Music ownership to become a thing of the past?

Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Music ownership to become a thing of the past? Excerpt:

Though targeted at limiting the illegal trading of files online, developments like MacroVision’s “CD Value Management” technology can also prevent perfectly legal uses of CDs, such as ripping MP3 files to a computer for easy organization and listening or making an additional copy of a new album for use in the car. Some customers, afraid of letting such capabilities fall by the wayside, developed techniques for bypassing such limitations. A student from Princeton University, for example, published a paper pointing out that holding down the Shift key when inserting a compact disk prevented early versions of the copy-proof software from activating. Though SunnComm labeled his actions “at best, duplicitous, and at worst, a felony,” no charges were filed. Other popular evasion techniques included using felt tipped markers to black out the rims of disks that store the restrictive code as well as simply keeping popular copying programs up to date.

With the introduction of online music stores, consumer rights dwindled even further. So-called Digital Rights Management, or DRM, initiatives were instrumental in securing the necessary Recording Industry Association of America licenses to sell music. Apple Computer’s iTunes Music Store locks down its files with a technology dubbed FairPlay, which restricts files to only play on up to five computers registered with your account. Restrictions enforced by Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM are less apparent from viewing their webpage but often include similar registration requirements as well as limitations on which tracks can be burned to CDs how many times, and of course the ultimate ability to have music expire—as Napster takes advantage of for their subscription service. Additional stipulations come by way of which devices files can be played on. Appe’s iTunes program, for example, supports both Windows and Mac OS computers for storage but only supports Apple’s iPod for portable use. Windows Media supports Windows systems only but play on a variety of music players—though determining just which devices play protected content has become so confusing as to cause Microsoft to devote a large portion of its site to its PlaysForSure informative campaign.

Such confusion and limitation has led to a number of consumer hacks to the online market place as well. Programs such as Hymn and PyMusique for iTunes have allowed users to strip or otherwise bypass the DRM schemes implemented by these online stores. Even Napster’s new subscription service has been compromised, as weblog posts that quickly spread across the internet with titles such as “Burning through Napster’s collection, free” will be happy to inform. The hack works by utilizing programs that automatically record audio signals as they are sent to the computer’s soundcard. In fact, the realization that anything which can be heard can also be recorded is indicative of the endless battle such companies will have with those who refuse to accept the restrictions imposed upon their music.

Perhaps the largest movement that has developed in opposition to RIAA and the trend towards limiting the rights of consumer of music are the founders of the Creative Commons License. As Doc Searls, a leading advocate of Creative Commons licensing, describes on the project’s website, “[the online marketplace] demands new kinds of relationships between everybody, and not just the entities we call creators and customers. The relationships don’t need to be personal; they just need to respect the immediacy of everybody involved. That immediacy is what’s native to the Net.” He is quick to deride the industry for viewing the internet as simply another closed distribution channel, to be policed as all the others. “There’s a reason we call it ‘cyberspace,” not ‘cyberpipes,’” he says. “Markets are conversations. People will buy, and will support, the stuff they care about. The next step after ‘markets are conversations’ is ‘markets are relationships.’ Creative Commons helps us get to that better than any other effort I know.” ...