A Rant about digital media. You have been warned.

Eric Whitfield, a visiting blogger at Tame the Web, wrote an excellent piece on the possible demise of Digital Rights Management. I encourage you to read the comments as well.

I haven’t gotten much into mp3 music, let alone iPods, mainly because proprietary software and/or media formats bug me. It’s annoying that I can’t access the content of a DVD purchased on vacation. I want to be able to visit my relatives, get some DVDs, and watch them at home. I can’t because of the region codes. And this is only 8 hours away, for Pete’s sake! Getting my DVDs in the U.S. is only a partial solution. Sure, I can get mainstream American movies, should I be interested in them, but movies in my language, made by my countrymen, simply aren’t available here. (U.S. releases won’t usually happen either; the numbers are too small for world scale businesses.) It’s infuriating that some backward industry boss decides what I’m able to view, all in the name of better service for consumers. Media in electronic format should be as easily portable as books and magazines for true consumer benefit. Copyright protection is a problem, I’m not denying that. However, if the media industry wants my money, they’re going to have to stop their navel gazing and work harder. A lot harder.