Artificial Cheese

Portable digital media has got the business men and money makers trippin’. They see a huge demand for MP3s and videos, and in trying to satisfy that demand they realize that the product is uncontrollable. Well known and proven methods of manufacturing and distribution are inapplicable to products that are not manifested physically. Also, the product can be replicated and distributed free of charge after it enters the marketplace.

Companies crazy enough to enter this arena have been faced with these new and complicated problems. The response has been hiring think-tanks and implenting complicated technology-driven protection schemes that are in place to prevent the propagation of their products.

The result has been an annoying, perplexing and cumbersome process to retrieve and play music. Proprietary software and unintuative methods have impaired a simple consumer’s ability to get online and buy what they want without thinking too much. Digital media distribution companies such as Rhapsody and iTunes have approached a complex problem with an equally complex solution.

My message to these companies is blunt, MAKE IT SIMPLE. Get rid of your silly protection schemes and cryptic formats. Your customers don’t know about DRM and they don’t want to know about DRM. The competing P2P community is more than accomodating to even the least computer savvy users, and their product is free. Those honest customers who choose to actually pay for music and videos are met with unfriendly interfaces and overcomplicated payment plans that inspire them to steal. They end up returning to the simple and easy world of piracy.