Sony DRM Bullshit, and related matters

There was once a time (in the glory days of Napster and Kazaa) when I used to have plenty of music on my computer.  Since then, I have gotten rid of all of it (I got bored of most of it anyway) and am trying out various (legal) music stores.

First was E-music – I have to say it is really nice – the site is quick, easy to use, and the best part – all the downloadable files are in regular old mp3.  Why is this great?  Well, you can play them in the player of your choice; you can move them between computers (I have two and need to be able to do this); and it just doesnt get in your way.  My only issue with Emusic is that its meant only for indie artists, etc.  Most of the stuff I want to listen to are more mainstream so although the service itself is great, the content doesnt fit my taste.

Ok, now on to Sony CONNECT.  The content is definitely mainstream.  Initially, the experience is pretty nice too (albeit with a few issues):

First, the only way to get the music from the store is to install their SonicStage software.  Fair enough.  I go ahead and install it on my desktop computer.  It installs the OpenMG Secure Module, which is Sony's DRM piece.  Ok, after a mandatory restart (for a damn music program?), I start up SonicStage.  Let me take this opportunity to point out how big and clunky the SonicStage program is – the interface is a drab white with some crappy blue gradients that don't fit well.  It uses the default UI font on this highly customized form which makes it look just plain ugly.  The thing takes up the whole screen, and the reduced size version is still huge. 

I download some files from the store.  Ok, that was pretty quick and easy.  I play the files in SonicStage… Ok, so I can play them fine in the ugly player.  But no way I'm going to use this as my permanent player.  Did I mention it takes a while to load up?  Media players should pop up instantly – even 10 seconds is too long for media players to load.  Why? Although many media players have their own libraries, I find myself browsing my music collection using Explorer most often and when I double click a file in explorer, I expect the media player to start playing it instantly.  Anyway, so I didnt want to use SonicStage and so I opened up the file in Windows Media Player, expecting it to fail.  But, hey! it works!  Awesome.  So I began downloading songs (around 18 so far) and was enjoying the new music.

Now, let me say at this point that Toshiba finally got me the new AC adaptor (see previous post) so my laptop was again functional.  Of course, I wanted to enjoy my new music on the go.  Now, here the problems start, and the bullshit that is Sony DRM quickly becomes apparent.

First thing to note: Turns out that the only reason I could play the files in WMP was because I had installed SonicStage.  In fact, you MUST install the (ugly) SonicStage software to play CONNECT store music on a PC.  Ok, this may not be exactly right – they may be offering the OpenMG (read obnoxious DRM crap) module as a separate download – I didn't check that.  However, you still have to install something from Sony to be able to play their files.

Ok, while this frustrated me, I decided to go ahead and install SonicStage on the laptop. The process for getting your music onto a second computer was this: You install SonicStage, and then you re-download your music from the store.  So, having installed SonicStage on the laptop, I proceeded to re-download the music.  Here was the problem: the god-damned thing wouldn't download any of the music!  It would reach near 100% and then fail.  Repeatedly.  For any track.  No matter how many tries I tried.  Great.  It won't download my music to my second computer.

Pretty peeved, I tried uninstalling Sony's entire bullshit software and reinstalling it.  Now, when I logged in to my account a second time, SonicStage registered the same laptop as a new computer with my CONNECT account.  So, instead of 2 computers, I had 2 computers on my account.  Ah, thats lovely.  You can tell great quality software when it pulls that crap.  I thought – ok, this will all be worth it if I can just download the music to my laptop.  Deep down though I knew it wouldn't work.  And what do you know?  It didnt.  It still failed after downloading nearly 100%. 

Now, I was mad.  Its my music, and I ought to be able to move it to another of my computers.  So I went back to my desktop and tried to figure out a way to (legally) copy the already downloaded music to my laptop.  I opened up SonicStage and looked for a way to transfer the music.  The only options were to burn to an Audio CD or to an ATRAC CD.  WTF??  I should be able to just move the stuff I already downloaded between my own two computers!   Determined to do so, I tried moving the .oma (turns out these are OpenMG encrypted ATRAC files) to the laptop anyway.  They moved over fine but couldnt be played on the laptop.  The damn DRM bullshit bases its encryption on the originating computer.  Ok, so now I'm stuck at this point till I can buy some CD-Rs or CD-RWs.  But, come on?  I have to buy CDs so I can move my music between computers?  And I'm not even sure the CD thing will work – will I be able to play the ATRAC files on my laptop??  I doubt it.  And ripping Audio CDs just sounds absurd.

I know there's this HI-MD renderer thing that will convert the oma files into wavs but I don't know the legality of doing this.

I'm not going to use this as a reason to go back to P2P file sharing and illegal downloading madness.  But, I will say that the alternatives really get in the way of just being able to play your music wherever and whenever you want.  I really do think DRM is here to stay but there needs to be a universal standard that makes it so that the consumer does not even realize that the DRM is in place.  The DRM should be completely transparent as long as the consumer is just using his own music that he/she purchased. 

Toshiba Tech. Support Frustrations

Its been about 3+ months that I've had my Toshiba L25-S119 laptop.  About a week ago, I noticed it was no longer charging itself.  The battery on the thing lasts only about an hour so I urgently backed up the most immediate documents on a USB stick and shut it off.  After trying various outlets, removing the battery, etc., I figured out it was most likely the AC adaptor.  So I called up Toshiba tech support.  The first two times I got a busy signal.  A busy signal!  On the 1-800 number for the Toshiba support line!  Had they put down a bad number all over their website?  After swallowing the sinking feeling, I got lucky and got ahold of the menu on the third try. 

At this point, I have to admit I was pleased with how quickly I got to an actual person.  I described the problem and what I thought was the most likely cause.  The person was quick in agreeing it was something actually wrong with the physical pieces.  The first thing she wanted me to do was take it to one of their service centers.  I asked if they could just send me a replacement adaptor instead.  She said something like: It'll take about 2 weeks to do that anyway and you might as well have it checked out at a service center.  OK, recap: They gave me a piece that went to hell in less than 4 months, and they are not going to make any haste whatsoever in getting me a replacement part. 

So, I call up the service center guy and before dropping it off, I ask how long he thinks the whole process will take – he starts off by telling me its probably something wrong with my laptop's motherboard (??) and he'll probably need to replace that and so probably like 2 weeks.  WTF??  A couple of days later, my roommate takes me to drop the laptop.  While at the service place, the guy tests the laptop with another AC adaptor, and surprise, it works.  So, he says he'll order an AC adaptor but I have to give him the non-functional one.  I got no use for it so why not?  I ask if I have to come back to pick it up once its ready?  Yes, of course I do.  Can I have Toshiba send me the adaptor directly to me?  Sure, but you have to mail the old adaptor to them yourself if you want that done.   Wow, thanks man, you are really making me feel like this is my fault – and if I want it fixed, I have to do the damn work!  So, I let him do the shipping and agree to pick it up once its available.  The next day he calls to tell me the AC adaptor is backordered and so it will take 2 weeks minimum. 

Ok, recap: I bought a brand new laptop less than 4 months ago.  It's become completely useless within that time.  Toshiba luckily will help me fix the problem but they will take their own sweet time to do it.  Any time and productivity lost while they take their sweet time (oh please god don't let it be more than 2 weeks) is really my own damn fault anyway.