Yet Another DRM Failure Leaves Customers High And Dry

from the down-under dept

Wed, Mar 17th 2010 1:48pm — Mike Masnick

By now you should know this -- as DRM'd music service after DRM'd music service has screwed over their customers by shutting off the servers on the music they were supposed to be able to access -- but it's yet another reminder that if you buy into DRM'd products, you're going to end up screwed over. The latest, sent in by a bunch of you, is that Australian ISP, Bigpond (from Telstra), is shutting off its DRM servers that were used to support Windows Media Audio. Once again, the DRM did nothing to stop file sharing, but is making life difficult and annoying for legitimate customers.

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Filed Under: australia, bigpond, drm, music
Companies: bigpond, telstra

33 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 2:08pm

The BigPond article lists two ways to keep the DRM'd music:

1) Burn it to a CD using wmp10.
2) Copy the key files to another storage device, then copy them back after a hardware change.

I'm not necessarily happy that people will lose their purchased music when things like this happen, but I am happy that they will get a lesson in why DRM is bad for them. Typical consumers won't pay attention to issues until it starts to negatively affect them in a big way, so it helps that big media runs its own education plan by screwing customers over and over.
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Valkor, 17 Mar 2010 @ 2:09pm

The more the better
Frankly, this should happen more often.

The more often people are reminded that DRM functions by pissing all over their consumer rights, the more likely they will allow that to influence their buying decisions.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 2:20pm

DRM = Digital Rental Manipulation
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lawgeeknz, 17 Mar 2010 @ 2:24pm

file sharing is not copyright infringement
It is a testament to how well the rights holding organisations have managed to frame the copyfight debate that even you seem to imply that file sharing is illegal in and of itself.

I know you don't mean that, but using the term as a proxy for "sharing copyright infringing files" makes it so much simpler for those interests to characterise any p2p user as a "dirty thieving pirate". Its bad enough that line is then parroted by the unquestioning mainsteam media, but it would be good if those like you who know better could hold the line. Otherwise, "filesharing" just gets added to the other spin wins by rightsholding groups, like "piracy" and "copyright theft" and, as is happening here in NZ, OTT remedies like termination get portrayed as a reasonable way to curb the p2p scourge.

Just sayin'

Agree with your point though, which makes it all the more concerning that ACTA is looking to ram *more* DRM down signatories' throats.
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NSILMike (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 2:33pm

Re:
If the keys can be copied, saved and then put back onto revised hardware, then isn't that a pretty loose DRM system? I thought DRM licenses were tied to unique system profiles specifically to prevent them from being shared... Or if it allows 'minor' hardware changes, you're still out of luck if you upgrade the complete PC.
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Hoeppner, 17 Mar 2010 @ 2:52pm

DRM for music doesn't exist. Eventually it ends with a typical audio output(to any device, normally speakers).
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mrharrysan (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 3:09pm

Re:
It does if you want to make a 1:1 perfect digital copy.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 3:52pm

Re: Re:
That's cool, I believe that a .1:1 imperfect digital copy is fair use. It might not sound great but it can't be illegal, can it?
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 17 Mar 2010 @ 3:54pm

If I Buy Something, Do I Own It?
I find when I put the question in terms as simple as that, it gets the DRM apologists bending over backwards to try to come up with contorted analogies as to why what they’re doing makes perfect sense.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 17 Mar 2010 @ 4:53pm

But Is This Legal?
So BigPond are giving detailed instructions on how to bypass WMA copy-protection. Isn’t this against the DMCA? And doesn’t Australia have to have DMCA-type provisions in its laws to “harmonize” them with the US, as part of the free-trade agreement it signed with the latter?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 5:02pm

Re: Re:
It is pretty loose, at least as described by the BigPond article. It's also loose than you can burn them unencrypted to a CD, because you could just rip them back in whatever format you wanted.
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Leefe, 17 Mar 2010 @ 5:43pm

April fools joke?
"BigPond Music will no longer be supporting the Windows Media Audio (‘WMA’) file format after 1 April 2010."

