Universal to try out DRM-less music

First there was music on CD's, then came the MP3's followed by Napster, swear words in the language of music studios. As a fight-back, DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology was developed to protect against this increasing piracy. Users did not appreciate all this stuff about DRM since it had some quirks, such as not being able to play bought content on other media devices, and so on, plus restrictions on moving the songs onto multiple devices.
Then came the change. EMI and Apple made a change, by allowing users to purchase DRM-less songs (although at a higher charge). Other music recorders were aghast, and made snide comments at that time, but it was pretty clear that they were waiting to see whether the strategy would be successful, and seems like a small step to test the waters. So, Universal is now going to allow music sellers to sell DRM-less songs (interestingly, not to Apple's iTunes):

Vivendi's Universal Music has said it is to test the digital sale of songs from artists without the customary copy-protection technology. It will allow the sale of thousands of albums and tracks available in MP3-form without the protection, known as digital rights management (DRM).
Universal said: "The experiment will run from August to January and analyze such factors as consumer demand, price sensitivity and piracy in regards to the availability of open MP3s." Retailers including Google, Wal-Mart, and Amazon.com, will participate in the DRM-free trial, Universal said.

An experiment indeed ! I am pretty sure that if they taste success, they will make this experiment a strategy, and also start to seed songs on iTunes. One does not know the price point as yet, but there is no reason why they would not try to make money as iTunes does.

Tech Titans challenge copyright claims in the media

Sounds a bit long-winded, but is a simple thing. When you watch a baseball match or a football match, you will get bombarded with warnings that tell you what you can or cannot do with the thing that you are watching on TV. They never tell you what you can do, instead it is all about not reproducing nor transmitting it any form, coupling this with an official warning and with logos of the league. This practice is now being challenged by a tech association, Computer & Communications Industry Association (comprising such titans such as Google and Microsoft) who contend that these warnings do represent the whole truth, and hence are essentially misleading customers about their rights.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Latest News about Federal Trade Commission stating that such organizations as Major League Baseball, the National Football League and NBC/Universal, to name just a few, have been misleading consumers for years about their rights under the fair use doctrine in copyright law.
"Every time an American consumer opens a book, plays a DVD or watches a wide range of broadcast programs, he or she is confronted by strong language warning of what they are not allowed to do with that product," the executive summary of the complaint reads. "By design or effect, many of these warnings are misleading and harmful to millions of American consumers, customers and businesses," it continues. In fact, these statements grossly misrepresent federal law, which allows use of this material in certain circumstances, the CCIA contends.
"Uses of copyrighted works unauthorized by the copyright holder are not only permitted by federal law," reads the complaint, "they are actively encouraged by it. Section 107 of the Copyright Act, for example, encourages the unauthorized use of copyrighted works for various purposes, including criticism, commentary and news reporting. Under some circumstances, fair use permits the reproduction of an entire work by consumers."
Further, it goes on to say, MLB's claim that news accounts or "descriptions" of the game cannot be "disseminated" is, no pun intended, completely off base. "No author may copyright facts or ideas. Copyright serves to promote the dissemination of information by ensuring that every idea, theory and fact in a copyrighted work becomes instantly available for public exploitation at the moment of publication.

This seems an important issue. For years now, viewers have been essentially threatened that even if they take a section of the recording for doing a critical commentary, it is illegal; and how many users are so aware of that their rights that they don't get dispirited by such challenges.
The concept of fair use is subject to a fair amount of interpretations, and with the rapid advance of technology, legislation and legal compliance is typically falling behind. And for fundamental issues affecting the First Amendment Rights of a citizen, it is even more difficult for a court to refer to the Constitution and interpret it in such cases. Not to talk about how this complaint may even be biased, since many of the complainant companies are running searches, user to user networks, on which many of these clippings get posted.

