Unlimited Music Downloads?

Have you heard the buzz about Warner Music negotiating with British internet service providers?  I read several articles about it and I was confused or maybe I’m just really behind the times. Apparently, Warner Music is in negotiations with British internet service providers to offer unlimited music downloads to consumers with their broadband contracts. Instead of buying music ‘by the track’ they would pay a monthly fee for unlimited access. Several of the comments that were posted about the articles asked, “Would DRM be used?” This is where my question comes in. I had to do some research to find out what DRM was an acronym for before I could understand what everyone was talking about.

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. It is also known as copy protection. It is very common for this technology to be used by music download services such as Napster, RealNetworks/Rhapsody and iTunes. Music download services use DRM in various ways though. With some services you are in essence only “renting” the music you download. If you cancel your subscription, you cancel the right to listen to the music you downloaded. Other services just limit how many times you can burn the music file to a CD or how many computers you can transfer the files to. Often the types of devices you can use to listen to your music is restricted. Be sure to read the “Terms and conditions” of your service provider so you know exactly what you are getting.

I personally love the convenience and portability of digital music files.  I take my iPod shuffle with me everywhere I go and I have a Cassette Adapter so I can play it through my car stereo.  When I go on road trips I just put my play list on the iPod and plug it into the car.  No more changing CD’s while driving or carrying tons of CD’s in my car.  I’m not convinced the sound quality is nearly as good as a CD, but you sure can’t beat the portability, convenience and accessibility of digital music.

I found a new on-line music service called eMusic. The music files are compatible with my iPod and also with Zune or any other MP3 player. There are over 3.5 million songs in the library. When I signed up, there was a special so I got 25 free downloads and then I pay $9.99 a month for 30 downloads. I think this is very reasonable, around $.33 per track. There is no commitment so I can cancel my membership at any time. If I do cancel, I get to keep all my music because there is no DRM.

[tags]music downloads, MP3 files, eMusic, DRM[/tags]

eMusic