April fools joke on DRM users?
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Cheong, 17 Mar 2010 @ 6:12pm

Perhep they should set up a foundation...
Perheps whatever local organization supporting DRM should create a foundation that supports the operation of DRM server from companies that will be shut down. They should pay certain percentage of the money they get from court to keep the foundations running. So we legitimate customers are not hurt by what they're pushing.
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absurdsequitur, 17 Mar 2010 @ 6:14pm

Re: file sharing is not copyright infringement
While I can totally agree with your sentiment here, I think that unfortunately the ship has already sailed on that one. P2P has become indelibly tied to illegal file sharing, and there's not much you can do trying to explain the difference. It's annoying when, at work for example, I can't use bittorent to download a fairly large file, because the network is set to block torrent clients.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:49pm

DRM downloads are like ballpark nachos. Ya don't buy em, ya just rent em.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 8:27pm

DRM = Digital RENTAL Media

Your Rental is UP!
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Rikuo (profile), 18 Mar 2010 @ 12:22am

Re: But Is This Legal?
Australia doesn't have to worry about the DMCA, because its the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of AMERICA. They're two seperate countries.
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Dohn Joe, 18 Mar 2010 @ 12:40am

Suckers!
People who buy DRM products are chumps! A fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place!
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Dohn Joe, 18 Mar 2010 @ 1:06am

Ha ha ha! Funny DRM webcomic!
http://www.bradcolbow.com/archive.php/?p=205
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PaulT (profile), 18 Mar 2010 @ 3:36am

Re: Re: Re:
Well, the RIAA did seem a lot more complacent when the only way to make a copy of a CD was to record it on tape...
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:), 18 Mar 2010 @ 4:33am

Re:
LoL

So true.
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matt, 18 Mar 2010 @ 9:21am

wma
A few years back I used Windows Media Player to backup some of my CD collection- mostly older CDs from my childhood which were getting more worn out.

Today, most of these discs are scratched or damaged. Unfortunately the windows media player must have automatically added DRM to the files it ripped. None of the files play anymore (not sure why but they won't authenticate) and from my research it appears there is no remedy for this.
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jake, 19 Mar 2010 @ 7:28am

Re: Re:
You should try MuvAudio...as long as you have the rights to play back a DRM audio file, it can "record" it to a non-DRM, lossless audio file (or lossy, if you choose, it supports tons of codecs). Great software for people who want to enjoy the music they purchased without the nagging of DRM!
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my easy reading, 24 Sep 2010 @ 2:22am

it was good and i agree with it and best.
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the hunter of the luck, 27 Oct 2010 @ 2:20pm

i never liked DRM.. it never worked for me.
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the hunter of the luck, 27 Oct 2010 @ 2:26pm

drm
hated DRM..never worked for me
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the hunter of the luck, 27 Oct 2010 @ 8:41pm

DRM
DRM for music is a myth. Finally it ends with a typical audio output.
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the hunter of the luck, 27 Oct 2010 @ 8:41pm

DRM
DRM for music is a myth. Finally it ends with a typical audio output.
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fibinudheen, 9 Nov 2010 @ 7:32pm

add comment
good
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fibinudheen, 9 Nov 2010 @ 7:34pm

add comment
"I agree that ABC is better than XYZ, especially when it comes to quality. I have been using ABC for the last 3 years it never dissapointed me. Does anybody know when the new version is coming out?"
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mick stop, 23 Nov 2010 @ 8:33pm

I agree that it was a better site compare to other site.
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blog stroke, 8 Dec 2010 @ 7:15pm

I never liked DRM.. it never worked for me.
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jennifer mellor, 21 Dec 2010 @ 10:31pm

I agree that this site is better than other sites, especially when it comes to quality. I have been using this for the last 3 years it never dissapointed me. Does anybody know when the new version is coming out
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