Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Will Copy-Protected CD's Increase Piracy?

In the record industry's ongoing struggle to reduce piracy, major labels such as Sony BMG and EMI are beginning to release new CD's that block listeners from copying those songs onto their iPods. This process is called digital rights management (DMR) and it only allows the user to digitally copy music into certain formats, excluding MP3. It also sets a limit as to how many copies of the files can be made. EMI specifically is testing and preparing a similar process to be ready for widespread use by 2006.
Some artists whose music is being subjected to this new type of protection are actually speaking out against it. Dave Matthews, Foo Fighters, and Switchfoot have taken action by going public and giving their fans different options on how to beat the system.
In this way, it seems that the companies are promoting the exact thing they are trying to prevent. By disallowing the transfer of music that has already been legally paid for, they are punishing the consumer for going out and buying the CD as opposed to illegally downloading the songs in the first place. This could increase the quantity of illegal downloads that are demanded. People will stop buying CD's if they can no longer do what they want with the songs once they have acess to them.
How do you think the copy-protection suit will affect the market of illegal downloads? Will all CD's eventually carry DMR? What does the future hold for the music industry?

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