DRM Solutions: Who Holds The Keys To The Future of Streaming Media

Trends On The Horizon
You have heard this one before but here goes…..CONVERGENCE. The world’s not getting bigger and the big three have their sights set on your desktop, living room, cell phone, and anywhere that you might spend time with your credit card. It’s hard to imagine the depth of this sea-change in the relationship between Technology, Entertainment and the Consumer dollar.

The whole DRM battle hinges on the format war which to date Microsoft has hands down conquered. To quote this past weeks Lefsetz Letter, "MEANWHILE, major corporations are buying PCs at a hundred a clip. A THOUSAND a clip. Just go into an office. Look at all those PCs." There’s a very good chance your sitting at a PC right now according to my research, over 88% of web traffic to entertainment sites like Eminem.com, MasterP.tv, launch.com comes from IE enabled PC’s running a Windows OS and the list goes on and on. In just about every case with every site I spoke to, Windows was the dominating OS and IE the dominating browser. For a second look, run your stats on your site and email me.

Microsoft’s current DRM offering is focused on full-strength desktop DRM for Windows Media files. The company released a live version of this product for broadcasters which is making it’s way into the marketplace. It utilizes the exact same topology as the on-demand product in use now with the one exception that you must use the Windows Media 9 Live encoder and download a ".DRM profile" from your DRM provider which includes all the necessary crypto to turn your valid Windows PC into a live encrypted broadcast platform.

The company has released a spec for device DRM for the PocketPC phenomenon and the new MS Phone products in early beta here in the states and abroad. This product is rumored to have a 3rd quarter release to developers so expect apps to support it prior to this years shopping season. Look for support for docked and un-docked use with transportability of DRM-enabled WMT files from PC’s to PDA’s to Tablet PC’s etc.

Sony has made significant moves in the past year with their joint acquisition of InterTrust with Philips making them a direct market competitor to Microsoft while their lawsuit against Microsoft continues to age. Sony launched their own DRM solution for Sony-based PC’s and devices called "OpenMG X" however this author has been unable to find any type of DRM protected streaming media on the web protected by either OpenMG X or InterTrust’s Rights|System.