The Drm Controversy and How it Affects your Legal Mp3 Music Downloads

Getting legal mp3 music downloads from legal music download sites is a great way to get high quality music files that are completely free of the piracy issues that you have with music downloads from file sharing programs. But legal music download sites are not free of controversy. Most of the popular online services provide music lovers with song tracks that have DRM attached to them. Depending on the particular DRM scheme, there will be limits to what you can do with the music you’ve purchased. This article will help you gain a better understanding of the DRM controversy and how it affects your legal mp3 music downloads.What Is DRM?DRM is the acronym for digital rights management or digital restrictions management. Digital rights management is a system that provides music lovers like you and I to get legal downloads of copyrighted music while ensuring that the owners of those rights control the digital distribution of that work over the internet. DRM also acts as an internet toll booth; it makes sure that the artists and record labels owning those rights get paid for giving access to their music. It sounds pretty reasonable – after all, no one has a problem with Maroon 5 or Universal Music getting paid for giving us access to their music. But consumers do have a problem with the limits digital restrictions management places on them.Why Digital Rights Management Is So ControversialIn actual practice digital rights management has proven to be very controversial. While it protects the financial interests of the copyright owner, it has restricted the rights of music loving public that pays for legal music downloads. Limits can be placed on the number of devices the music can be played on, the number of times you can burn a CD or the number of times you can actually play a download. But the big rub is the lack of ownership rights to the music you’ve paid for. You simply don’t enjoy the same rights to legal mp3 music downloads that you do with a CD you buy from Wal-Mart. However, the tide is starting to turn because online music services like Apple iTunes and Wal-Mart Music Downloads have launched DRM-free music download services. Until DRM-free music becomes more widespread, there are some things you need to be aware of when you download music from legal music sites.What You Really Need To KnowBefore you whip out your credit card to join any legal music download service, you need to know whether or not there’s any DRM attached to the music files in their catalog. Not all legal music sites have rights restrictions. Services with music files in MP3 format are free of digital restrictions, but those in AAC or WMA format have some restrictions. The basic scheme allows you to play your streaming music downloads as long as you pay for your music subscription. Music purchased per download can be played after you end your subscription, but as I mentioned earlier in this article, there will be limits to the number of hardware devices the tracks can be played on or how many times you can burn that track on a CD. Ultimately your own preferences will determine how much of an impact these restrictions will have on your legal mp3 music downloads.