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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Some thoughts on Apple's DRM changes in iTunes 4.5

First of all, let me be clear: I'm a big fan of Digital Rights Management (DRM), and always have been, despite the fact that I've been bitten a few times. I've purchased several hundreds songs online, and have purchased several eBooks, both in Microsoft Reader and Palm Reader format. I've even purchased the occassional protected PDF document, including a recent Apple study from Harvard University. And I'm probably forgetting others. No matter.

One of the little-heralded changes in iTunes 4.5 is that Apple has somewhat dramatically changed the product's DRM restrictions. There are two main changes:

1. Previous to iTunes 4.5, you could authorize up to three PCs/Macs to play your purchased music. Apple has raised that limit to five. That is fantastic news, not just for me, of course, but for all users.

2. Previous to iTunes 4.5, you could burn a playlist to CD 10 times before having to alter the playlist. Now, you can burn a playlist containing purchased music seven times, but you can't make a change and then start re-burning. It's seven burns only.

Many users are up in arms over this second change, because they perceive it to be a limitation. But as much as I'd like to complain, I just don't see it: Who the heck needs to burn a playlist seven times, let alone ten? And besides, you can simply make a new playlist and burn that: The limitation is not per-song, it's per playlist.

In short, this is a non-event. And no, Virginia, DRM is NOT a bad thing, whether it comes from Microsoft, Apple, or anywhere else.

[ Posted at 4:55 PM | Permalink ]