CES 2007: DRM clashes set for centre stage
Amidst all the cool gadgets set to be unveiled this week at CES, there’s a good chance there’ll be the odd dust-up between the consumer technology industry and Big Media. It’s the age-old dispute over whether new tech equals piracy (remember how home taping killed music back in the 1980s?), with the focus seemingly on digital audio recorders, place-shifting software, and home-video editing applications.
In all cases, the issues are basically the same: media firms thing these new techs are going to spur a wave of content piracy, while the tech firms retort that it’s just allowing us consumers to consume that content how and when we choose.
The Digital Freedom campaign is here, but more intriguingly, several Big Media firms are in evidence at the show, such as Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. They’re mostly here to talk about why Blu-ray / HD-DVD is the best thing since sliced bread, but it’ll be interesting to see if they have anything to say about the whole DRM debate too.
“Protecting and promoting digital freedom in the political, social and commercial contexts may be the most important battle we face in the coming decades,” says Ed Black, executive director of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, in the pack produced by Digital Freedom.
Check out the rest of our CES coverage.
One thought on “CES 2007: DRM clashes set for centre stage”
It’s only a matter of time until the music industry realizes that they can capitalize on digital music to grow their current brick and mortar operations.
Just as advertisers are learning how to better insert ads into programming to avoid TiVo/DVR skipping commercials, they are also finding ways to make advertorial content that users want to view (Burger King games).
Here was a post we did on a study that shows digital music sales lead to higher brick and mortar sales.
http://grooveshark.com/blog/?p=88
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