Sunday, February 06, 2005

Legal MP3 Downloads

As I said in my last post, I felt that MP3 legal download companies should not DRM encode their files so you can only do certain things with it - which sometimes means that you can only copy to a portable device 3 times, which is fine if you have a 20gb device, but for those on a a 256mb device that can be a problem if you like to change your muisc taste all the time!

Ideally if you use a legal download service you should be able to choose the format you download the file in eg MP3 or Windws Media File, if your MP3 player is compatible with those, or in Apple iPod or Sony Atrac3 format. The best way for these companies to achieve this, is by offering a conversion filter once you have downloaded the file in to the format you need, for syncing with your device.

If your device supports expansion cards, that adds another problem into the mix as when you transfer a legal file on to it, it may not play on your device, as the file thinks the device does not have the licence to play on it!

One day all formats will be supported on all devices, and when you purchase a track you will be able to listen to it on whatever device you want! without worrying about the license!

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