More on DRM

I've been getting weird reactions to my DRM post the other day. Some people are angry that I'm anti-DRM and other people are angry that I'm pro-DRM. Robert Scoble seems to have inexplicably classified my entry as some sort of attack on him, which it is not. I basically just said "GUESS WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS, PROBABLY THINGS WILL BE OK EITHER WAY" which I had no idea counted as a radical opinion these days.

To elaborate:

I'm a big fan of technology and tend to be pretty skeptical about how secure DRM is. I know how hard it is (ie. totally damn impossible) for software manufacturers to keep people from copying actual physical discs that they personally design and manufacture so the idea of someone inventing a secure file format that can't be copied just seems like a joke and a half to me.

As I see it, one of the main points of DRM is to get the current record industry to give up its sweet sweet songs without shitting itself in fear and exploding, taking out all music with it as it goes. I assume Apple and Microsoft are both hustling to try and assure the already very nervous record industry that DRM is secure and viable in the long term, which I also assume just plum isn't true.

I believe that even if DRM becomes commonplace, if it's an inconvenience to consumers then I'm pretty sure circumventing it will become almost just as commonplace and there's not much anyone can do to stop it. But maybe it'll all be flawless and smooth and most people will barely notice it and the record industry can be mostly safe and secure.

My personal theory is that it'll crash and burn, but either way life will still be pretty much the same for indie musicians like me. We're like cockroaches with drinking habits.