The users have spoken: access to music and other media is essential on today's feature-rich handsets. The possibilities for media applications are nearly limitless, but developers must confront the ongoing threat of content piracy. As the value of content increases, so does the level of hacker sophistication.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a key enabling technology for mobile content distribution, allowing copyright-protected content to be easily and legally accessed. DRM systems can be designed for various distribution scenarios with the most common being:
- Subscription Based - songs downloaded from a music service may only be played as long as the user maintains a subscription.
- Time Based - titles can be configured to expire after they have been played some number of times or on a particular date.
- Device Based - titles can be tied to some number of devices. The software prohibits the user from playing titles on other devices without obtaining additional licenses or permission from the vendor.
Most current Motorola handsets are DRM enabled, supporting the OMA and Microsoft Janus DRM schemes for content protection. So, two prevalent models are available to you as you create media applications for Motorola handsets.
The mobile handset industry adopted the Open Mobile Alliance's DRM system (OMA DRM) very early on, aiming for interoperability across devices. Currently in specification 2.0, OMA is independent of media object format, operating system or run-time environment. But despite wide acceptance and sponsorship, OMA DRM faces significant competition throughout the mobile space.
Because of the sheer number of Windows clients and the nearly universal nature of media created by and for the PC audience, Microsoft's Janus DRM has long stood as a dominant DRM model. With the application of this model to mobile devices from music players to mobile handsets, Microsoft's Windows Media DRM for Portable Devices is emerging as a dominating force in mobile DRM as well.
Clearly, market share has become a factor in the mobile DRM space with a diversity of providers subscribing to a variety of systems. As the mobile content industry continues to mature, the operating systems/platforms on handsets are gearing themselves to allow DRM plugins. This allows developers to create proprietary DRM schemes as required to secure their content as well. The Java ME Community also recognizes the importance of DRM and hence JSR300 (DRM API for Java ME) is at the JCP.
As vendors and OEMs continue to battle over content/DRM models and systems, public sentiment is starting to turn against content protection. Users care very little about the politics and preferences in designing and employing anti-piracy measures. Consumers just want all of their media-consuming devices to talk to each other and play nicely together. The only way that all of these devices can work together is if they all share a common DRM technology and transfer protocol, but as of today, the market seems to be fragmented. Consumers will only stand for so much fragmentation.
That's the big point: Any savvy developer will target devices that provide the widest opportunity for content use/reuse. If a media application does not allow the end-user to import, save and play content acquired from other sources smoothly, the user experience lacks and the application will not sell.
While DRM continues to evolve, Motorola will always be committed providing media consuming products with a wide array of options for content protection. For an interesting overview of Motorola's OMA DRM usage, take a look at the MOTODEV technical article "Basic Concepts in OMA DRM". Once you're familiar with the standard OMA DRM implementation, consider these media focused handsets for your applications. Out of the box, they bring compelling media power to the end-user, and support readily available content protection schemes.
- The MOTO Z8 is an interesting media monster that ships with a full length copy of the feature film "The Bourne Identity" on a memory card, which is protected under DRM. For more on the availability of this movie, please read this Motorola press release: http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/news/detail.jsp?globalObjectId=8149_8078_23
- The MOTOROKR Z6 announced earlier this year is a music masterpiece, fully supporting Microsoft Janus DRM through its usage of the Windows Media Player.
I am starting to see some cool new content-rich applications. An example is an application that downloads a newspaper to a handset on a daily schedule, launches a player/reader for the user and provides a notification event. While this is a relatively simple set of tasks, mobile application developers are taking note of the chain of resources brought to bear in similar applications and will be pushing the envelope with new media presented as personalized content in the very near future. Developers who master the DRM models in use in the mobile industry are poised to capitalize on end-user thirst for "my media, on my phone, on my time."
-- Asokan Thiyagarajan, Motorola Technology Evangelist
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