Beep…beeping… Beeb

As I reported earlier on this blog that venerable web institution (if there is such a thing for a media that is only 20 years old) the BBC has decided that it will embrace the new multimedia aspects of the ’net with gusto and deliver it’s quite superb audio and video content when the licence payer wants it rather than when the BBC decides to schedule it.

Unfortunately this visual feast will only be applicable to those using the Windows operating system. My licence fee will still be paid but I won’t be able to access the BBC’s content on my main PC as I can currently.

Don’t forsake me oh my darling…

It is not only Linux users that are targeted in this assault on the minorities; all the Mac varieties will also be effected. Basically any system built on an open system will lose this new video and audio stream.

The reason? Three little letters D… R… M, Digital Rights Management. What does it mean? It means the consumer has the right to pain. For those that have no knowledge of DRM I try to give an example below:

Know your Digital Rights Management

There is a good chance you’ve used DRM without even knowing it as it is the prohibition of choice for iTunes. If you buy any digital recording (what used to be called a ‘single’ though may be better called a track now) from the major suppliers (iTunes, Napster, Virgin, HMV etc.) the file you receive is DRM–encumbered. This means that while it may well play beautifully on your current iPod and computer, when you have to change either of those bits of hardware you may well lose the right to play that song. I say may simply because some music providers have less restrictive DRM than others. iTunes allows you to ‘share’ your purchase among up to three different physical players (obviously they all have to be Apple produced hardware), but the restriction on the main computer that you used to download the file originally remains the same: should you have to replace it or any major part of that computer (mainboard, processor, hard drive etc) then say goodbye to your iTunes purchases.

Sound unfair? Even some major players in the business think so! Apple, Microsoft(!), EMI all say that the current state of DRM is a mess. It treats normal consumers as criminals without a hearing and in most cases without even a crime!

Surely not the BBC, the bastion of public services?

Hard to believe especially as the BBC’s web offerings have always been very keen to be accessible to all flavours of operating system and web browser for as long as I can remember. Still the copyright holders (or their companies) are very powerful in the media industry and if they say “DRM’it” they mean DRM’it.

The BBC have caved in to these demands but not publicised it on any webpage I have been able to find. The BBC News website even has a Q&A on DRM but no mention of the BBC using it!

I learnt about the full scale Windowsisation of the content from a weekly geek–sheet called Micro Mart (15-21 Feb 2007), in answering a question on whether the BBC were excluding Linux users from their television download service, Jason Walsh said:

As I understand it, the BBC’s streaming and download services will be Windows only and, therefore, not available to users of other operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X.
The reason for this is not technical or technological. Instead, it’s a matter of copyright, of all things! The BBC has signed up to use Microsoft’s so–called digital rights management software on its programming in order to restrict just who can view it and then what they can do with the material once downloaded.

DRM — don’t accept it

What can you do about it?

  • Music wise (in the UK) you could continue to buy CDs. Very last century I know but they work well and are generally easy to rip to a MP3, OGG or FLAC digital format. Then you can upload them on ANY MP3 player you own! Ah the freedom.
  • Complain to the BBC for their disregard of a geek minority.
  • Stamp your foot and scream till your red in the face (generally only works if you’re three though).

Whatever you do remember that the media industries have a point regarding copyright; the people creating the music and movies you love have a right to be paid for their work just like anyone else.

Posted on 18/02/2007 11:56 am by Jack Large

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