karlherrick.com

Linux, DRM, WMA, and MP3

Tuesday, 07 October 2003

Well, I downloaded a song from the MusicMatch service, however I was a little dissappointed. It wasn’t until after I had paid for the song that a message appeared in the software explaining it was Windows Media Audio with Digital Rights Management.

TOTAL BUMMER!

It just so happens my portable MP3 player also supports WMA, however not with DRM. The only way I was able to listen to the song on my portable (and for that matter my Linux computer) was to loop the output on my soundcard into the input (mic) and record it while playing it in MusicMatch. Of course all of you in the digital sound arena would know that if I did what I just described, you get quality loss. It irritated me that something I payed for wouldn’t allow me to use it how I wanted. I suppose there will need to be huge changes in the legal music download services before users will want to actually use them. Needless to say, I complained to MusicMatch about my troubles in the Non-Windows world, and they refunded my 99 cents. I deleted the music file. I guess I’ll have to buy the CD.

If you are a Windows user, there is not a better service than MusicMatch… yet.


Home

About

Portfolio

Web Apps Web Enabled Applications Corporate Sites Personal Sites
Preferences Dark Theme Light Theme Notifications
Social GitHub LinkedIn RSS Feed Icon