Taking the rap for DRM

Summary: DRM remains a contentious and troublesome part of the new digital age. Could it inspire its own art forms?

Rapper and new media entrepreneur Chuck D has made his feelings about current DRM usage painfully clear. ZDNet UK's own in-house rapper, Emesdoz 3 point 3, has been moved to break out the following phat rhymez

You bought your tracks on Napster? Here's a fact that'll catchya: they changed the code, made things old, left their old customers freezin' in the cold

Microsoft says it plays for sure, but the only thing for sure is yo' gonna pay more. When yo' buy your new Zune yo' gotta re-buy all yo' tunes, dance to the beat of the money-grabbing goons

They've seen ya comin', in thru the door, gotta pony up some more. Every year. Ya know the score. Singles, LPs, cassettes, CDs, you've bought it all times four, ain't nearly enough by the law that they enforce

ATRAC, AAC, WMA, with all that DRM they can play the trick again, it's yo' that they're managin' and yo' don't mean a thing

Each new toy is locked down tight, each make yo' pocket light, each burn away yo' rights. Wanna give yo' stuff away? It's infected with decay, it'll last for just three plays, be dead by Saturday

The only right yo' music has is to remain silent, try and change that and the lawyers become violent, don' matter what ya want, that's not in the equation, and the boys who make the rules ain't open to persuasion

Don't buy that bridge, don't play that game, don't give 'em nothing for nothing in exchange. Buy your music on CD, make your own MP3s, keep it open for all time. Fair use is not a crime. Yo.

Topics: Legal, Piracy

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  • "Fair use is not a crime." Um. My understanding of UK law is that it is indeed a crime to rip CDs to MP3 or make any other form of copy, regardless of the fact that practically everyone does it. US law -- and no doubt many others -- allows fair use, and it's a scandal that UK law doesn't.

    As far as I'm concerned, the law should be there to codify what most people would call common sense; when you have a law that most people feel entitled to routinely ignore, something's badly wrong.

    Oh, one last thing. Encouraging people to break the law is also a crime, isn't it? I think I can hear the sirens now... :)
    anonymous
  • Yeah I certainly do Ignore this law, however i work in the opposite direction.

    I download the music i want to listen to, if i like it i keep it and listen to it, i will then, when i see it in the shop purchase the CD and store it leaving the MP3s on my machine.

    If i listen to the album and dont like it it gets deleted. That way no one is out of pocket and everyone wins.
    anonymous