What is DRM (Digital Rights Management)?

Digital Rights Management (or DRM) is used on almost all forms of digital media, however, most people don't even know what DRM is. So, what is DRM and why should everyone care about it? Digital Rights Management has taken many forms over the years, but perhaps the most used DRM is from the iTunes Music Store.

iTunes uses a DRM scheme named "FairPlay". FairPlay is a container for normal MP4 files inside AAC audio files. As with all DRM schemes, FairPlay stops anyone without an iPod or Apple product from playing the music downloaded legally from the iTunes store.

Digital Rights Management in the music space has gone through it's ups and downs as of late. iTunes itself has pledged to go DRM-Free by the end of Q1 2009. This is believed to be due to many DRM-Free competitors such as the Amazon Music Store. Steve Job's, Apple's CEO has also made many fowl comments on DRM, which also played a major factor in Apple's iTunes Store going DRM-Free.

While DRM in the music industry is slowly becoming a thing of the past, DRM in the movie industry is becoming more and more restrictive. DVDs have a DRM system called the "Content Scramble System", which is placed on all commercial DVDs.

DRM on the DVD are still considered to be a very small problem versus the DRM on digital movie downloads. DRM on digitally downloaded movies can limit the amount of time you can keep a movie (while not considered a rental), which programs or devices you can use to play the movie and particularly copying the movie from computer to computer.

The pinnacle of movie DRM is show in Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows Vista, which uses a DRM scheme known as the "Protected Media Path" which can allow and disallow individual parts of a computer to work while playing a movie. So, if you don't have a "Protected Media Path" compatible monitor, you can be stopped from playing a movie you have legally purchased. The "Protected Media Path" is built into any computer running Windows Vista.

So, why should you worry about DRM? Here's an example. Let's say you purchase an iPod and buy music or movies from the iTunes store. A few years down the line, you decide to get a Microsoft Zune. You will not be able to play your music or movies you have legally bought through the iTunes store on your Zune without breaking the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" in the U.S.

While the battle is nearly won for DRM-Free content in the music industry, DRM is still running rampant in many forms on digital movies. Be careful what you buy when you are dealing with DRM ridden content.