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December 31, 2008
Why Proprietary, Locked Media Are Bad
Posted by Alan Wexelblat
Microsoft gets the faceplant this time, but it could just as easily have been iPods: Gizmodo reports (as do many other sites) that Zune 30MB models have all started locking up and requiring a hard reset.
This should be a clarion warning that using proprietary hardware or software (DRM) to restrict peoples' ability to manage their legally owned content is a bad plan. We are all at the mercy of whatever bugs and bad business plans lie behind these locks.
(I'm as guilty as anyone else, sad to say. I use iTunes for storing and organizing the files ripped from my CD collection, and have bought a couple dozen tracks through their store. I try to buy the un-DRMed versions whenever they're available, but I'm still at the mercy of the program.)
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1. Joe Clark on December 31, 2008 4:40 PM writes...
Neither you nor anyone you know nor anyone you know knows would be able to solve this problem if, as you seem to suggest would be better, iPods and Zunes had open-source *operating systems*. I’m sure you’ll respond that the problem would be crowdsourced and fixed in a jiff. But you don’t know that.
An iPod is a device people expect to function, not expect to reprogram. Almost nobody expects to reprogram anything they own, let alone everything, an outcome you seem to want.
Permalink to Comment2. DrWex on December 31, 2008 7:58 PM writes...
I wouldn't deny that an open-source system would be better. Because if it was open source I bet you someone would have found and posted a fix for this.
That said, the problem of locked devices is an inability to move your content around freely. So if a device bricks it at least shouldn't take the data with it.
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