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January 4, 2008

music

Sony preparing to drop DRM like it’s hot

Posted Jan. 4, ’08, 9:24 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Music

Sony BMGSpeaking of DRM (as we were just moments ago), BusinessWeek is reporting today that Sony, the final holdout among the Big Four record labels may be steps away from dropping the copy-protection technology as well. Their sources say that Sony will start selling at least part of its catalog without DRM in the first quarter of this year.

What is still unknown is in what venue Sony’s DRM free tracks will make their appearance. The company closed its own music service, Sony Connect, last year. With support from Universal, Warner, and EMI, Amazon MP3 is the hip new kid on the block, but I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out that Sony was in talks with Apple. Then again, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer took umbrage with Steve Jobs’s assessment of record companies as “greedy,” so the two probably aren’t exactly squash buddies. Meanwhile, as Ars Technica points out, Sony is currently advocating circumventing its own DRM to get tracks on the iPod (i.e., burning a CD and re-ripping the tracks into iTunes). It’s almost hard to understand why people get frustrated with technology.

Still, it’s seeming more and more likely that the year 2008 will see the last nail in the coffin of digital rights management for music. Next stop: the uphill battle for freeing video. We’re not exactly holding our breath on that one.


1 Comments

Moe Author Profile Page said:

This is good for the consumer. But what will happen to the iTunes store if these other labels don't come to iTunes? I will never again look at the iTunes store if I can get the same music without DRM + cheaper. Steve better have a trick up his sleeve at Macworld. The playing field just got really competitive. Let's hope Apple can offer something better.

January 4, 2008 11:35 AM

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