The Facts: Microsoft PlayReady was unveiled at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday. It will allow people to share protected pieces of content between mobile phones, PCs and other devices.
Chadd Knowlton, general manager for content access and protection at Microsoft, explained that PlayReady is based on a system of virtual environments called "domains." People can register multiple devices within their domain. If a mobile operator, Internet service provider or broadcaster has registered with PlayReady, their customers can purchase content through the system and then transfer it to other domain-registered devices. Alternatively, a user could download the content multiple times to each device.
Knowlton said that people could register family phones within a domain, for example. However, it's not clear how many devices can be registered in a single domain.
"PlayReady is not integrated with Windows Mobile 6," the Microsoft operating system officially introduced Monday, Knowlton said. "It's platform-agnostic, and you can use it on whatever you want to put it on."
When asked whether this meant that PlayReady could be used on a Symbian phone, a main rival to Windows Mobile, Knowlton replied that it could be used on "whatever a user wanted."
Although digital rights management (DRM) is popular with content creators, it has attracted criticism. Sony was widely attacked after using a rootkit-like application to hide content protection on some music CDs, and earlier this month Apple CEO Steve Jobs called on the music industry to drop its use of DRM.
Knowlton cautioned that PlayReady was a "foundation technology," which might not be a mainstream feature for some time.
It has already attracted some industry support, with Verizon, Telefonica and O2 all signing up as partners. (source)

Here is the press release: http://labs.microsoft.com/presspass/press/...chnologyPR.mspx

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Microsoft must have a nonexistent PR department, the timing of this right after Job's rant about DRM-free media couldn't make them look worse.

You are comparing apples to oranges. Read the press release.

Trolling / offtopic comment removed by moderation.



How come? It's all about DRM, isn't it? The only difference now seems to be that PlayReady is more targeted at mobile phones than DAPs. OK, it is supposedly brand-agnostic, but then again, so is Windows Media DRM 10 - people could easily license it from Microsoft for their own players. What are they trying to achieve here, after all?

Global domination...Then it turns in to a galactic scale

My point was that Job's "no-DRM" PR statement is far more narrow... music (& "purchased" music specifically.) The mobile industry already has many different mobile content delivery implementations... yes, with restrictions (DRM). The mobile providers want stuff like PlayReady -- a consistent content access technology -- so they can sell more profitable services to more end users.

yes, I understand that perfectly. But that is evil to the eyes of the beholders neverthless, and particularly so these days with the Jobs bruhaha and what not.

Until "1984" & "Brave New World" is true - any DRM action is nonsense. And may be after . . . is nonsense too.

Wouldn't want anyone copying ringtones! Or 200px video either! I bet the next thing will be DRM on MIDI and GIF files...

Oh, snap! the last thing on the press release was pictures... PICTURES!!! That one-upped even MIDI and GIF.

BTW,<MIND IN THE GUTTER> 69th post. he he... </MIND IN THE GUTTER>

Actually THIS is my 69th post <MIND OUT OF GUTTER I SWEAR>

I guess I can't double post...

This shocks you? All service providers will sell you ring tones, pictures, games, music, etc. You are free to not do so, however.

Definitely true, grommet. However. it is possible to send the same to another device via Bluetooth or other similar technologies. If I read right, that will not be possible with DRM protected ringtones and yes... those DRM protected awesome 200px videos

Cheers
audiomars

They become slightly more true every day.

It isn't an overnight thing.

All commercially sold ringtones/wallpapers/etc are protected using OMA DRM, and cannot be copied through Bluetooth/cable etc. This is how it already is. MS is trying to push their own technology, but DRM itself is already firmly in place in the mobile world today.

Oh. Honestly, I did not know about OMA DRM. I have a few downloaded ringtones (both mp3 and poly) which i have been able to transfer to a friend's mobile using Bluetooth. Maybe the site I downloaded them from do not apply DRM to the files (They were from some newspaper site). Thanks for the clarification. I learn something new at HA everyday

If you saw my mobile phone, you'd laugh, and realise I have no experience in this field, but...

I see teenagers swapping music between their phones using bluetooth or even IR. For them, their phone is their source of music. This is how they get it, and the only way they consume it.

When I was that age (oh I'm sounding old now!) CD singles were just arriving, though most people taped pop songs off the radio, and bought the ones they really liked on 45s, or waited for CD albums. In short, we got lots for free, but there were still transactions that brought money into the record companies.

It's downright naive to believe that record companies will finance the production of music where there is no paid transaction in sight.

The answer could be new business models, rental, subscription, flat rate, or artists making all their money from things other than selling their recorded music.

However, the answer (all be it short term) could be that record companies focus less on teenagers (who seemed to be the most important market for decades) and more on people who might actually buy the music.

Who knows. I'm sure someone clever will come along and profit from the situation. I think if I was an artist or record company, I would want some DRM out there, even if I might later decide to use it for no cost or little cost / flat rate transitions. There are those who hope to use it to prop up the current price for downloads, but in the long term my opinion is that this is unsustainable.

Cheers,
David.

They probably discovered this website (and hacked the Why DRM Sucks page)...