In a previous post on Digital Rights Management (DRM) I said:
DRM is an evil, market restricting, anti-consumer device (why shouldn’t I be able to play DVDs bought in the US on my DVD player in Ireland?)
It seems I have an unlikely ally – Bill Gates!
At a meeting in Microsoft with bloggers yesterday Bill Gates made several extraordinary statements about DRM.
Here is how Mike Arrington reported what Bill said:
Gates didn’t get into what could replace DRM, but he did give some reasonably candid insights suggesting that he thinks DRM is as lame as the rest of us.
Gates said that no one is satisfied with the current state of DRM, which “causes too much pain for legitmate buyers� while trying to distinguish between legal and illegal uses. He says no one has done it right, yet. There are “huge problems� with DRM, he says, and “we need more flexible models, such as the ability to “buy an artist out for life� (not sure what he means). He also criticized DRM schemes that try to install intelligence in each copy so that it is device specific.
His short term advice: “People should just buy a cd and rip it. You are legal then.�
He ended by saying “DRM is not where it should be, but you won’t get me to say that there should be usage models and different payment models for usage. At the end of the day, incentive systems do make a difference, but we don’t have it right with incentives or interoperability.�
These quotes are rough – I was typing fast but it was not an exact transcript. Still, it is interesting insight from a man who is in a position to shape the future of digital music models.
As an aside, Mike also said that one of the highlights of the day for him was:
Seeing the look on Gates’ face when he walked into the room and every single one of us had a Mac open on the desk in front of us
Just buy DRM free mp3s from site like iomoio com
I’d buy a movie of that look on Gate’s face as he saw the Mac’s
ASFAIK it is illegal in Ireland to rip/tape a CD for your own personal use to, say, playback on a mp3 player / walkman without sharing it with anyone.
Roger – not only that but the RIAA say that it is illegal to do so in the US as well!
It seems copyright law is failing to do what it is supposed to do. I don’t know how ripping for personal use would in any way affect the artists’ incentive to be creative. In fact the ability to do so increases the utility of the CD in the first place – thereby increasing demand and therfore increasing reward to the artist.