Music DRM 'dead by next summer'
Let's get ready to album bundle
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Killing DRM is saving digital music, reckons British retailer 7Digital. The company says DRM-free music sales now outnumber sales of DRM-enumbered music by 4:1 , and credits EMI with the shift.
Removing the locks and keys also helps shift albums, with 70 per cent of MP3 sales by value being full albums.
A recent report prepared for the British music industry by Capgemini suggested that it was the "format shift" to single track sales, or "unbundling" the bundle of the album, that was the most responsible for revenue decline since 2004.
"It's MP3, absolutely," 7Digital MD Ben Drury told us. "People understand that MP3 works everywhere - that isn't true for AAC and certainly not for WMA."
Quality is also a factor, he said, with 320kbits/s bitrate files proving popular. Amazon and iTunes have used a higher, 256kbit/s bitrate since EMI unshackled the music.
"By next summer all four major labels will have removed DRM from MP3s," he predicted. ®
COMMENTS
Agree...
Agree with Edward Pearson. But if drm-protection doesn`t allow me to listen music where I want I choose converter (for example MelodyCan).
hmmm, lots of balls about file formats.
A couple of points.
DRM has always been about keeping the lawyers happy, nothing more or less than a sop to greedy sharks with accountants.
I object to being told that I know about FLAC (orSHN) because I've probably had to find out about it due to my piratical torrenting. Nope. If you think like that you've probably never heard of archive.org, and have NO RIGHT to post pontificating bollocks in a discussion about music downloads.
FLAC is rubbish? Nope. You are at best misinformed, but more likely just stupid.
I can't tell the difference between a 320 MP3 and the full frequency uncompressed WAV version? Oh yes I can.
192K VBR sounds pretty much like the CD? Nope, it sounds crap. Do you only listen to Goth metal or Radiohead? Do you have CLOTH EARS?
Jeeze.
It's got to be mp3
FLAC is a load of rubbish. Plays on hardly anything. A dead format despite so-called "audiophiles" raving about it. The files are way too big ( about 50% of the original PCM file ) If you look at the portability, download speeds and ease of use, which are the main issues, it's got to be mp3. . For the majority of music, 192k VBR ( Variable Bit Rate ) sounds pretty close to a CD. Well, for most people, I think even 128kb is good enough. They can't tell the difference.
Mastering nowadays squashes all of the dynamics out to make it as loud as possible, and actually ADDS digital distortion, anyway.
{ I just want to clarify to Aitor that (audio)"compression" used during mastering , is not the same as (digital) "compression" used to make an mp3.
Audio compression cuts the dynamics / digital compression discards ( to most people ) inaudible and therefore useless frequencies}
If you really want a true rendition, buy the CD and encode it yourself. Or just play the CD ! Most people just want to download a song into their iPod and have it available to play wherever they want with the least amount of hassle.
If you want to listen to lute concertos on your 8,000 quid electro static speakers, then mp3 is probably not the way forward for you. You should get an SACD player ( or a girlfriend :-) )
Oh, yeah ! ... and back to the main point : DRM is complete rubbish, as are most attempts to shackle music. It's just a pain in the arse for consumers ( see the Sony copy protect CDs debacle ), and less scrupulous people will always find a way to work around it.
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