drm

P2P Lawsuits "Felt Like Terrorism," Says Viacom Lawyer

Chris Dannen — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:17:38 -0500

Viacom's general counsel says that suing people for file-sharing is "expensive, and it's painful, and it feels like bullying."

Did Sinking Pirate Bay Cause More Piracy? And Does It Matter Anyway?

Kit Eaton — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:19:59 -0500

Pro-copyright activists celebrated while file-sharers cried at rulings on the Pirate Bay's illegality, and the subsequent attempts to sink the site. But some new data suggests piracy sites tripled in the aftermath, which really doesn't sound good.

AP Adds Homing Beacon to Online News Content

Chris Dannen — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:38:21 -0400

In an unprecedented move for a digital news agency, the Associated Press announced this afternoon that it will tag and track all AP content online to ensure that it is re-used under that agency's terms of use.

Metallica's iPod-Friendly Jacket Is Darkly Ironic

Kit Eaton — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:26:53 -0400

There's a delightful irony in this: Metallica, long-term DRM advocates, iTunes hold-outs, and MP3 haters, are releasing a branded jacket that includes Skullcandy speakers and--horror of horrors--an iPod dock connector.

Palm's Pre Syncs With iTunes, but Apple May Squash the Link

Kit Eaton — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:46:36 -0400

Palm's Chairman, speaking at the D7 conference yesterday, confirmed that the Palm Pre has a neat trick: It syncs with iTunes just like an iPod would. While that's handy, Apple isn't likely to tolerate the situation for too long.

When Will Microsoft Get a Clue?

Chris Dannen — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:24:24 -0500

It's been a tough year for Redmond: bricking Zunes, class-action suits, and the people-hate-Vista debacle. You'd think those three catapstrophes would be enough to make the PC giant shape up. You'd be wrong.

Apple's iTunes Drops DRM, Adds Tiered Pricing, 3G Downloads

Kit Eaton — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:41:03 -0500

This morning's rumors were almost exactly bang on. As a surprise "one more one more thing" at the end of his Macworld Keynote, Phil Schiller dropped the news that iTunes was going to drop digital rights management for its music track library.

Schiller started by pointing out that iTunes is the number one music retailer, the world's largest media library, and has sold over six billion songs in six years to over 75 million iTunes account holders.