FU, RIAA -- we don't want no stinkin' DRM!

[Darren Dirt]

Yes, Virginia, there is purchaseable DRM-free digital media


And check out this summary/timeline from EFF:

2006: the year of HOPE (?)

DRM Fading for Music: The Year in Review
December 07, 2006

Almost exactly one year ago, I predicted the beginning of the end for DRM on digital music. Now EMI has announced the release of the new Norah Jones single on Yahoo! Music in DRM-free MP3 format (many will remember that Yahoo! has been urging the major labels to give up DRM).

So let's pause to recap the year in music DRM's slow demise, including:

-Rhapsody and Napster begin streaming to any browser;
-Major labels all give up on CD copy protection in US market in the wake of the Sony-BMG rootkit debacle;
-Major labels abandon DRM-laden SACD and DVD-A formats;
-Sony-BMG releases Jessica Simpson song in MP3;
-Disney's Hollywood Records releases Jesse McCartney album as MP3s;
-EMI artist Lily Allen releases new track as MP3;
-EMI releases Norah Jones and Reliant K tracks as MP3s;
-eMusic becomes the #2 online music store selling nothing but MP3 files from independent labels.

Here's to more of the same in 2007. As I said in December 2005, "once the DRM is gone, we can see what a real, robust, competitive digital music marketplace looks like."



- - -

"EMI has announced that it will no longer infect its CDs with DRM..."

EMI Music Group has ceased the implementation of copy protection on new cd-releases. This means that at the moment, not a single record company [in Europe, anyway] releases CDs that are protected against making digital copies, says the international industry-magazine 'Billboard'. At the same time, Macrovision has stopped the development and sales of her TotalPlay-system (previously CDS). Record companies use copy protection to counteract the illegal distribution of the recordings - in particular on the internet. According to 'Billboard', it has now become clear that the cost of using this technology does not add up against the results.

-and so we are finally at a stage [or Europe is, anyway] where the Majors have woken up to reality and have wisely decided to stop insulting their paying customers.

[Mr. Analog]

We're not gonna take it /
No we ain't gonna take it /
We're not gonna take it ANYMORE!

Last year was a good year for anti-DRM, let's hope for more.

[Cova]

And no mention of the fact that Norway has deemed the DRM that Apple uses to be illegal - Apple either has to pull out of Norway with the ipod/itunes music store, or open up fairplay to other player devices.  Not that norway is big enough to matter really, but Germany, France, and I believe one other european country are all looking like their close to following the same path.