Originally Sony was planning on releasing something that allows you to port your purchased PSP games that are on the UMD format to the digital format for the PSPgo but then Sony decided not to pissing everyone off who was actually thinking about getting the PSPgo.  So what does that mean? It means you need to repurchase all your PSP games using their PSP Store.  It’s a win for Sony because they get more money but it’s a lost on consumers who already owns a PSP with UMD games and movies who was thinking about getting a PSPgo.  Thankfully, Sony will continue production on PSP-3000 models so you still have the UMD format (and something for resellers to continue to sell).

With that said, let’s get to the main topic about digital media.  Digital media is now, now is digital media.  You may not believe it (or don’t want to believe it) but digital media is everywhere.  How it’s incorporated, though, is the main question.  Steam (for an example) allows you buy full games and as long as you’re logged in you’ll be able to download it to any computers.  If you purchased a box version of a game that’s on Steam it’ll automatically add that key into your Steam profile and so you don’t have to worry about having to put in the key again.  You would call this something as a successful way of doing business as retailers has something to sell still and you can purchase games directly as well if you want.

Unfortunately, not all places that offer digital media are like that.  Such example will be the PSPgo being able to only purchase games from the PSP Store.  Only thing that retailers can sell is the PSPgo itself and can’t resell the games because the games are only available online.

Another such example would be the Apple App Store.  Sony has locked down there iPod Touch and iPhone like it’s in jail so only its own software will work, nobody else’s.  And Apple goes through all the Apps that get submitted like a fine comb to make sure it’s within its terms of service.  It’s not an open community unlike the Google Android Store where it’s a free market and anyone is free to post anything they’ve created (as long as it’s lawful).

Probably what hurts retailers the most with digital media is the fact that consumers is unable to trade in or sale the media they purchased online.  Pretty much the age of media that you can sell or trade is coming to the end as we know it.  With that said, why? Why is the digital media going to be the end?  It doesn’t have to, though.

Wait, wait, wait, didn’t you just say that digital media will be the end of it all for any sort of trade ins or anything of that sort? I didn’t say that per say, it’s just that the way things are going it could be that but if the companies are smart enough I’m sure they’ll incorporate a way so we can trade in or sell the media we purchased from there legally.  The only question is, when?  Only time will tell in this manner.  Also, in a way, I highly doubt digital media will fully take over the market from actual physical media anytime soon for the sure fact that A) not everyone has an internet connection and B) knows how to even use the technology (or any technology in that matter).

Over all, you pretty much want to get used to seeing digital media as it’s going to be more and more common to see further down the line but don’t expect to see physical media disappeared anytime soon either.

In order for you to understand this entry, you first need to know what DRM is and what it does, and for that reason I’ll explain what is it and what it does first.

DRM (Digital Rights Management) was designed to preserves the rights of a software, hardware, or file of the original creator.  What this means is that if you download a music file, for an example, the creator (in this case, the record company who signed up the music artist) of the file still holds the rights.  But this is just common sense, right?  Well, DRM steps it up by placing limitation on how you can use that music file.  For a more better example, we take take a look at WMA (Windows Media Audio) files as if you download any purchased songs from WMP it’ll be in that form.  Depending on where you download from, though, will have a different set of restrictions.  One song I bought would only allow me to burn it to a music or mp3 CD a total of 3 times but allows me to copy it back and forth as many times as I want to a MP3 player, but that’s only after the 2 transfer (if I never had to format my computer then I can burn the file as many times that I want).

What makes DRM worst is because it’s govern by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which was passed and signed into law October 28th, 1998.  The reason why I believe the DMCA is a downfall failure is because the writing for it is so vague that it makes it sound like just downloading a MP3 that an artist released on his web site for there fans to download for free could face fines and even jail time.  It just adds to the problem and doesn’t help solve the problem.

What’s the problem?  It’s something that everyone has done one time or another (unless you’re one of those kind of of person who doesn’t know what’s going on in the world of the Internet), pirated software or music.  This pretty much leads up to the age of Napster, where you could download music from anywhere until one band (not going to name who because I’m too lazy to try to remember who it was or how to spell it) was crying about it (if I’m not mistaken, there record sales actually jumped because more people found out about there music through Napster, but would they say anything about it?  Nope) and sued the creator(s) of Napster.

Years later and here we are.  But that’s beside the point, we’re not here to talk about Napster, we’re here to talk about DRM and the game Spore.

So what does DRM has to do with Spore?  Everything.  They locked it down so much that you can only install the game and activated a total of 3 times before you have to call EA to try to get another activation in.  To top it all off, if you have multiple people in your house hold who wants to play the game as well, you would need to buy another copy of the game since they don’t allow multiple user accounts in this game.  But Sims 2 allowed you to do it? And that’s a fact (I have that game) but EA doesn’t like you, they just like your money.

So why is EA doing this?  To prevent privacy, I guess, but here’s the kicker, someone actually pirated and released the game a few days before the official released!  What this means is that those who illegally downloaded the game can reinstall it as many times as they want without having to worry about activating the software while those who legally bought the game is limited to how many times they can install and activated the game before it locks down and you have to make a phone call.  Where the fairness?