Digital Home Thoughts: DRM nightmare: Why $20,000 worth of gear won't play my 99 cent songs

"It's kind of screwed up if you think about it. In search of that zen feel where I can have the benefits of modern day audio/video in any room in my house, but without all sorts of unsightly equipment, wires, and splitters spilling out from the nooks and crannies of those rooms, I've already sunk nearly $20,000 into a state-of-the-art whole-home system and I'm not even done yet. Microsoft's Bill Gates may have the ultimate digital crib in the suburbs of Seattle. But, by the time I'm done, I won't be far behind. The sidebar to this story (perhaps for a different day or a different blog) is that the gear you need to do that home audio/video project the right way isn't sold by Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Dell or any of the other brand names that we've come to know and love (or hate) in the computer industry. Nor will it be. What they sell, and plan to sell in the coming years, are toys when compared to the gear sold by companies that specialize in home theatre..."



This is the biggest battle between corporations and consumers in the electronics industry today. Consumers want to be able to take their music, movies, and tv shows with them wherever they go. Corporations want to dictate what they can do with these files, how they can do it, and when they can do it. Encryption and fair use management have been seamless until now, and compatability has been guaranteed. CDs play in any CD player for a reason: Philips (the CD format licensee) guarantees it. They've sued several music companies recently because some of the new DRM'd music discs that have come out don't play in every CD player, therefore Philips won't let them use the CD logo and license. Corporations are intentionally trying to break compatability in an effort to carve out a market niche for themselves. Don't believe me? Just ask a high-end audio engineer, or the founder of the EFF.