Wired Talks about DRM

April’s WIRED magazine has a short article about how to avoid DRM. (Wired Magazine, April 2007. “How to Ditch DRM” Page 36)

DRM (Digital Rights Management) is corporate America’s attempt to control your digital media by placing extra code in the software and media restricting how, when and where it is played back.

The article mentions using MythTV and Ubuntu over TiVo and Windows. It highlights the free operating system and MythTV’s ability to make DRM-free MPEG-2 recordings and its DVD-ripper. On the downside it discusses the lack of complete hardware support in Linux, the steeper learning curve, and MythTV’s difficult setup.

With all the legal issues associated with DVD ripping and CSS encryption, it makes me wonder how much knowledge Christopher Null (the author) has on the topic. Additionally, MPEG-2 recording is a result of the hardware, not the software. But since MythTV makes the hardware worth so much more — I guess it deserves the press.

Other suggestions made were to use the Wolverine ESP over the IPOD, eMusic instaed of iTunes, and Gamepark Holdings’ GP2X-F100 over the PSP.