What 'DRM' means for music fans

The bottom line on digital-rights management, or DRM, is that it dictates what people can do with the music they share, rent (via an online subscription service), or purchase. "Most countries have what is called a fair-use policy enshrined in their copyright law. It allows a reasonable number of copies to be made for your personal use," the BBC explains. What's different now, with DRM, is that the *music companies* decide what you can do with a song. In fact, the new MTVu.com targeting university students doesn't provide music videos to Mac users because their computers can't access Windows DRM (see MTVu.com's FAQ ). Actually, though, "not all [music companies] think the DRM formats are a good thing. Many smaller independents, such as eMusic, which sells unprotected MP3s, think it only succeeds in driving customers away. [For more on DRM and an example of a large media company's struggle with it, see "Sony's nightmare could be ours" and "Don't install Sony's patch".]