Tuesday, May 30, 2006

DRM and the Consumer



This post got me to thinking that as Big Media conglomerates scramble to lock down "their" content with new formats and distribution methodologies / technologies, and they make it harder or more difficult for us to consume it, there's a huge opportunity for "not so hot", crappy or even God-awful consumer generated content to be "seen", "consumed" and enjoyed by "we the people"... this does not bode well for them.

From DigitalMediaThoughts:
"Having grown tired of one war, we're on the eve of another, complete with alliances, secret codes, and laser beams. No, not Iran -- it's the fight over the next generation of DVD devices. The real battle isn't between Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT) and their chosen formats, it's between the manufacturers and us -- the consumers, the ones who ultimately pay for it all. And the battle is over Digital Rights Management (DRM), because in addition to increased storage, these new disks are packed full of copy-protection functions, some of which impair our ability to use the content we pay for, the way we like and are legally entitled to."

Link to Business Week article via DigitalMediaThoughts blog... and this is kinda what I'm talkin' about.