Music and Movies

Technology for music and movies has been a little tricky because the laws now are more detective instead of preventive. Remember the short-lived days of downloading music for free. Now laws are in place to make that illegal to protect the artists and creators of their hard work. The problem is the system is not perfect and the solution is even worse.

Technology changes too quick for good solutions to be created and laws to protect. When music and movies first came out people didn't have the capabilities to record. They listened on the radio and went to the movies. No laws were needed. But things changed and soon people could record. In my growing up days, it was cassette tapes and VHS. Recording was fairly easy. However, better technology has brought the digital recording solution. That is the problem, the better technology makes data easier to share and store at an increased speed.

CDs allowed us to share data more easily and more quickly, including music and later movies. Then the internet allowed us to share the information and that created a bigger problem. The norm of going to a store and buying music and movies was changing. Now everything is available online and everyone has a portable media player that holds tons of music and videos.

So now the problem becomes access control as we are trying to copy, backup and storage all the digital media data. Copyright laws protect the information but is so frustrating. If I bought the song, why is my use of it limited, shouldn't I be able to copy it and back it up? Well the solution to the access control was DRM (Digital Rights Management).

But problems continue even with this solution of copy protection. Recently, RealPlayer created a backup program for DVDs. Download the program for $50 and you can backup your movies legally. Problem solved, right? Not quite, there are too many catches like only being able to use RealPlayer and questions still remain about the legality issues of copy protection. DRM is required by the media labels to sell their songs and movies.

I suggest it is time to break away from the DRM maddness and create a new system. DRM has yet to stop media piracy so it's time to find a solution that will work.