DRM Technologies and Digital Audio Formats

There is currently no industry DRM standard in the music industry. MP3 has emerged as the dominant digital music format. However, there are many different DRM technologies that are not compatible or inter-operatable with each other. For example, Microsoft has it PlayForSure certification that was used with online music stores like Napster. Downloaded digital media using this protection are not playable on Microsoft’s own Zune player and the Apple iPod. This made it difficult for music fans to enjoy their music across different platforms. With different music stores touting their own brand of DRM technology; DRM-free stores such as E-Music and Amazon MP3 gained popularity as they posed no restrictions on downloaded media. The added stress caused by this is credited for DRM unpopularity and current status. The image below highlights DRM technology used by popular online music stores.

DRM is directly responsible for the lack of standard digital music format. Though most music stores, if not all support MP3s and other popular audio file formats; online music stores still attempt to impose their technology on users. For example, Apple iTunes uses Advanced Audio Coding (ACC) encoding by default, and Microsoft Windows Media Player uses Windows Media Audio (WMA) encoding. Nevertheless, these applications allow users to select their preferred audio file format with MP3 being the most popular format for downloading and storing music.

Content providers and manufacturers need to work together to ensure digital music players are compatible with different audio file formats, regardless of the DRM technology.

In this video, Edward Zander CEO of Motorola gives his perspective about the many and varied digital rights management standards.

References:

Cha, Benjamin, and Kausik Rajgopal. (2004).Digital Distribution & the Music Industry in 2001: Case II-10. Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation, 4th ed. Ed. Burgelman, Robert, Clayton Christensen and Steven Wheelwright. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. 378-398.

CNETTV. (2007). DRM this and DRM that. Retrieved July 6th from http://www.cnettv.com/9742-1_53-22103.html

Wikipedia.org. (2008) Audio file format. Retrived July 7th from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_file_format

Wikipedia.org. (2008). Digital Rights Management. Retrieved July 7th from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management_rights_management

Wikipedia.org. (2008). MP3. Retreived July 7th from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3