Sony may be prepared to throw away copy-protection software on some of its music in early 2008, but that doesn't mean it's freed all its tunes. That's why, in the meantime, it has supplied a helpful guide for any iPod owners who'd like to circumvent the restrictions on Sony's protected Windows Media song files. It's…

They were going to CHANGE EVERYTHING. Whoops. presenting five biggest technology disappointments of the past year. No, not Vista and the Kindle — you didn't expect anything there.

Ian Rogers, general manager of Yahoo Music, told music execs it's time to quit whining, grow up, and get rid of digital rights management — the copy-protection software that's the bane of music listeners everywhere. In a deliciously ranty presentation, Rogers explains how record labels forced Yahoo Music to build an…

When Google employees admit error, they're so abject that it almost takes the fun out of things. Almost. The company is now admitting that it botched the shutdown, earlier this month, of a Google Video service that let customers buy or rent videos. With a vast array of free clips on Google's YouTube site, Google…

Just because you can do something doesn't make it right. On the one hand, Universal Music is dropping digital-rights management — what we used to call copy-protection software — from its online music library. On the other hand, it's suing online-video site Veoh for violating the same copyrights it's no longer…

Setting aside the weirdness of this supposedly real image used to illustrate the story, a Jupiter Research report from December-January found little support for DRM among European music execs. The data is marginally interesting, as it presaged Steve Jobs's "Thoughts on Music" thing. But without seeing the full data (…

Rumors are flyin' that EMI, one of the "big four" record labels that use Apple's DRM copy protection to license their music through iTunes, may be dropping DRM requirements — possibly announcing as early as today. Supposedly, EMI had actually been negotiating this point for weeks, "[b]ut on Thursday, those…

Other than putting a public-consciousness ki-bosh on his stock options scandal, Steve Jobs's "Thoughts on Music" marks a strange departure — and not because he's turning against DRM. This is the New Steve, and free music aside, it's something of an off-putting change.

DRM music copy protection bad! Steve Jobs good! Steve Jobs God! Really, you don't need to know any more than that about Jobs's inescapable black hole of linkbait, but go read it again. Run your fingers through its hair. Nestle under its arm, in that perfect spot where you fit so well. Mold your body to its perfect…

The Microsoft e-mail below isn't juicy in itself — that's why we put it below the fold. But the big red "Confidential" meant we just had to share this memo warning licensees that Windows Media DRM had been cracked. Again. They have teams working on it "around the clock" — staying up all night to save YOU from the…

The tip of the inverted pyramid becomes Techdirt's lede when the Wall Street Journal tacks this onto a Google Video piece: