or I mean, assuming

0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:19.760
<v Speaker 1>that you can find an emulator or something that allows

0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:21.960
<v Speaker 1>you to play them, right right, Well, a lot of

0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:25.800
<v Speaker 1>those are on matt Classic for me since the Mac user, okay,

0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:30.160
<v Speaker 1>so for the normal for the normal user who doesn't

0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.280
<v Speaker 1>use a Mac, Yeah, yeah, I mean I've got a

0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:34.000
<v Speaker 1>Mac two. Don't get me wrong. I mean I'd like

0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.400
<v Speaker 1>to joke an Apple hater, but yeah, I own a

0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.240
<v Speaker 1>PC as well, And there are games from ten years

0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:43.000
<v Speaker 1>ago that I play and if they had had these restrictions,

0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:45.640
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't be able to do that. And I think

0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.800
<v Speaker 1>another issue here is not just that you know, e

0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.800
<v Speaker 1>A stepped over the line necessarily, It's that it's one

0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:57.880
<v Speaker 1>of those issues that that that gamers and music lovers

0:14:57.960 --> 0:14:59.920
<v Speaker 1>have been dealing with for so long. It was kind

0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.800
<v Speaker 1>like the straw that broke the camels back in a way.

0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.240
<v Speaker 1>Think about some of the other big DRM issues. Besides

0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.880
<v Speaker 1>the fact, I mean we we had with Microsoft going down,

0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.960
<v Speaker 1>in Yahoo going down, and UH and the and Walmart

0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:14.680
<v Speaker 1>going down with their d r M servers, there was

0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.680
<v Speaker 1>the syndication that, hey, if something happens, will I be

0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:21.840
<v Speaker 1>able to move this game again? I mean what if,

0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.360
<v Speaker 1>like what if the e A somehow has a collapse

0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:27.960
<v Speaker 1>or they decided to turn off there there. If it's

0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.680
<v Speaker 1>if it's web based, then that means my game is

0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:32.360
<v Speaker 1>stuck on this computer and I will never be able

0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.760
<v Speaker 1>to get it off there. Um, that's a legitimate concern.

0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.760
<v Speaker 1>And and think also we should also point out that

0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.560
<v Speaker 1>while we're talking about digital files and digital distribution mainly

0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:44.960
<v Speaker 1>in this podcast, that's not the only place you find

0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:50.359
<v Speaker 1>DRM DRM is on physical products as well, like DVDs

0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:55.120
<v Speaker 1>and CDs. Uh. Sony had a huge brew haha back

0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:59.520
<v Speaker 1>in two thousand and five about this. Yes, yes, they

0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.280
<v Speaker 1>stalled UM on a music CD. You could put a

0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.160
<v Speaker 1>music CD into your computer and it would immediately start

0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:10.520
<v Speaker 1>to incorporate these files that Sony had put onto the

0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:14.120
<v Speaker 1>c d UH that were meant to prevent people from

0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:18.280
<v Speaker 1>copying music left and right. Willy nilly, but yes, but

0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:20.840
<v Speaker 1>what they really were where it was really was a virus.

0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.160
<v Speaker 1>It was. It was pretty much a computer virus. And

0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:28.000
<v Speaker 1>it UM it would attach to not intentionally, but that's

0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.920
<v Speaker 1>what it was. It would attach to your your computer's

0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.920
<v Speaker 1>root kit. And and theoretically that could have a nice

0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.040
<v Speaker 1>little back door for trojan programs down the line. And

0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.640
<v Speaker 1>it hung, it hung people's computers up to it wasn't

0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:44.520
<v Speaker 1>you know no it And and there was some spywear

0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:49.160
<v Speaker 1>type of functionality in it as well, where where the

0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:54.240
<v Speaker 1>computer was literally monitoring your every move on that machine

0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:59.400
<v Speaker 1>and sending reports back. I mean, it's it was. There

0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:03.600
<v Speaker 1>have been enough really really bad DRM stories for people

0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.200
<v Speaker 1>to really kind of get upset kind of the way

0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.560
<v Speaker 1>I do. Where we start to get riled up, so

0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:13.359
<v Speaker 1>that when something like this happens, you just especially with Sport,

0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:15.960
<v Speaker 1>I mean you gotta the combination of not just the

0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:19.000
<v Speaker 1>d r M, which was a little probably over the top.

0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.359
<v Speaker 1>I don't even think, yeah, maybe a little draconian. I

0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:24.560
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't even go that far. I'm like you, you know,

0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.840
<v Speaker 1>I understand their need to protect their investment, but you're

0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:30.560
<v Speaker 1>talking about a game that had been hyped for so long,

0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:32.440
<v Speaker 1>and people have been waiting for it for for two

0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:36.480
<v Speaker 1>years essentially, and it kept getting pushed back. Expectations were

0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:40.680
<v Speaker 1>so high, emotions were already at the tipping point, right,

0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.200
<v Speaker 1>and this drm thing where you're like, I've been waiting

0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:44.840
<v Speaker 1>for this game for two years and now you're telling

0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.200
<v Speaker 1>me that it has all these restrictions. People just blew

0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:51.000
<v Speaker 1>their tops. I mean yeah, and then when you have

0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:53.159
<v Speaker 1>these other stories about the servers going down, people are

0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:59.119
<v Speaker 1>still upset. It's it's not hard to understand why people

0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:01.560
<v Speaker 1>get riled up a out this. Now. There's just gotta

0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:03.840
<v Speaker 1>be a way for a company to say, you know,

0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:06.240
<v Speaker 1>I made this, I want to make some money off

0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:08.200
<v Speaker 1>of my hard work, and there has to be a

0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.440
<v Speaker 1>middle ground in between that and the customers saying, look,

