Last updated on April 15th, 2024
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What is DRM (Digital Rights Management)?
In the software industry, people take every care to prevent piracy in all forms. It is to help the original creators prevent the misuse of copying their content from others. This is where DRM comes into play.
What is DRM? DRM or Digital Rights Management is the approach to prevent the misuse, sale, and restriction of copyrighted materials directly from the creator. The copyrighted material can be anything like multimedia content, software, and any kind of digitally produced content.
There are many laws to protect the creation and redistribution of original content in the majority of countries. Some of the rules are the United State’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act or DMCA of 1998, the Copyright Law of 2001 in China, the Indian Copyright Act of 2012 in India, and the Information Society Directive of 2001 implemented by the European Union.
Some of the strategies involved in DRM techniques are
- Providing and setting conditions when the user wants to access digital materials, access a website, or download software.
- Embedding encryption in the distribution of digital materials or embedding tags when a user gains access to download and copy digital materials for personal use.
- Restriction to copying and viewing some digital content even if the site has free access.
- Restriction in copying and using digital content, unless authorized content publishers or content creators, give authorization.
Aside from the US, China, and India, DRM is not accepted in the majority of countries. The main reason is that it causes inconvenience to registered customers, and it supports big corporations that make money out of the law.
The people opposing DRM also claim that it does not prevent copyright infringement as it claims to. Some argue that digital content needs to be free since many copyrighted materials are necessary for personal use and educational means.
The best example is that digital content’s free access is used to lend out materials for educational and informational purposes in libraries, schools, and colleges. But, supporters of DRM state that it is necessary to have restrictions on digital content since content creators toil hard for their content. It is not fair for others to use, download and redistribute it for their means without their gain.
Earlier, copyright infringement was not widespread, but access to computers and the internet in almost all households have led to widespread illegal downloads for personal use. Digital piracy has become rampant, making people gain access to restricted websites, downloading digital content from the comfort of their homes and storing it or sharing these downloaded files for their personal use.
These kinds of unauthorized distribution from one person to another for the purpose of sharing threatens the copyrighted materials for the authorities.
The Benefits of DRM Software
Here are the main reasons why the DRM can help especially for software developers:
1. DRM helps preserve ownership of the content for the creators
The first benefit of using DRM software is to help preserve ownership of content creators’ content. These days, it has become very easy for users to access the content of others for illegal downloads.
With access to illegal downloads, a user can easily copy and share multiple files with others with simple alterations to the content and rebrand it as their original content; using DRM Software allows you to stop these kinds of illegal usage of your content of any kind.
2. The DRM software helps in safeguarding your investments and the cash flow of income.
Only content creators know how much effort is taken to create content, especially people who spend a lot of money making videos. They make videos hoping to earn income generated from the views, streams, purchases, and downloads.
But, there is no guarantee that your videos will not end up on shady sites for illegal download without copyright infringement. Also, there’s a chance of getting the law involved against you if your video was meant for adult orientation but ended up viewed by people of any age.
With DRM software, you can ensure that only registered customers can view and access your content.
3. DRM helps users and creators learn about copyright property
Most users and content creators have insufficient knowledge about copyright property. In fact, some are totally ignorant about this issue. As long as they have access to any content, they are not concerned about any issues.
With the use of DRM, both users and content creators benefit from the knowledge of how they handle the content when creating and receiving it. There comes a mutual agreement of uploading the content in a far better way than mishandling it.
4. DRM preserves files securely and privately.
One of the best uses of DRM software is to avoid using files for viewing that needs authorized users.
Since digital content is on the verge of being mishandled every day by users online, DRM protects your digital content, files, and assets of private access into public files for unauthorized access.
How Does DRM Work?
As mentioned, DRM levies restrictions on whatever content the creator can impose. For example, you can listen to a song but not download it. You can play a game as a single-player but can play with others only when you connect it to the internet and register yourself as a subscriber or member after accepting the game’s policies and rules. You may view something online or receive personal information but will not be able to share it with others.
There are two strategies for DRM to work:
- First, there is always encryption before you can access any content.
- Second, there is an authentication system like a passcode, license or registration number, or a set of keys to unlock more content files.
Here are some illustrations to make you understand more about how DRM works.
