Digital Home Thoughts: Designtechnica on the State of Digital Music

"With digital music and the portable player becoming ever more widespread, this is a question that’s only going to become more vexing. The early adopters were willing to accept the limitations, but things are going to have to change as everything rapidly reaches critical mass. The whole concept of DRM is going to have to be rethought. That’s going to cause a lot of tension with record labels, who guard their product very closely. Some encode their own players on a disc to prevent copying."

This guy raises some interesting points that I largely agree with: DRM in its current state is totally backwards and basically encourages piracy. I liken the music industries current attitude to a store that charges high prices and treats you like crap, while there is a store with better prices and attitude right across the street. There are plenty of people willing to pay for their music, but how many of those people will just blindly accept the restrictions being placed on how and where they can listen to their music when it is so easy to go out and get DRM-free tracks. The music industry needs to wake up and remember that they are supposed to be SERVING their customers, not bossing them.