Another response that the record industry had to the illegal music-sharing problem was the launching of digital rights management (DRM) technology. DRM is a technology whose purpose is to prevent the illegal recording of music and movies. One of these technologies, known as copy protection, scrambles unauthorized recordings on VHS tapes, CDs, and digital audio players. It also can keep someone from copying CDs on their computers by inserting intentional errors in the process. (Gantz & Rochester, 2005) However, as Craig writes in Software Piracy Exposed, “Many record labels now use some form of DRM on all of their CDs. Although any form of protection will protect music from casual copiers, the majority of pirates have little problem circumventing them.” (2005)

Another technology, digital rights management software is limits the use of MP3 files and music files on PCs and digital audio players. It restricts the ways a customer can copy music she bought. For example, Apples’ iTunes FairPlay allows a customer to copy music onto an iPod and burn it onto a CD. However, uploading music onto the Internet is not possible. Additionally, an iTunes customer cannot copy music onto more than three computers. (Gantz & Rochester, 2005)

This three-computer limit presented a problem to C. Doctorow, who in an anti-DRM speech to Microsoft described his own situation as a high end Apple user who “bought a new Powerbook every ten months” and found himself “unable to play the hundreds of dollars' worth of iTunes songs” (2004) of his purchased music because he reached his three computer limit. Therefore, Apple inadvertently punished him for buying too many new computers. He put it succinctly when he said, "If I had been a less good customer for Apple's hardware, I would have been fine. If I had been a less enthusiastic evangelist for Apple's products . . . if I hadn't bought so much iTunes music that burning it to CD . . . was too daunting a task to consider, I would have been fine. As it was, Apple rewarded my trust . . . and out-of-control spending by treating me like a crook and locking me out of my own music. . . . It will only be a matter of time [that] average customers have upgraded enough hardware and bought enough music to end up where I am." (Doctorow, 2004)

A problem with the DRM software is that the many different types are compatible with only certain players. For example, users downloading music from the new Napster will not be able to play this music on their iPods. (EFF) When people buy digital audio players, they often do not know about these limitations.*

A second problem is that the DRM part of the software is easy to disable allowing a person to put music on the digital player that is not compatible with the DRM software. However, if a customer has the expertise to change code in the software so that the DRM capabilities no longer work, that customer is liable to prosecution under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). It does not matter if a customer is disabling the DRM to put old purchased music onto a newly purchased digital player that does not support the format of the old music. It does not matter if the customer is not sharing the music on a P2P file-sharing network. It does not matter if she is not sharing the music with loved ones and friends. Disabling DRM software for any reason is illegal.