DRM = Doesn’t Really Matter

It’s true, DRM just doesn’t really matter.  The music industry has pretty much seen the light at this point with Amazon now offering tracks from all four major labels DRM free.  How much longer will it take for the movie industry to realize the same truth?

Blu-Ray’s vaunted BD+ encryption scheme was supposed to give it the upper edge over HD-DVD’s ill-fated AACS encryption scheme.  The news on this front the last couple of days has been software maker SlySoft’s crack of BD+.

My favorite little tidbit is this statement by the Blu-Ray camp:

Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group will have to revise his statement from July, 2007 regarding BD+: “BD+, unlike AACS which suffered a partial hack last year, won’t likely be breached for 10 years”. It is worth mentioning that since he made that statement only eight months have gone by.

We’ll see how this shakes up.  DRM, once again, proves that it is barely a deterrent to pirates while a genuine hassle for legitimate consumers who wish to back up their physical media.