0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:13.239
<v Speaker 1>you know, if you guys go out of business, I

0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:14.760
<v Speaker 1>still want to be able to play this game, or

0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:18.000
<v Speaker 1>listen to this music or watch this video. Uh. And

0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.280
<v Speaker 1>and so there's gotta be some middle ground which both

0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.360
<v Speaker 1>sides can agree. I mean this, there are companies out there,

0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:25.159
<v Speaker 1>just like the ones we had already mentioned to have

0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.400
<v Speaker 1>dropped the DRM. There are companies out there that are

0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:30.280
<v Speaker 1>are now offering these files without DRM. And I don't

0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:32.920
<v Speaker 1>think they're suddenly seeing a huge drop in profits. I mean,

0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:37.040
<v Speaker 1>Amazon was going DRM free pretty much for their music

0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:40.080
<v Speaker 1>before anyone else was. In fact, that's that's why I

0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.720
<v Speaker 1>love Amazon Music. Um, not that I mean I have

0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.800
<v Speaker 1>iTunes on my computer too, but I love Amazon Music

0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:47.879
<v Speaker 1>because I know that I'm not going to get a

0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.320
<v Speaker 1>DRM file when I when I buy that music file.

0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.200
<v Speaker 1>And I mean, so the business model works, it's I

0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.479
<v Speaker 1>think it's pretty much clear that they're gonna be pirates

0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:00.439
<v Speaker 1>who are gonna go out there. They're gonna figure always

0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:02.480
<v Speaker 1>around this d r M. I mean, that's the problem

0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:07.760
<v Speaker 1>is that these these solutions are really punishing the the

0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:12.520
<v Speaker 1>legitimate customer more than the pirates. And and uh, I

0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:15.960
<v Speaker 1>don't think the pirates are really causing that much economic

0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:17.840
<v Speaker 1>stress for these companies, or at least not as much

0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:22.040
<v Speaker 1>as as they would have you believe. Well, ultimately, I

0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:24.359
<v Speaker 1>think it's gonna end up being a system in which

0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:28.240
<v Speaker 1>the middleman just gets cut out. Um, you're gonna have

0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:32.040
<v Speaker 1>your game studio, or your artists or your author uh.

0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:34.720
<v Speaker 1>You know, people like Neil Gaiman and Corey Doctro have

0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:38.600
<v Speaker 1>been releasing uh some of their books in you know,

0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.840
<v Speaker 1>PDF format so that freely, so that people read them.

0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:46.240
<v Speaker 1>And they're finding that people are reading the PDF and

0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.920
<v Speaker 1>then going out and buying copies of the book. And

0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.840
<v Speaker 1>I think ultimately, when you get down to it, people

0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.280
<v Speaker 1>want to do the right thing. You know, there's always somebody,

0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.119
<v Speaker 1>but uh, you know, I think people if if you

0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.359
<v Speaker 1>could say, hey, what if you paid me five bucks

0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.240
<v Speaker 1>for this CD and you just go ahead and enter

0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:08.080
<v Speaker 1>your credit card number, you can have the MP three files,

0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.359
<v Speaker 1>go ahead and tell your friends you know what you

0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:12.960
<v Speaker 1>think of the record, I think people would rather pay

0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:17.480
<v Speaker 1>the artist less money and get the thing without any

0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:19.680
<v Speaker 1>drm for it, because I think that's going to breed

0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:21.880
<v Speaker 1>loyal team on customers and they're gonna keep coming back

0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:24.120
<v Speaker 1>and going you know, hey, I like your book, Hey

0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:26.840
<v Speaker 1>I like your game. You know, here's twenty dollars for it,

0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:29.080
<v Speaker 1>and go right to the source and go ahead and

0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:34.119
<v Speaker 1>pay them less money kind of approach. That's a bummer

0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.640
<v Speaker 1>for the publishers. Yeah, well, but we see that. We're

0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.240
<v Speaker 1>seeing that with like artists like Trent Resner has done that,

0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:46.600
<v Speaker 1>Radiohead did that. Jonathan Jonathan Colton built his career on

0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:48.679
<v Speaker 1>offering his music for free and then saying if you

0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:51.160
<v Speaker 1>like it, you know, you can buy the tunes here

0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:54.560
<v Speaker 1>um or you can just download them, uh and freely

0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:56.560
<v Speaker 1>distribute them and alter them as well. As you're not

0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:58.680
<v Speaker 1>trying to make money off of it. I'm fine with it.

0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:03.160
<v Speaker 1>And he's doing then quite well, I think. So, yeah,

0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:05.960
<v Speaker 1>there are ways around this without without relying on the

0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:09.800
<v Speaker 1>dangers of d r M, and that I think that's

0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:11.800
<v Speaker 1>the main thing is that if if it weren't for

0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:15.080
<v Speaker 1>the fact that it impacts your ability to use this

0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:18.080
<v Speaker 1>product that you have purchased, people wouldn't be so up

0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:20.639
<v Speaker 1>in arms about it. But because it actually can affect

0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.200
<v Speaker 1>your your experience while you're using what you have paid

0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.880
<v Speaker 1>good money to use, I mean that's where that's where

0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.560
<v Speaker 1>tempers are gonna splare up like mine. Yeah. I guess

0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:34.840
<v Speaker 1>that was a good conversation slash rant. Yeah. Alright, well,

0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:37.080
<v Speaker 1>I guess we'll wrap that up about d r M

0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:40.720
<v Speaker 1>and we will talk to you against soon for more

0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:43.040
<v Speaker 1>on this and thousands of other topics. Because it how

0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:46.160
<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think.

0:21:46.480 --> 0:22:56.560
<v Speaker 1>Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com.

0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.399
<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camry.

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