TorrentFreak

• Ernesto
• September 22, 2006
• 6
• bittorrent,
  DRM
• Print

BitTorrent Inc. is opening it’s online media store within a couple of months. Although they will use DRM (digital rights management) in the early stages, they predict that add supported content will eventually win from DRM, not only in BitTorrent’s store Ashwin Navin, president and co-founder of BitTorrent told IDG News Service: The bottom line [...]

BitTorrent Inc. is opening it’s online media store within a couple of months. Although they will use DRM (digital rights management) in the early stages, they predict that add supported content will eventually win from DRM, not only in BitTorrent’s store

Ashwin Navin, president and co-founder of BitTorrent told IDG News Service:

The bottom line is that DRM is bad for the content provider and it’s bad for the consumer, and the reason it’s being used today is because we’re in the very early stages of a new product cycle for the entertainment industry and they want to walk before they run.

I think the future will not be marked by digital rights management. It will be marked by advertising-supported content that’s clear of DRM, because the content publisher wants it to be as widely distributed as possible and consumed over as many platforms as possible. And we hope to be part of that evolution, and to drive that evolution wherever we can.

In response to the question ‘Why DRM is bad for content providers Navin said:

The reason it’s bad for content providers is because typically a DRM ties a user to one hardware platform, so if I buy my all my music on iTunes, I can’t take that content to another hardware environment or another operating platform. There are a certain number of consumers who will be turned off by that, especially people who fear that they may invest in a lot of purchases on one platform today and be frustrated later when they try to switch to another platform, and be turned off with the whole experience. Or some users might not invest in any new content today because they’re not sure if they want to have an iPod for the rest of their life.

BitTorrent Inc. is opening it’s online media store within a couple of months. Although they will use DRM (digital rights management) in the early stages, they predict that add supported...