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September 20, 2006

rivals

Zune, DRM, and my music

Posted Sep. 20, ’06, 1:09 PM PT by Scott Silverman
Category | Apple » Rivals

Brown ZuneAhh yes, good ol’ Microsoft is at it again. There never seems to be any shortage of complicated and confusing policies in Microsoft’s products. Zune, for example, is running into some major heat regarding Microsoft’s Zune-to-Zune file sharing DRM.

According the the international Creative Commons license, DRM cannot be applied to digital files where copy protection does not already exist. For example, the ripped MP3s you have in your iTunes library that came from your own CD collection—these cannot be DRM-ed. However, Microsoft seems to be using Zune to impose its DRM on such files. The gray area appears when you learn that MS DRM is only applied to these files when they are transferred wirelessly, from Zune to Zune. Thus, it’s only temporary DRM.

So now the million dollar question is: does applying temporary DRM to a file still violate the Creative Commons license? Is Microsoft taking this one step to far by imposing its DRM on my files?

[via iPodNN]


4 Comments

Dan Pourhadi said:

And the more important question: Does the private Creative Commons license hold _any_ legal weight?

September 20, 2006 1:34 PM
Alex said:

I don't think it's infringing on Creative Commons. It's not actually putting DRM on YOUR file, it's putting it on the copy of the file you're sending to someone else. No way would Microsoft be able to get away with facilitating people ripping their CD's and then indiscriminately distributing the tracks to an unlimited nuimber of Zune devices.

September 20, 2006 2:45 PM
Alfredo Octavio said:

I think this article is wrong. There is nothing wrong with applying DRM to Mp3s from a CD you own. You don't own the music, neither does Microsoft, but it is for the owner of the music to complaint. The problem is with files you create and decide to share using a Creative Commons license, those explicitly forbid applying DRM to them.

September 20, 2006 3:51 PM
Dexter said:

Randomly, I believe that Microsoft is just upset because they know Apple has it going on and they want to be selfish and not let itunes files transfer to the zune (or whatever) I dunno. Apple is the Sh!t, no matter what. Always will be!

September 29, 2006 10:59 AM

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