Friday, October 21, 2005
DRM and I Go Head to Head: And it's a Draw
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 11:00 AM
I've just emerged from a scuffle with DRM, and I'm one for two in the battle. Here's what happened: recently I went out shopping with my wife, and among other things, I bought five new CDs. I love music, and am happy to support the artists whose music I enjoy. The CDs I bought: Anna Nalick (Wreck of the Day), Hayley Westenra (Odyssey), Wide Mouth Mason (Shot Down Satellites), Nickelback (All the Right Reasons), and Dave Matthews Band (Stand Up). Of those five CDs, three were DRM free, and two were not. Guess which two? The most popular of the five of course: Nickelback and DMB. I had heard stories about the DMB album, which is why I put off buying it for months. I've had a few DRM'd CDs come my way lately, and the DRM was easy enough to bypass, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
The Nickelback CD had some DRM on it that was tricky: holding down the shift key to bypass the autoplay didn't help, because I still couldn't rip it. Playing a hunch, I tried ripping the CD in Rio Music Manager, a rather archaic audio program used to load up my wife's Rio Sport. Guess what? It's such a "dumb" program, it was able to rip the Nickelback CD without a problem. Grab the Rio program 1while you can.
The DMB CD has proven to be much more difficult to rip - it wouldn't rip in WMP when the shift key is held down, and it wouldn't rip in Rio Music Manager either. I thought I'd try the most hardcore CD ripping program I'm aware of: CDex. This is the program that does error correction and does everything it can to get the perfect rip. I started the rip before I went to sleep, and when I woke up the next morning it was only 50% finished the CD! I thought it was working, so I gave it another few hours, but when I checked the first ripped track it was silence. Foiled! I did a bit of research to see if someone had found a way to bypass it, but all I came up with was instructions from the band themselves on how to bypass the DRM...but it's nothing more than a "burn and re-rip" solution. Worse, for some reason I can't get the installer to start so I can get the DRM'd WMA files off the CD. I can't do anything with this stupid CD! I'm tempted to return it to the store, but I might try going into a local store and borrowing a Mac to rip the CD, then I can transfer the MP3s onto my USB flashdrive. For the first time in my life, I actually need a Mac for something that my PC can't do.
As a side note, I had always assumed (a dangerous word) that the bands knew and supported the DRM encryption when it was on their album. But after reading about how Switchfoot feels about DRM on their album, it made me realize that's not the case at all. So it's a case of the fans and the band versus the record label. Hmm. One makes the music, one pays for it, and the other stands in the middle collecting most of the profit. Record companies perform important PR and marketing roles for bands that are just starting out, but once a band has an established fan base, I wonder how viable it would be for them to sell their music directly to their fans? Something to ponder for another day my fellow geeks!
Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys mobile devices, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Alberta, Canada.
The Nickelback CD had some DRM on it that was tricky: holding down the shift key to bypass the autoplay didn't help, because I still couldn't rip it. Playing a hunch, I tried ripping the CD in Rio Music Manager, a rather archaic audio program used to load up my wife's Rio Sport. Guess what? It's such a "dumb" program, it was able to rip the Nickelback CD without a problem. Grab the Rio program 1while you can.
The DMB CD has proven to be much more difficult to rip - it wouldn't rip in WMP when the shift key is held down, and it wouldn't rip in Rio Music Manager either. I thought I'd try the most hardcore CD ripping program I'm aware of: CDex. This is the program that does error correction and does everything it can to get the perfect rip. I started the rip before I went to sleep, and when I woke up the next morning it was only 50% finished the CD! I thought it was working, so I gave it another few hours, but when I checked the first ripped track it was silence. Foiled! I did a bit of research to see if someone had found a way to bypass it, but all I came up with was instructions from the band themselves on how to bypass the DRM...but it's nothing more than a "burn and re-rip" solution. Worse, for some reason I can't get the installer to start so I can get the DRM'd WMA files off the CD. I can't do anything with this stupid CD! I'm tempted to return it to the store, but I might try going into a local store and borrowing a Mac to rip the CD, then I can transfer the MP3s onto my USB flashdrive. For the first time in my life, I actually need a Mac for something that my PC can't do.
As a side note, I had always assumed (a dangerous word) that the bands knew and supported the DRM encryption when it was on their album. But after reading about how Switchfoot feels about DRM on their album, it made me realize that's not the case at all. So it's a case of the fans and the band versus the record label. Hmm. One makes the music, one pays for it, and the other stands in the middle collecting most of the profit. Record companies perform important PR and marketing roles for bands that are just starting out, but once a band has an established fan base, I wonder how viable it would be for them to sell their music directly to their fans? Something to ponder for another day my fellow geeks!
Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys mobile devices, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Alberta, Canada.
