We all understand why DRM is implemented in the first place, which is essentially to prevent piracy and ensure revenue for those who produced the software. However, there may be times when DRM policies on certain products become a little bit too rigid, which may be the case for Nokia's N-Gage service. More details in the full article.

If you consider yourself an audiophile that lives outside the US, acquiring music online can sometimes be a bummer. Now, the latest offering of Amazon could probably help you out.

They have released an announcement that they will be launching Amazon Mp3 this year giving access to music lovers to one of the biggest collection of online songs. Details in the full article.

If you can't get enough of playing games on your mobile like Nokia's patented N-Gage mobile phone, then Sony Ericsson is about to offer you something new to quench that gaming itch of yours. In a recent announcement from the mobile service provider, Sony Ericsson has announced that it will be upgrading its existing PlayNow service to cater a wide selection of mobile entertainment downloads to its subscribers worldwide.

Check out the entire article right after the jump!

With the building hype and upcoming release of the iPhone, a lot of mobile phones have gone relatively unnoticed. O2 is looking to change that with their newest baby, O2 Cocoon. Judging from the specs of this clamshell-type phone, it looks to be a miniature marvel.

The said phone has a white exterior that lights up to reveal a LED display basically used for showing the time and caller ID. Another cool thing with this phone is that it remains useful even when you're at home. How? If you drop it in its dock is can act as a bedside FM radio alarm clock, or even a mini stereo system by using the dock’s built-in 3.5mm socket.

Audiophiles may also want to know that it has an internal memory of 2GB that goes well with its built-in MP3 player. IF that's not enough music for you, you can always pick up a 2GB Micro SD card and double the memory of the phone. Another interesting thing to note is that this phone is built to handle the new DRM-free AAC iTunes Plus downloads with no problems. And as a nod to the popularity of Bluetooth headset among audiophiles, the phone is compatible with wire-free cans.

So how much will this beauty set you back? It costs a whopping £300 (About US$ 592) on PAYG or you can get it free with a £35+ (about US$ 70) /mth subscription. Be sure to keep checking back here for the latest on mobile phones.

 

Fred Amoroso, the CEO of DRM, electronic licensing e-licensing, and software asset managment provider">Macrovision, the original DRM company, has made a response to Steve Jobs' open letter regarding the role of Digital Rights Management (DRM) in the current electronic content marketplace. In his response, Mr. Amoroso highlights four major points.

First, is that DRM is just broader than music, and that DRM has an impact across many forms of content across different media. Therefore, the discussion should not be limited to just music.

Second, Amoroso asserts that DRM increases, rather than decreases consumer value. He says that without reasonable, consistent, and transparent DRM, there will only be a delay in consumers receiving premium, quality content in their homes in the way they want it.

Third, Amoroso believes that DRM will increase electronic distribution. He says that if owners of high-value content are asked to enter or stay in an environment/platform that offers no protection for their content, there will be no reason for them to enter.

And finally, Amoroso notes that what DRM needs is for it to be interoperable and open. He says that true interoperable DRM will speed the shift to the electronic distribution of content and make it easier for consumers to manage and share content in the home. He adds that it will also enable an open environment where content is portable across a number of devices and not held hostage in just one company's product.

Amoroso expounds:

As an industry, we can overcome the DRM challenges. A commitment to transparent, interoperable and reasonable DRM will effectively bridge the gap between consumers and content owners, eliminate confusion and make it possible for new releases and premium content to enter the digital environment and kick off a new era of entertainment.

We feel that we should have enough self-control to not laugh out loud at the use of words like "enabler" and "not decreases consumer value", and take those points suggested by Mr. Amoroso with reason. We're not sure about you folks though. We'll leave the laughing, nitpicking, and debating for and against DRM to you guys.

Anyway, here's a pseudo-analytical look at this. Jobs' letter said something that implies something like this: "The industry wants something impossible, like a unicorn headed for candy mountain." Macrovision's response is this: "Yeah! Candy Mountain rocks! Let's grow pink wings, turn into unicorns and fly to Candy Mountain!"

Double plus ungood. Read the exec's letter yourselves via our "read" link below.

Redmond giant Microsoft announced a new DRM, PlayReady, this time aimed at mobile devices. PlayReady is designed to provide digital media options to mobile network operators. If there's one thing you can count on, PlaysForSure DRMed media can be accessed through PlayReady.

Companies such as O2, Verizon Wireless, Bouygues Telecom, and Cingular Wireless/AT&T all lined up their own mobile packages that will include the DRM package. It will provide games, ringtones, music, video, ringtones, and images for distribution through rent or subscription.

PlayReady will also be compatible with Windows Media DRM 10, so mobile phones can download DRM-protected songs from online stores and play them. Interoperability programs will be provided by Microsoft so that other DRM content providers can make use of the technology.

Although it appears as a Microsoft stunt to boost development and marketing of their DRM technology, they say that the new DRM is a critical solution in the mobile content market. PacketVideos is teaming up with Microsoft to provide optimized version of the DRM over several popular handsets. PacketVideos CEO James C. Brailean said:

Microsoft PlayReady will have an immediate positive impact on the mobile entertainment market. With the rapid growth of mobile content services, Microsoft PlayReady technology will quickly emerge as a mission-critical ingredient for new consumer applications because it combines greater flexibility for content and services with a rock-solid technology foundation.

