About DRM - Basic information of Digital Rights Management

A lot of people find the purchased music or videos from online stores are under DRM protection. And in this article, you will get to know the basic knowledge of DRM.

What is DRM?

Digital rights management (DRM) is a class of access control technologies that limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. In other words, DRM inhibits uses of digital content that are not desired or intended by the provider. With the DRM technology, hardware manufacturers, publishers and copyright holders can easily prevent customers from unauthorized copying.

In theory, DRM protection is reasonable. But actually, the use of DRM is controversial. That is because the content providers benefits are conflict with customers'. There is no doubt that fighting copyright infringement online can ensure the content provider's continued revenue streams. However, some people think that there is no evidence to show DRM helps prevent copyright infringement, but bring inconvenience to legitimate customers.

How DRM works?

With the rapid development of digital media, more and more people have no limitation to duplicate and share digital content over the Internet. Moreover, they can download songs, movies or other media files without paying a dime. In this occasion, piratical music is very popular. From the investigation, we can easily find that the record companies income is slipping a lot.

Therefore, many companies use DRM technology to prevent unauthorized users from taking their digital content without expressed consent. Some companies began selling CD with DRM software to consumers who thought it was ordinary compact discs. When people played these music on their computers, the DRM software would install secretly, which made the computer insecure and vulnerable.

DRM music:

DRM is in common use by the entertainment industry such as: audio, CD, video, documents, etc. DRM protected discs can no be played on all CD players. These discs are not legitimately standards-compliant CDs but are rather DC-ROM media. Some consumers attempted to play the purchased CDs on their computers, Windows would even crash.

Many online music stores employ DRM to restrict usage of music purchased and downloaded online. Prior to 2009, Apple's iTunes Store utilized the FairPlay DRM system for music so only Apple devices could play iTunes music. Napster music store offers a subscription based approach to DRM alongside permanent purchases. What's more, four global record companies joined the ranks of DRM protection as well.

How to bypass DRM from digital media files?

Due to the inconvenience of the DRM protection, a lot of people try to find the method to get rid of it. There are many methods to bypass DRM control on music and video content.

The most simple method to remove DRM from music is recording.
Burning the content to an audio CD and then ripping it into DRM-free files is also a very popular way.
Another method is to use third part software - DRM removal. This is the most reliable way to remove DRM from protected videos or music.

The Ultimate Package to Rip, Burn and Convert

DRM Media Converter for Mac

Most online media stores provide DRM protected media, so if you want to put these media on different players you must remove DRM at first. Total Media Converter for Mac is a blazing fast combination video converter/DVD ripper that lets you convert video or DVD to any popular standard or HD format. Convert video to import and edit in your favorite applications like Final Cut Pro, or watch on almost any mobile device, including iPhone, iPad, PSP, Android, etc. Learn More +