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Nokia Adoption Of Microsoft's PlayReady Is DRM Difficulty For Consumers

What on Earth is Nokia thinking? The Finnish cell phone behemoth's move to put Microsoft's DRM is doomed to failure. As I've previously "proved," every consumer DRM technology worthy of the name has been hacked, cracked, and busted.

The news that Nokia is adding DRM to its mobile phones was announced under the innocuous heading of "Nokia adds Microsoft PlayReady technology for flexible access to digital entertainment."

Flexible for whom?, one might ask. Certainly not for the cell phone owner. Ah, but the answer to my question appears in the second paragraph of the Nokia press release:

"By supporting PlayReady, Nokia will make it easier for content owners and service providers to offer premium digital content for a radically increased installed base and enable more flexible business models, such as renting content or accessing it offline."

Possibly this fiction is useful for marketing managers planning out this stuff at the record companies ("content owners") or cellular ("service") providers, because they've presumably got to prepare Powerpoints for their bosses, which show revenue streams from this stuff.

However, for any user that's ever picked up either a cell phone or a music player, it's a load of laughable hogwash.

I'm not even talking about the legal issues, so forget for a moment the fact that upwards of 90 percent of the "content" on all iPods is stuff that hasn't been purchased.

What you need to know is that every system for DRM'ing content to a cellphone has been a disaster for users. Ask most owner of Verizon LG Chocolates what kind of time they have synching up their phones with their PCs to get them loaded up with music. Many have to engage in the unseemly trick of removing the mini-SD card from the phone, putting it in a reader (if they can find one), attaching it to their PC, and then dragging their music files onto the card. Nice and convenient, huh? Don't drop that mini-SD card!

As for the video angle--Nokia notes that PlayReady will also support video content on its mobile phones—-that's been a non-starter in terms of consumer interest thus far.

As best as I can tell, the only phone vendor that hasn't terminally P.O'd its user base over DRM is Apple. Whether that's because the iPhone is new, users will tolerate anything from Apple, or the "pod" portion of the iPhone works so well it's not an issue, I'm not competent to judge.

I submit that Nokia's customers are unlikely to have the same experience. With the company, which is a powerhouse outside of the United States, lately poised for big domestic growth, this DRM play seems to me like an unnecessary diversion.

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