Free From Money

So it turns out DRM (Digital Rights Management) is just as bad as everyone predicted. Ars technica has an article up about the recent closure of the Yahoo music store, which allows customers to download music legally, but with restrictions on the number of computers that are authorized to play the music. (I realize I pretty much copied their title, but it summed up the situation so well)

Take from it what you will about finding music and other media on torrent sites, but you should realize that anytime you have to pay for something that has restrictions like DRM attached you are getting a bad deal. Media companies want people to pay for their music, but every time a company pulls something like this it can only increase the number of people who wonder why they’re paying for something they can’t keep using.

The alternatives for music lovers include iTunes, which has some DRM-free selections, and Amazon’s download service. Another alternative is to buy the actual CD and rip it to your computer, something I covered previously.

If you are interested in attempting to use BitTorrent, Lifehacker has a good guide for getting you started. If you are into video games, I highly recommend checking out OC Remix. They have a ton of music that you can download legally and for free using their tracker page. Make sure you have a lot of hard drive space, as there are over a thousand songs that will take up a few Gigabyes of memory.

So there it is. Stay away from DRM. Happy downloading!