There's 3 three things that annoy me about DRM (well, to be honest, there's puh-lenty of things about DRM that annoy me, but let's stick with these for the moment):
1. This is how i feel about any technology designed to prevent savvy users from doing what they're going to do anyway:
the more you tighten your grip, tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers!
2. Even the name annoys me! "digital rights management" - whose rights? to what? it's got to be the rights of huge corporations to control products and profits, or the rights of lawyers to make money off the creativity of others, cause it sure don't seem like it's protecting the rights of musicians not to get screwed to the wall ...
3. The most damning thing to me about DRM -- it just isn't cool! i mean, really, we live in a time when there is SO much cool shit going on with technology: YouTube, pictures from Saturn, ProTools, hey, i got better things to care about than "managing micro-payments" and "limiting consumer choice of playback devices" -- bleah! booo-ring! let's go make some noise ... even better, let's go listen to some real musicians making real noise in real time (and buy a few rounds of drinks) ... even better, i heard about this great DJ on MySpace ...
(Note: there is one group of people who get it, who understand that if you make it fun and easy and COOL to buy music, people will (i certainly do!) ... in my (power)book, iTunes = cool, everything else = kinda lame. Apple actually makes me feel good about giving them money, whereas the other guys usually just piss me off ... and in case you hadn't noticed, downloadable video is the Next Big Thing, and iTunes rocks for that. me, personally, i will gladly shell out $2 to watch that episode of Battlestar Galactica i missed [without the asinine commercials], or even better, Chappelle's Show without the fucking censorship -- now, how cool is that!? :)
- pdx
p.s. my standard joke on the matter: the ultimate DRM - a chip implanted in your head so that every time you hear a piece of music, somebody gets a penny.
Editorial Note: this rant is based in part on Lessons Learned #3 and represents the personal viewpoint of an easily annoyed musician ... any attempts to make generalizations, recommendations or business plans based on these opinions would be considered reckless at best.
feel free to post comments on what annoys you about DRM, or as usual, you can send them directly to the annoying audio guy ...
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IMHO, the single most annoying thing about DRM is that it only affects honest media buyers.
Use an illegal DRM-free copy, and you can (technically) do whatever you want with it; legally buy a DRM-"protected" file, and you run into all kinds of limitations, including a few that are just utterly moronic. DVD region code, anyone? If I've legally bought a DVD in the US, why can't I play it on a DVD player legally bought in Europe?
Makes you wonder: why should us media buyers be honest if your honesty isn't honored by the media companies...