Let’s get one thing straight before we begin. When you see or hear the words DRM (Digital Rights Management) Protection, the “protection” part of the term isn’t referring to some service for you, it’s for the originating companies.

When you download music or video from iTunes, it’s not some feature for your own benefit that you’re only allowed to play that content on a set number of devices. Nor is it meant to be helpful to you that games that you can download on your XBox 360 or Nintendo Wii can only be stored on the console itself and cannot be transferred to any other device.

That functionality is meant to curb piracy, but the dirty little secret about DRM is that it is also meant to make you have to re-purchase that content over again in the eventuality of a system crash or other unforeseen event. Content producers, publishers, and promoters will never come out and admit this. But you can bet it’s the truth. In fact, Microsoft recently pretty much told a customer this.

But here’s the good news, DRM is nearly in its last stages. It started nearly a year and a half ago with a surprisingly frank editorial from Steve Jobs concerning content on iTunes. It has continued with the growing popularity of the DRM free Amazon Music Store. Editorially unconstrainted artists such as Trent Reznor have completely abandoned the shackles of DRM. Fans have responded. For example, Amazon is picking up the pace and is becoming a first choice of digital media aficionados when it comes to music downloads. Though arguably, the music industry likely will be the first to grudgingly abandon DRM simply because they’ve become the bastion example of exactly not how to transition into the digital age. A good example herein lies Napster. Once the gateway drug that brought about the idea of “free” and questionably illegal content, the powers that be have now brought it in as thier own golden snitch, only a failed and miserable attempt to keep up with trends they are unable to track.

Video content will be a tougher nut to crack. Though once the deed has been done, DRM will simply be a relic of unreasonably nervous board members. While the recent dispute between NBC and Apple concerning distribution and pricing has been a setback for reasonable and uniform distribution, original IPTV content seems to be seeking its way into living rooms as a replacement. If you’ve not heard the term yet, you’ll soon be hearing much more of it soon. IPTV has grown out of the podcasting model as a way of distributing honest to goodness TV quality material into homes. The trend of more and more of those homes having speedier web connections has helped it a long way as well. A good example here is the Revision 3 network. Its viewership mostly contains those who had grown up with the long abandoned concept of technology on TV back in the early 2000’s, with TechTV. Though new shows covering broadening content outside of this norm has brought in curious onlookers to the scene. Wine connoisseur Gary Vaynerchuk has also brought much attention to the new medium, promoting his daily IPTV show on national outlets such as Ellen and Conan.

These shows come free of DRM, giving the user the opportunity to make the final decision as to what format it will reside on. A far cry from the apparent mantra of studio heads who seem to not want to sell you the content itself, but the rights to play the content on the format of their choosing. Sure, it’s not the ideal scenario of being able to legally and easily copy that recently purchased DVD onto your back up drive for later consumption of your choice, but it is an alternative that is giving the public the realization that there can and should be freedom in doing such. One can only hope that the trend that has nearly forced its way into acceptance within the music industry will continue.

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