Thoughts on DRM and “Comes with Music”
July 22, 2009 by Jayvee Fernandez
Filed under Nokia
With the RIAA going on record saying that DRM is obsolete, we’re in for more interesting times. We all knew it. But for them to actually say this really pushes a no holds barred approach to DRM as something that really punishes the ones who legally download and purchase music.
Apple and Amazon have been selling DRM free music for quite some time but Nokia’s Comes with Music offer may actually be the best cake consumers would want to take a bite from. Simply put, free music for one year when you buy a new Nokia phone. Tempting offer. Unlimited downloads for songs and to be honest, even if these tracks had DRM in them, you wouldn’t care. Or would you? I probably would if I wanted to transfer them to my computer. But when the DRM war is finally abandoned, Nokia’s Comes with Music option may actually prove to be the best deal in the world. Is there a loophole here? The cost of buying the cheapest XpressMusic phone, assuming it “Comes with Music” is still cheaper than buying a year’s worth of tracks. With no more DRM, transferring songs would be so easy.
So it makes me wonder … would you be buying the phone to get the free songs for an entire year?
