Downloadable content, with locks on the side

The music industry discovered a few years ago that the DRM it was using to deter copying wasn't locking down songs as well as it was locking customers to a particular vendor: Apple's iTunes Store. So the major labels have grudgingly abandoned Digital Restrictions Management, or DRM, on paid downloads, although they still require encryption to be used on other products such as all-you-can-eat music subscription services.

Now, Hollywood is looking at a similar problem posed by DRM. It hasn't stopped piracy, and it's certainly not helping the sale of downloadable movies. It's also laid the groundwork for a repeat of the iTunes phenomenon: with dueling DRMs that work with different sets of devices, consumers may flock to a single supplier to avoid compatibility problems.

Against that backdrop, a group of studios and record labels have joined with a handful of major technology companies, ISPs and retailers in a coalition to develop a new approach to distributing content digitally. Think of it as a standard for media delivered through the Net, in the way that DVD is a standard for packaged movies and CD is a standard for packaged songs.