From the LA Times' Bit Player blog by Jon Healey, talking about Blue Note's MP3 experiment and the commercial viability of DRM:

"As many a tech company has argued over the years, DRM works best when it's enabling consumers to do new things, not trying to stop them from doing something. That's why the major labels would be better off using DRM to enable all-you-can-eat subscription services like Rhapsody, Yahoo! Music Unlimited and Napster, rather than slapping limits on 99 cent downloads. I still think that music fans will gravitate toward subscriptions once Wi-Fi is ubiquitous and portable devices are always connected to the Net. That's when DRM will become a route to a better value proposition, not something consumers resent because it's forced on them."

DRM is mandatory with a subscription service. The billion-dollar question is if/when consumers will really take to subscription services. (And how will that work with mobile phones? Services outtages, especially on the NYC Metro, will garner unfavorable criticism.) The value proposition is already there -- millions of tracks for $15 a month -- but right now consumers are hell bent on owning what they hear. The exception is radio, which can cost money and gives no ownership to the music.

Perhaps subscription services need to be re-positioned? Not all music needs to be owned. Borrowing does have value. For starters, it's convenient. You don't have to rip songs. You don't have to rummage through boxes in a closet (which is what I would have to do if I had a hankering for something I hadnt heard in years.) You'll never have to pay twice if you lose your data.

Personally, I am very impressed by most of the DRM subscription services. I'm currently testing Napster and Zune Marketplace. Napster is a breeze to use, quite impressive, with a good relationship between software and hardware. Zune is easy to use as well, and there are some nice features (such as the playlists). Both are inconvenient for crate-digging, which is best at Rhapsody.

[music jobs] Director of Content at Dada Entertainment; New York, NY.