There's been entirely too much news about the Sony DRM debacle for my l'il old blog to cover. Also, BoingBoing, Rolling Stone, and the MSM have been doing a fine job of covering the fiasco. But here's the basics.
- Boycott Sony. They're evil and have no respect for music fans.
- Even if you didn't buy a Sony CD with the rootkit on it, you're still in trouble. There's another DRM scheme on other CDs, including My Morning Jacket's Z, that will install itself on your computer even if you hit "decline" when asked if you want to install it. (Because "no" means "yes.")
- Sony was incredibly slow in even admitting they had a problem, even as viruses were taking advantage of the secret rootkit to launch on thousands of computers. At its worst, Sony BMG's president Thomas Hesse offered the amazingly tone-deaf comment, "Most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"At first, they claimed to have an uninstaller available which didn't really uninstall the software. Then they started offering replacement CDs - um, hello, you poisoned my computer? I really don't think I want another CD from you. Finally, they made MP3s available to those who bought the poison CDs, MP3s which are doubtlessly being traded all up and down the Internet as revenge.
- MMJ (and other bands) have been nice enough to short-circuit Sony's neanderthal
- reaction by offering their own solution. They're sending fans burned, unprotected copies of the offending CDs. (Speaking of unprotected MP3s, ATO Records - which is owned/distributed by Sony - has just started making their catalog available on EMusic as mp3s with no DRM protection whatsoever. Highlights include two Patty Griffin albums and Mike Doughty's latest, as well as his previous releases. Coincidence?)
- The backlash is large, vast, and growing. Libraries are refusing to buy Sony discs. Lawsuits are flying at a breathtaking pace.
Summary? Digital rights management doesn't work. In the old days, you bought a record or a cassette and it was free - you could tape it, make mix tapes or whatever, and you owned all of it. Now Sony (and others!) are trying to put ridiculous limitations on HOW you own the music you buy. Their latest scheme only exposes the fallacy of needing customers and yet not trusting them. Sony still deserves to be punished for their assault on their customer base. Don't buy Sony CDs for presents - if you must have some of these artists, download the songs from iTunes or EMusic. At least that way, you know what you're getting.
5:06:54 PM 
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