1. Content Scramble System (CSS) is an encryption system and Digital Rights Management system that many content creators use to protect their content when they have to distribute their content on DVDs legally. It limits and restricts DVDs for legal access and views. It works by three key protection methods.
The first is playback protection, where you will need a secret key to decrypt the feature. Next is read protection, where you will be granted authentification to disc data. Last is the regional restriction where you cannot access the drive if the drive is not available to read in the available region of the drive.
Use the Right CSS Decoder to Decrypt All DVDs Now!
2. Popular technology company, Apple, uses a Digital Rights Management layer for all the music you stream from their music collection. This lets the user get a free trial subscription for downloading songs for one month. But, the music becomes unplayable if you cancel your subscription because of the Digital Rights Management layer.
3. Also, another famous e-commerce company, Amazon, uses Digital Rights Management for kindle ebooks subscriptions. This means that you are not allowed to sell any kindle ebook on your own but through their site.
How to Check Your Product is DRM Encrypted?
It’s easy to know whether a product has been protected by DRM. Different types of files using different method as follow.
1. Media Files (Audio and Video)
- Right-click on the media file – choose Properties.
- Go to the Details tab.
- Look for Protected You will see the Yes or No beside it that indicates the media file contains DRM protection.
2. iTunes ebooks
- Choose an ebook from your iTunes library.
- Go to File – Get Info.
- Open the Summary.
- Near the Kind you will see either: Book, Purchased Book, or Protected Book.
3. DVD Discs
Unlike the above, there is no easy way to see if a DVD is copyright-protected. However, here are some of the tips:
- The disc has a copyright inscription.
- Watch the movie and you will see the copyright notice at the beginning of the film.
- The DVD packaging comes with a plastic case and is sealed with cellophane tape.
How to Deal with DVDs DRM Protections?
Backup the DVDs with DVD Ripping Software
You can back up your DVDs using one of the most reliable dvd rippers, which is the WinX DVD Ripper Platinum software. Developed by Digiarty Software Inc., this software easily removes the DRM protection on your DVDs.
It can rip any DVD into lossless quality output content and is playable on Android, Apple, Microsoft, or Sony so that you will not face any problems. Also, it rips DVDs at a fast speed which takes about five minutes for a normal DVD.
Some of the benefits you will get by using WinX DVD Ripper Platinum are:
- Use the software to remove the DVD copyright protections including CSS, Disney DRM, Sony ARccOS, and remove the region code.
- It can convert any format form of DVD like MP4, MPEG, or H.264 into any format for friendly optimization for any social media websites and other websites like Facebook, Youtube, or Vimeo.
- It is compatible with any kind of processor in your personal computer like Intel Core i7/i9 with the fastest speed available to you compared to any other software.
- Converting from this software will not take more than five minutes with the entire content and an option of aspect ratio compatible for any kind of screen, either big or small.
- There is no problem with unplayable DVDs that you can play in only some regions since WinX DVD Ripper Platinum can rip from all kinds of movies, TV series, or music videos. Also, if your DVD has a problem of not being unplayable because of scratches and damages, the software can still play and rip the DVD.
- It is also one of the best software for people who are advanced users ripping like editing the audio channel number, resolutions, bitrate, aspect ratio, or sample rate.
Is WinX DVD Ripper Platinum Software Safe?
Yes, it is completely safe without any adware, malware, or user tracking if you download the software from the official site, winxdvd.com. However, if you download from other unreliable sources, there is no guarantee that it’s safe for use!
Will Ripping DVDs Using WinX Ripper Platinum Cause Damage?
No, WinX Ripper Platinum does not ruin or damage your DVD. In fact, if your DVD is damaged or unplayable, the software still finds a way to rip its content.
Ripping is legal depending on the region you live in, and it is good to check out the laws in your area regarding the use of digital media for personal use. Converting digital content is not hard these days. You just need the right software for it, and we believe that WinX DVD Ripper Platinum software solves your problem.
Conclusion
This article is all about DRM and we hope that you can have a better understanding of Digital Rights Management now. You should know that there are various types of software available when dealing with DRM.
This article also revealed to you how to deal with DRM-protected DVDs. You can use the DVD ripping software from WinX or Wonderfox to remove the copy-protections and rip the DVDs. However, different countries have different laws regarding DVD ripping.