Playstation prices to reduce

Sony's Playstation 3 has got walloped by the Wii in its major markets, and the fact that the PS3 is much more expensive than the Wii. One thing that is expected to happen is that the price of the PS3 would be dropped, not only to compete better with the Wii and the Xbox 360, but also to promote Blu-Ray movies more effectively. This is a particularly critical time to promote the new standard, since a lot of the decision making by other stakeholders such as major studios, etc is being done. Their decision will have a big impact on which of the 2 rival formats (Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD) eventually gets selected as the default format.
Currently, the President of Sony (Ryoji Chubachi) sticks to the no-price-drop-for-PS3 stand, but things may change before the Christmas season:

The fact is that Sony, bereft of PS3 games at present, has flushed out most of the hard core gamers who would buy Sony's latest latest console at any price. The Wii is in a different class and the real competition for the high end of gaming is Xbox 360.
Sony will cut the price of PS3 for two reasons. One is to bridge the gap with Xbox 360 and the other is to drive the nail deeper into the coffin of the HD DVD high definition format.
Given the fact that there are hardly any PS3 games worth buying yet, Sony's nextgen console has done remarkably well to have sold nearly 4 million units worldwide so far. Despite the naysayers, I believe much of this has to do with the PS3's capability as a Blu-ray player. After all, until PS3 games hit the market en masse why would you buy the most expensive console on the planet?
Sony has promised 380 PS3 games will hit the market by next March. If that promise is kept, it will provide a huge filip to PS3 sales. Meanwhile, Blu-ray movie titles continue to grow, HD flat panel TVs continue to sell and PS3 continues to be the best selling HD video player on the planet.

Sony would be constantly trying to evolve its strategy. Both the Blu-Ray and PS3 are high-stake strategies for Sony, and if a price cut is required for sales to increase, a price cut it will be.

Sony Playstation getting a firmware upgrade

Sony's Playstation 3 development was delayed, missing its milestones and being pretty expensive. In the high stakes for who wins the gaming console, Sony PS3 is behind its 2 principal rivals, the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox in terms of market sales; and given the high cost of the entire PS3 development, including the price of the machine, Sony needs to sell more machines to get over current costs and make a profit. How can it do that ? In terms of gaming power, it is fighting an equal battle with the Xbox, and the Nintendo Wii was a match-winner in terms of customer 'wow' factor, so Sony was not going to be able to beat the others in having something unique.
Well, Sony things that they have found something; the decision to include an expensive Blu-Ray has been criticized for pushing up the cost, but Sony seems to be trying to convert the machine into a gaming console + entertainment hub. Towards this end, the upgrade version 1.80, available on 24 May 2007, will allow those users having a HDMI compatible hi-def TV to upscale PS1 and PS2 games and DVD movies to a full 1080 resolution (HDMI refers to the capacility for transmitting high-definition signals. Refer this article:

The 1.80 firmware update coming to the PlayStation 3 on Thursday will allow PlayStation 3 users to upscale earlier PlayStation games to 1080p resolution on HDMI-capable TVs, and will also give users the ability play images, music, and video that are stored on DLNA-enabled devices connected to a home network.
"The capability to upscale DVDs to HD quality is a feature normally only associated with top-range DVD players," Sony said in a statement, "and its inclusion in the latest firmware upgrade now allows PS3 owners with an existing DVD collection to dramatically enhance the viewing pleasure of their DVD collection when viewed through a compatible HD TV set."
In addition, on a home network, upgraded PlayStation 3s will be able to play images, music, and video that are stored on DLNA-enabled devices anywhere in the home. DLNA, offered in such devices as PCs or laptops, is the Digital Living Network Alliance standard for sharing content between consumer electronics devices.
The PlayStation 3, while a technological powerhouse, has had its ups and downs. Last week, Sony announced that its video game business would lose about $413 million this fiscal year, and that it won't recover until there are more PlayStation 3 games. Through March 31, it had shipped 5.5 million PlayStation 3 machines, not quite hitting its target of six million.

This could be a smart move, as long as this does not lead to a lowering of the pitch for the gaming console (potential customers should not get confused about the abilities of the gaming console).
With a move towards more high-definition TV's, and if Blu-ray becomes the next big thing in hardware players, Sony is trying to get into customer looking at its devices as not only a gaming console, but something that is usable by more family members.
However, will this move go unchallenged ? Expect Microsoft to add more ability to the Xbox, and given that this attempt to make it as an entertainment hub will directly attach the concept of the Media center, there could be many more movements in this market.