The DRM of SpiralFrog
For starters, SpiralFrog will use the WMA audio-file format developed by Microsoft, which will not play on the iPod product line. WMA reportedly has strong DRM [digital rights management], but there have been reports recently that it too has been hacked. WMA also is the file format used by OverDrive and NetLibrary for their downloadable digital-audiobook services, the two major services of this type for libraries. This may be a self-serving reason to root for SpiralFrog. If SpiralFrog is successful, maybe Apple will cave in and allow WMA files to be played on their devices. – Tom Peters
I play WMA files on my iPod all the time. I just use iTunes to convert them to MP3 first. Then they play just fine.
The (big) downside here is that the music at SpiralFrog will be wrapped in strange DRM that requires regular logging in the the ad driven SpiralFrog service in order for the music files to continue playing. Standard DRM of limited devices, copies and Windows only applies as well. Some people say it’s still a big step because it’s free music, I (and others) question the technical coercion and wish there was some better way to do it. – Marshall Kirkpatrick
Of course, I can do that because none of the WMA files in question are locked with DRM.
What bitrate is high enough for you to accept DRM from a vendor who locks you, the listener, to its own platform? For me personally the answer to that question is: none. I don’t care if I could close my eyes and swear that I was in the same room with the LSO while God himself played his heart out on first chair violin, the trade-off for platform evangelistic DRM isn’t worth my time. – Grant Robertson
It isn’t Apple that we need to cave. It is the content companies that still insist on treating their customers like criminals.
