Tag: drm
RUMOUR: iTunes to add DRM-free Sony music
SonyBMG, soon to be Sony Music Entertainment Inc, is one of the four major music labels, and features bands and artists like the Ting Tings, AC/DC and Dido. If rumours are correct, then music from those bands and many others will soon be available on the iTunes store DRM-free.
Currently, EMI are the only major label to offer MP3 files on iTunes Plus – Apple’s name for their DRM-free, slightly higher quality, offering that costs 25% more per track than DRMed files. If Sony’s music is added, it will be a plus for Apple, but they still lag far far behind services like 7digital, who are 100% DRM-free, and remain my a la carte MP3 download provider of choice.
While we’re at it, do you know what the most downloaded catalogue song ever on iTunes is? Soundscan, over the weekend, determined that it’s the epic “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey. Classic. I’ve embedded a video of them playing it live just after the jump. Power Ballads first thing on a Monday morning are just what everyone needs.
DRM on Sacred 2: Fallen Angel encourages sharing
Now this is what I like to see. DRM that rewards customers who’ve bought games, not punishes them. The DRM system on a new PC game – Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – allows any purchaser of a full physical or digital copy the right to pass the game around as many people as they like. The recipients will get 24 hours worth of full gameplay before they have the option to either uninstall or buy the game.
It’s fantastic because it lets people who’ve paid for the game share their love of it, but still helps people buy it. Users who upgrade from a shared copy won’t need to do any more installing, just put in an activation code. A round of applause for publishers ASCARON, please.
Related posts: EA sued over Spore DRM | Buy Audiosurf for £1.60
Gibson releasing free limited edition high-def guitar album online
Gibson Guitar has announced that it’s releasing a music album, featuring performances by some of the world’s best guitarists, exclusively for download from HDTracks.com.
Gibson Presents: Hot Tones in High-Definition will be available for just sixty days from 6th October (yesterday, by my calculations, though the web site still lists it as “available for download soon”) in a variety of high quality audio formats including uncompressed AIFF and FLAC and 320kbps MP3, all DRM-free…
The lowdown on Comes with Music – not unlimited, comes with DRM
The finer details of Nokia’s “Comes with Music” service have just been revealed to us here at Tech Digest. “Comes With Music” is the latest in a long line of digital music services which have been billed as the saviour of the music industry…
SPORESUIT: EA sued over Spore DRM
The Spore DRM Wars rumble on. The latest development is that a class action suit has been filed in the Northern District of California court. It’s being brought on behalf of Melissa Thomas, and all other Spore purchasers. That includes me, actually…
OPINION: Sony Ericsson's "PlayNow" service is a little better than it first appeared
I was a bit doubtful of “PlayNow” when it first appeared on my radar. I’m still not convinced that it’ll suddenly persuade everything that it’s worth buying music again, but the deal is slightly sweeter than it originally appeared to be…
EA to ease Spore's DRM restrictions
EA says they will be launching a patch for Spore in response to fans’ anger over the game’s DRM restrictions that will enable users to install the downloaded version of the game more than three times.
It will work my dissociating each version of the game as it is removed from a computer…
Spore fans in uproar create DRM protest species
Users within Will Wright’s latest game, Spore, have been creating creatures protesting the game’s draconian DRM measures. The animals, pictured above, are rapidly populating the Universe of user-generated-creatures online. Although it’s certainly not the strangest thing we’ve seen within the menagerie of creatures brought to life by the game, there’s a certain charm to these shambling monstrosities…
7digital sign up Sony and go 100% DRM-free in their digital music store
This morning, in a loft in Shoreditch, 7Digital announced that their digital music catalogue is to become 100% free of DRM. The last holdout among the major labels – SonyBMG – has bowed to consumer demand and agreed to sell its catalogue of 250,000 tracks in MP3 format, as opposed to the restricted WMA format. Even better, all SonyBMG tracks that customers have previously bought will be upgraded to MP3s at no cost. All MP3s are at 320kbps quality…
Sporegasm: Creationists and gamers angered but Maxis release game prototypes to quell the riots
This is three stories in one really, so I apologise in advance for the length of this post. The three things I’m about to cover are as follows: Creationists are trying to ban Spore in the USA due to its evolutionary content, video-game fans are slamming EA and refusing to buy the game due to its DRM system, and EA have released a bunch of early prototypes of different aspects of the game….
