Posts Tagged ‘DRM free’

Amazon’s DRM free music

May 4th, 2010 Brad McGraw

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If you haven’t heard by now Amazon has a large selection of digital music. Over 8 million songs, and 1 million plus albums. Not too shabby. You can get samples of each track to make sure you’re getting the right song, which is a nice feature. In the song descriptions they’ll also tell you what it is compatible with, iPod, MP3 players, WMP.

What is typically not known is that the majority of the music on Amazon is DRM free. Well some of it is. If you look at Amazon’s ‘Getting Started’ section it says:

The MP3 files you purchase from Amazon.com do not contain any software (frequently referred to as “digital rights management” software) that will restrict your use of the file. When you make a purchase from the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads store, you are accepting and bound by the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use.

So this is pretty good news, if you don’t like DRM in your music it seems that Amazon is a great place to grab it from. However the next paragraph is the one you need to be aware of.

Our ability to offer music to you in MP3 format is limited by the rights granted to us by the record companies. Currently, not all record companies grant us a license to sell their music for download in MP3 format free of digital rights management software.

I took a look around and didn’t find any mention of DRM on a song, I was looking for something like how GamersGate mentions DRM on the games it sells. So I sent off a question about this to their Customer Support people, this was the response I received.

Hello from Amazon.com.

Thank you for asking about use restrictions on MP3 files downloaded from Amazon.com. We do not have any MP3 songs that have DRM. Our MP3 files contain no digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, are provided in an industry standard MP3 format, and should be compatible with most systems capable of reading MP3 audio files.

However, when you make a purchase from the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads store, you are also accepting and bound by the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use available at this URL:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200154280

The files you purchase from Amazon MP3 Music Downloads are free of any digital rights management software to allow you more freedom with managing your music library; however, we do ask that you respect the licensing agreements outlined by Amazon.com and our content providers. This includes avoiding any use of the MP3 files that is specifically prohibited in the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use.

I hope you found this information helpful. You can also access additional information about our MP3 Music Downloads in our Help pages here:

www.amazon.com/help/amazonmp3

So what to believe? They’ve added the caveat that some songs may have DRM, yet deny that they have any. So for right now I would say that its still buyer beware, however I’d give Amazon the benefit of the doubt that most of the tracks are DRM free. However, if you know a song or CD has DRM from another vendor, it may still have it on Amazon. At least until they can be more clear answer on their DRM policy without caveats.

Now on the plus side, Amazon has over 1,600 FREE songs. Free as in no cost, just download away. So if you’re looking for new bands to listen to and discover free is the way to start.

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Wait for the sunset.

March 24th, 2010 Brad McGraw

Sunset

No I’m not talking about taking a romantic walk on the beach with your significant other, which can be a very nice thing to do. I am talking about a term called ‘sun setting’. What that means is that the DRM on the game gets removed, its served its purpose, its run its course, and the publishers have decided to release a patch that completely removes the DRM from the game. Its happened before, and it will continue to happen on future games.

The point? If you don’t like DRM, just wait. In fact Josh Lowensohn recently wrote an article titled ‘How to get DRM-free PC games: Just wait’.

Gamers have long known that patience is rewarded with cheaper, less-buggy games. But does that adage hold true for the inclusion of digital rights management as well? Not always, but history does show us that time makes even the strictest of DRM less sucky.

And he’s right. Not all publishers will do this for all games, but it has been done for a number of games already. World in Conflict, which patched out its DRM completely, is one quick example. Some times only parts of a DRM is removed. For example, the removal of the activation limits from BioShock while the general SecuROM remains.

Because there are two ways to purchase games now, retail and digital download, DRM removal may happen on retail, but not digital (such as Dawn of Discovery, which had Tages removed from its retail version, but not its digital one). So you do need to keep an eye out on what is removed.

The problem is not all gamers like to wait, we are a particularly impatient bunch. The reason games sell so well in the first month or two, no matter the DRM on the game, is because we ‘just have to play the game’. Its tough to stand your ground when all your friends are raving about the game, yet you say your waiting till the DRM is removed. Fingers get pointed, names get called, laughing commences, its not a pretty site. However if you can live through the shame of it all, wait. Its not going to kill you and your computer will thank you.

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Activision to release classic games DRM free on Good Old Games

January 27th, 2010 Cliff Riseborough

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In an exclusive (that broke even GoG’s own countdown to the announcement of the deal), Cnet has disclosed that the big new deal the Good Old Games site has been counting down to is disclosing an agreement with Activision.

The first two releases will be RPG Arcanum : Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura from 2001 and Gabriel Knight : Sins of the Fathers from 1993. Each game will retail on GoG for $5.99. Both games were originally part of the Sierra catalog, most of which has come under Activision’s control since they closed the studio a year ago.

Considering the back catalog Activison-Blizzard actually has control over, this is a very exciting new addition to the GOG catalog.

To give you an idea of what games we’re talking about, here is a list of Activision’s PC catalog. They are the publisher of most of id Software’s titles, the Call of Duty series, a lot of classic LucasArts titles, and most of the old Sierra and Infocom back catalogs. They also have ownership of Blizzard, so they have their back catalog available as well. That’s a lot of REALLY good games.

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