Kulraj Dassani

Digital Rights Management or DRM is a scheme that controls access to copyrighted material using technological means. It may refer to the usage of proprietary software, hardware, or any type of content: music tracks, video files, ebooks, games, DVD movies, emails, documents, etc.

DRM is all about copyright protection. We all know that any digital content is protected by copyright laws. However, it’s very difficult to police the Web and catch law-breakers. So DRM technology focuses on making it impossible to steal content in the first place. SEE ALSO: How to Convert DVD to MP4 SEE ALSO: 20 Best Sites with Free Ebooks

DRM imposes some technological restrictions that control what users can do with the digital media. For example, a song can be listened to, but not copied or shared; an ebook can be viewed on a certain type of device; a single-player game can be played only with the Internet connection; an email can’t be forwarded. In other words, DRM creates a defective product, which completely satisfies the copyright protection needs.

In all cases DRM is a two-part scheme. The first part is the encryption to protect the content itself and the second is an authentication system to ensure that only authorized users can unlock the files. Here various keys, licenses, login-password combinations are used.

Roughly, DRM scheme can be illustrated in this way:

When you buy a DRM-protected product or service, your device is regictered by the provider server and receives a key. If the digital content provider allows you to use their property on several devices, each of them also received the key once you log in into your account.

A user possessing a DRM-protected digital content can use it only in the way(s) set by the respective copyright holders and implemented with various programming methods. Here are some of them:

The largest part of paid digital content is DRM-protected. But mostly it concerned video/DVD, music files, and ebooks. Let’s see how to check if a file has any type of DRM protection.

SEE ALSO: DVD Menu Creator: How to Burn a DVD with Your Own Menu using our Free DVD Burner Software

If you have some audio or video file on your PC, you can easily check if it’s protected or no. Follow the steps:

It is even easier with DVD discs. You can understand if it is protected or not even without putting it inside your PC.

If you wrote a DVD yourself, for example by converting AVI to DVD, it’s not protected. If the disc is licensed, bought in an official shop, the content is DRM-protected. It goes without saying. But if you doubt, you may also check the following things:

Instead of checking the above things, you may learn if DVD is copyrighted or not with the help of a special copyright checker – DVD Decrypter. Just add a DVD disc and view its info.

As a rule, all the ebooks purchased from the iBookstore are DRM-protected. You may check it yourself:

SEE ALSO: Free M4V Converter: Change iTunes Video Format Easily

In the same way, you may check any other item in iTunes, for example audio:

DRM system has both supporters and opponents. Many software tools are learned to bypass and even take off DRM-protection. From the right holders’ perspective, DRM doesn’t generate a lot of revenues. Online and offline piracy is still flourishing, otherwise the following pie would have different values.

And what is your opinion concerning DRM-protection?

comments

Kajol is one of the most famous and talented actresses in the industry today Rejected Preity Zinta's role in Veer - Zaara (2004)

Hydraulic clutches in today's vehicles operate via a master cylinder The cylinder is easily visible in the engine compartment, bolted to the firewall on