Will radio need DRM?
Posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 11:34pm. #
By ‘DRM’, I’m not talking about ‘Digital Radio Mondiale’, but ‘Digital Rights Management’. Yes, that scary thing.
Some manufacturers are making hifis which record a perfect copy of the DAB Digital Radio stream direct to SD card (to the RIAA’s horror); the RIAA had a well-publicised spat against XM for allowing a unit to record off XM radio, and the US is thinking of a law that will mandate DRM on internet streams: but recording off FM radio? Well, that’s different, isn’t it?
Turns out that it’s not too different. The ‘Popcatcher’ (above) is a nifty little FM radio and MP3 combo. From the website, it promises much:
Simply tune in any radio station and dock the MP3 player. The MusicDock recognizes any music category and captures the separate songs automatically. The songs are saved on the MP3 player. The new music is free of charge and legal. In just a few hours the MP3 player will contain near perfectly cut, high quality MP3 files, with no commercials or DJ chatter!
No computers or internet connections are needed to collect your MP3 tracks! It’s very easy to use.
If someone could get the music on your radio station without the “DJ chatter” or commercials, would they tick that RAJAR diary? I doubt it. Which is why radio has to be more than just music stuck together. The bits between the records are our greatest asset.
But, we mustn’t forget that the music is also an asset: and, more than that, we depend on the record companies to an extent. It doesn’t matter whether, as an industry, we get shouted at by one ignorant record plugger to “show some f*cking respect” when a piss-poor singer begins to be drowned out at an industry party by, um, people talking to each other (happened this week, folks) – we still rely on the record companies to produce much of what people tune in for.
One thing’s for certain: the future’s multi-platform. If the record companies insist on the radio industry using DRM on platforms like DAB, the internet, or even FM, then all the radio sets people own won’t work any more. At all. Which will kill our industry stone dead.
So. Should we be concerned about automated recording off the radio – particularly like the PopCatcher? Or is it not our problem and nothing for us to worry about?
(Incidentally, some record companies are apparently rethinking DRM totally…)
Nick Piggott
Seb
I’m sceptical that the PopCatcher is a real technology, or that it behaves anywhere near its claims. Many things about their product just don’t ring true. It wouldn’t be unheard of for a technology company to claim remarkable functionality in a bid to raise profile and funding to explore whether or not their concept can be realised. I suppose this rash of blogging about it might just be step 1.
DRM is a concept that either requires 100% adherence, or it’s worthless. Given that it’s virtually impossible to get Asian manufacturers to 100% comply to anything (an experience we’ve had this week with anther allegedly reputable technology manufacturer), the DRM model is irreparably holed below the water line. Dutch boys, dykes, fingers and holes comes to mind, and who wants to run around sticking fingers in dykes for a living? Watermarking maybe – but absolutely control and protection is a flawed practicality.