Imagine if you will…

I know nobody buys music CDs anymore, but let’s imagine you’re a collector. Or vinyl or whatever it is you want.

Before, you just bought the music and played it.

Nowadays you come home and stick it in your stereo, maybe play it on the car ride home, and listen to it. But before the music starts, it’s a voice telling you to call (or text) a phone number and rattle off some digits printed on the CD case before you can play it. Fine, you do it, seems a bit silly, though. Let’s call this simple DRM if you haven’t figured out my point by now.

Some companies start tying your disc to the first player you inserted it in, meaning you can’t play it on your home stereo if you played it in your car first. You can only play it in your car from then on. Or, maybe it allows you to play it in a certain number of stereos, but after that it can never be played again. At least this way you can lend it to a friend, right? Unless, of course, you dig it out 10 years later to play again out of nostalgia only to discover that the activation service is suspended! Oh well, back to bootlegging. (moderate DRM)

Well, a change is coming. What’s about to happen is when you buy music, you can only play it while you’re connected to the internet through the first stereo you tried it on. If you upgrade stereos or your stereo breaks, tough luck. If your disc breaks, you have to buy a brand new one that’s never been played by anyone else. And if you’re out of town, your cable’s out, your router is on the flub, or even years down the line when the system servers go down, you’re shit out of luck and your purchases have been a total waste. (next-gen)

Ha.