Fool Fighters

The stupidity of the music industry never ceases to amaze me...especially as it relates to digital rights management. Let me first explain that, as a content creator myself, I understand the need for people/artists/organizations (even mean ol' media titans) to protect their intellectual property. And, as a general rule, I don't download copyrighted material from the web illegally. That said, I totally understand the appeal, especially for the "poor college student" types. But I personally frown upon it and don't succumb to the temptation. (The arcade ROMs that I may or may not have obtained in my day being an obvious exception.)

So I got the new Foo Fighters double album, In Your Honor ($17.99 at Borders), and immediately tried to import it into my iTunes. The sound files were all corrupted and fucked up. I remembered this happening previously with the Velvet Revolver album and a Sahara Hotnights CD that I bought, two bands that I like, but not so much that I really care whether or not they are in my iPod. Foo Fighters, on the other hand, are a fan fave -- who wouldn't want their latest double CD in their iTunes? Apparently, the answer is the executives at RCA, because they made it unbelievably difficult for fans (who buy their music legally) to enjoy the Foo Fighters in whatever format they choose.

Next step was to go on the web to troll message boards for the answer. Because there's ALWAYS an answer, you stupid music companies. No matter how high you build that wall, or how complicated your encryption is, there's always going to be a way to get around it. For example: hold the SHIFT key when you insert the CD for the first time to override the media license. (Some dude on boards.musiccompaniesareidiots.com explains that if you try this trick AFTER you've already obtained the music license, it won't work.) You can also try ripping the files to your PC, burning a new copy, and importing that version into iTunes. Or, barring all else, you can simply go on to kazaa and download the shit for free. Gee, I wonder what most people will do?

Stupid music companies.

Without a clear solution at this point, I'm really starting to burn up. Here I've gone and spent about $20 on a new CD (most old DVD movies are cheaper) and now I'm being punished for being a good little copyright citizen because I want to take my music on the road. Long story short, I finally ripped the audio tracks but accidentally ripped the encrypted ones. So the CDs that I burned behaved the same way as the originals. However, by going into the root directory of the CD and ripping the .wma files I was able to burn unencrypted versions of both discs which were easily imported into iTunes. This process of trial and error took only about 1.5 hours.

Stupid music companies.

Wow, wouldn't it be great to offer a DRM solution that is compatible with iPods? I guess RCA doesn't give a damn. Hell, you can go buy the album from iTunes if you want a compatible version. Well, what if I want to play the CD in a CD player? Buy that shit, too! Double the money for RCA! Hmmm, maybe it's a sound business plan, after all. Nice job, RCA. You've managed to piss off just about everyone. Best part about it is, the kids on the message boards blame the Foo Fighters for this irritation, and the band probably had little or nothing to do with it. So the band is probably angry, too! Ack...I've wasted enough time with all this.

Stupid music companies.