An update to yesterday's post, Argghh, stupid copy protected CDs.

I just read this article from Techdirt. It describes how the Korean music industry is trying something new...they're providing DRM-free tracks available at a 40% higher price than the DRM-infested tracks.

An interesting tactic. Personally, I think 40% is a little steep. I'm not sure that I would pay $21 for a DRM-free CD that costs $15 when protected. Wait a minute...I'm positive that I wouldn't pay the 40% markup. In fact, that's outrageous. Now if they took the opposite approach to the theory then it opens up some possibilities. I might agree to it if the DRM-free CD was sold for the current standard price point of $15 and the DRM-infested one was sold at $11. That might be palatable. I can certainly see people buying the $11 protected CD who just want the cheapest version, don't care about the software or don't use player devices other than a standard CD player.

I still believe this is simply a band-aid to the bigger issue. From yesterday's post, "it [DRM technology] needs to be user-friendly and should assume the user's innocence instead of their guilt (as it does today)."

~tod

tags: DRM copy+protected