DRM

What’s the value of a bit? It seems that going after folks who have traded songs or movies online is a huge expenditure of effort and money. Is DRM-protected content the way to go? If you don’t agree, propose another method for the distribution of digital multimedia so that content creators can still be compensated.


The value of a bit does not necessarily have a single price bestowed upon it, but regardless a bit is highly valued in today's society because of the vast amount of damage a bit can cost.  Most individuals believe that record companies make more than enough money, which may be true, however by illegally downloading a song the company could be losing a significant amount of money as stated by Abelson.
 Illegally downloading various forms of media may save the individual some amount of money though is it really worth it?  For individuals that do not download a lot it may be because they are at a lower risk of getting caught and having a lawsuit against them, nevertheless they are still at a risk of getting caught. 
Currently the DRM-protected content is surfacing, which is protecting the songs on a cd from being shared on the internet.  However it comes at an inconvenience to individuals, as technology has grown people have adapted to it, in this case ipods are owned by many individuals.  Though CD's hve not fallen off completely they are not being used as frequently as they once were.  DRM protection does not allow you to put the MP3 files onto your computer and eventually onto an ipod or other device.
What then could be a proper solution if DRM-protection not the most useful, Fortunately there are proper ways to obtain music, such as itunes or rhapsody.  Resources such as these allow individuals to obtain music but they must pay a small fee.  As a society sites such as these need to be emphasized more as well as the consequences of illegally downloading music.  By doing this individuals will diverge from illegal downloading and begin to use proper websites.  Though this would not eliminate illegal downloading it would certainly decrease it.