Labels & Studios Mull DRM Comeback

It’s been said, wants gone is gone. But apparently some in the entertainment industry failed to get the memo. A group of major film studios and record labels have joined together once again in an initiative called the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem to find a way to control what happens after you purchase a digital album or movie.

"The goal is to create for downloads the same kind of interoperability that’s been true for physical products, such as CDs and DVDs…Once you’ve acquired a file, you could play it on any of your devices — if it couldn’t be passed directly from one DECE-ready device to another, you’d be allowed to download additional copies. And when you’re away from home, you could stream the file to any device with a DECE-compatible Web browser." – LA Times

Its called domain based digital rights management. Apple already uses a version of it. Total freedom until you want to share what you bought with a friend…or use it on a non-compatible device.This DRM has a new name and may even be a bit less intrusive. But it’s still DRM, and as such faces certain consumer rejection. When will we learn?