Microsoft has made no claim as to whether PlayReady will support the Zune's DRM on MarketPlace. They expect it to be available in the first half of 2007 and will be demonstrating PlayReady at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona this week, alongside PacketVideo.

Microsoft, the biggest software manufacturer in the world have filed a lawsuit against the hacker that created FairUse4WM, the application which originally appeared in August. The application reportedly has the ability to bypass Windows Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology which is supposed to restrict the use of online purchased media to ensure copyright is not infringed. The FairUse4WM program strips DRM from Microsoft's WMA (Windows Media Audio) format of all copyright restrictions, allowing users to do what they want with the audio files.

Over the past month Microsoft has issued numerous patches in order to try and thwart the FairUse4WM threat, however the hacker, known only as 'Viodentia', has been keeping one step behind Microsoft, releasing new versions of the program when Microsoft update their DRM software.  Due to the promptness of Viodenta's releases, Microsoft claims that he has access to Microsoft source code and have therefore filed a lawsuit against him.

In a post on the Internet on Wednesday, Viodentia denied using any copyrighted Microsoft source code code, and as if in an effort to provoke Microsoft even more, released an updated version of his DRM-cracking tool. "FairUse4WM has been my own creation, and has never involved Microsoft source code," said Viodentia. "I link with Microsoft's static libraries provided with the compiler and various platform SDK (software development kit) files."

Is Viodentia an innocent person wanting the free distribution of data or a strategic hacker with a personal vendetta against Microsoft - Sound off in the comments!

There have been rumors going around about a program called Fairuse4wm being available on the internet which is said to be capable of bypassing Microsoft's Digital Rights Management system. While this could be good news to some, it's definitely the opposite case for Microsoft and for online music stores.

For the benefit of those who do not know, DRM (Digital Rights Management)  is designed to restrict the use of purchased music online to ensure copyright is not infringed. Now we've heard that a message on the doom9.org forum put up links to an application called Fair Use for Windows Media, and is now being circulated among different websites. This application is said to be capable of circumventing the DRM system. How it works: the application strips Windows Media audio (wma) files of Microsoft's DRM 10 or 11 protection, and removes usage restrictions.

Senior product manager for Windows Client Division Marcus Matthias said "Microsoft is aware that a tool recently surfaced that circumvents Windows Media Digital Rights Management technology.Fortunately, the Windows Media DRM system has built-in renewability, we have an update to address the circumvention, and are working with our partners to deploy this solution." Other than that, Microsoft has remained unavailable for comment.

However, owners of websites that allow song downloads, such as Paul Myers of Wippit, think that perhaps this calls for legal unrestricted content being made as the norm for online music downloads, instead of it being the exception. Myers also thinks that the spread of the Fairuse4wm could encourage more hackers to attempt to breach Microsoft's DRM system. Hopefully, Microsoft is already working on a system upgrade to deal with future attempts to crumble their current DRM system.

It seems that the e-book industry is getting a much-needed rejuvenation. The industry has sufferred from a slow and long take-off and when it finally did, it was marred by different consumer and reader issues, to getting content from one device to another, and its issue with digital rights management (DRM).

But a good news for those who are willing to deviate from the traditional way of reading books.  A new ebook standard has been adopted, and many major ebook and publishing players are backing it. The new standard, called IDPF (International Digital Puslihing Forum) is based on the OEBPS (Open ebook Publication Structure), an XML-based ebook format. Companies such as Mobipocket, Adobe, and OSoft have already expressed that they will be offering support for IDPF in the future.

As early as now, IDPF has begun working to formalize its cooperation and collaboration with other organizations. While the needs of the digital publishing industry may require specific technologies, IDPF policy is to build on broader information technology standards wherever possible. Such organization includes  the OASIS International standards consortium which hopes that the IDPF OEBPS container format may be further advanced within OASIS as a general file containment technology standard.

Ever have trouble moving content between your phone and your computer? Well, that may be getting a bit easier. NTT DoCoMo of Japan announced it will be porting Windows Media DRM (Digital Rights Management) to its 3G handsets, which will mean content can be moved between phones and PCs bypassing the Open Mobile Alliance DRM.

Microsoft will grab a big customer base with Windows Media technologies on all NTT DoCoMo's FOMA 3G handsets. And the agreement will also mean an alliance of partners in DoCoMo's i-Mode mobile internet platform who may be looking to put Microsoft DRM into their devices, too.

How many people could this affect? Well, i-Mode has 250m subscribers in 15 countries, and over 50m use the content and internet platform. Most handset makers don't want to port Windows Media DRM to anything other than Windows Mobile, since it gives Microsoft a foothold to build on their phone architecture. However, it may be good for us consumers down the road. By supporting Windows Media Audio and potentially adding VC-1, a Windows Media bundled codec, phones could have direct access to online music and video services, with or without a connection to a PC.

DoCoMo's F902iS model, scheduled to ship this summer will be the first to include Microsoft's Windows Media Audio and Digital Rights Management 10 software. DoCoMo says they are evaluating Microsoft's Windows Media Video for future handsets. Support for Windows Media technologies means that these phones will work with over 100 online music services.

Now, the question is whether Microsoft's Windows Media DRM will be licensed to other, non-Microsoft platforms, and offered to other operators.