Article Summaries: 'What is DRM and How Does it Affect Me?' By Guardian Unlimited & 'Label Leads Way With DRM-free Summary' By Bobbie Johnson

The key points of this article (published on Monday 2nd April 2007, Guardian Unlimited) are:

• DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. In terms of music, it allows digital music files to be protected so that once that a song is available on the internet, its use can be controlled by the copyright holders.
• For example, when a song is purchased through the iTunes store, it can only be copied onto five different computers and up to two iPods.
• EMI became the first of the "big four" record labels to announce that music available from its label via iTunes would soon be DRM free.
• From May, DRM-free tracks will be available at a cost of 99p, 20p more than normal tracks.
• The DRM-free tracks will also be doubly encoded, making them of superior quality then the 79p tracks.
• DRM was almost universally unpopular with users since it was first adopted because it makes the business of downloading cumbersome and overcomplicated.
• EMI has suffered continual losses since 2001.
• All CDs are DRM free and can easily be copied - it also doesn't protect profits.
• This heralds an industry-wide recognition that changes will have to be made to accommodate the consumer so that the digital music you purchase will be less restrictive.
• Apple CEO Steve Jobs suggested that as many as 2.5 million tracks would be available through iTunes DRM-free by the end of the year, which extends way beyond EMI's catalogue.
• It was also suggested by Jobs that in time, DRM-free music would be the only kind of music available from iTunes.

The key points of this article (published on Thursday 5th April 2007, The Guardian) are:

• EMI's move to release its catalogue without music protection has been welcomed, but critics claim Apple still has a lock-in.
• At first glance, it seems like a situation where everybody wins: the record label can sell to customers without worrying about interoperability; iPod owners can buy from new outlets; Apple can sell to non-iPod users; other retailers can offer downloads from a big label. And, crucially, customers can (hopefully) stop worrying about interoperability.
• The DRM-free tracks on iTunes are in AAC format, which isn't supported by the majority of digital music players.
• Apple has dropped the proprietary DRM but still have the customer lock-in due to AAC.
• Although AAC might not have the ubiquity of MP3, it is far from being exclusive to Apple. The iTunes store was the first system to popularise the format, but other adopters include Sony, Nokia, Microsoft and Real.
• An independent survey by Canada's Communications Research Centre showed that AAC was higher quality than most of its rivals, even when encoded at the same bitrate.
• If entire catalogues from big labels begin to go DRM-free, some of the hidden costs of restricting rights could also disappear - time spent doing multiple encoding, working on new rights schemes.
• The deal also covers music videos, which will be opened up in the same way, showing how video and audio are coming closer together. And it puts a premium on albums, too, offering bulk purchases at a lower wholesale price.
• Not every record company is going to simply fall behind the idea, and not every customer is going to get exactly what they want. But nearly all observers agree it is a step in the right direction.