D R M
i
c
c
To DRM or not to DRM,
Y
e
that is the question
Vishwanath Alluri expects few to
argue that rich media services,
music and video offer the most
obvious growth opportunities
especially for the mobile sector.
A visit to Vodafone UK’s MusicStation page (http://www.
vodafonemusic.co.uk/products/musicstation.cfm), illustrates
the problem for Omnifone and for any other content owner
or provider trying to access an operator’s entire subscriber
base. Vodafone UK’s MusicStation requires a compatible
handset and, at the time of writing, the web page
Smart listed just four handset brands and for two of
mobile those brands, only a single handset was listed.
phones As well as having the core capabilities, those
with the handsets presumably also need a compatible
core processing client application installed and DRM facilities.
power, video
rendering capability and It is the same problem that has restricted the
audio playback facilities mobile content industry for years – in the real
are now the norm. Mobile world, there are an enormous range of manufacturers,
operators have the networks in operating systems and protocols. Added to that is the
place to support high data rates. legacy of millions of handsets with varying degrees of
‘All you can eat’ data subscription functionality and adherence to industry agreed standards.
packages are coming on stream around As far as DRM is concerned, some handsets simply aren’t
the world and sophisticated, standards based, digital capable, some adhere to proprietary standards and some
rights management (DRM), technologies are available. to varying developments of industry standards (e.g. the
Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) DRM 1.0 and 2.0 standards).
The consumption of music on portable devices is
well established and so on the face of it, we ought There is a similar situation with Nokia’s ‘Music Store’
to be seeing exponential growth in the sector but and Nokia’s ‘Comes with Music’. Even though Nokia is a
the fact is that your average 18 to 30 year old is still sponsoring member of the OMA, the company chose to adopt
likely to be carrying around two devices – a mobile Microsoft’s WMA DRM for the music store and Microsoft’s
handset and an MP3 player, probably an iPod. PlayForSure DRM for Comes with Music. It is no surprise
that handsets using non-Windows operating systems don’t
The problem is illustrated very well by Omnifone’s necessarily support WMA DRM or PlayForSure DRM.
MusicStation. Hailed as the iPod challenger, MusicStation
provides users with unlimited access to around one million In fact the Nokia Music Store is only supported on a small
DRM protected music tracks for a fixed monthly fee. All number of the Nokia handsets currently in circulation.
the tracks are available all the time, subject to the user Nokia’s Comes with Music allows access to ‘unlimited’ music
remaining a subscriber. It’s a good service and it’s personal downloads but as soon as users end their subscription
to the user, rather than the handset so subscribers can they need to buy a new device if they want to acquire more
take their preferences and playlists with them if they music. This is because the subscription is between Nokia
change handsets. Omnifone has been happily signing and Universal and not the record label and the consumer.
deals with operators around the world and there should be
no reason why its model shouldn’t work in the long term Although the vast majority of handsets now in circulation
but there are significant limitations in the short term. have some form of rich media capability, content owners and
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