Tutorial 2 (Digital Rights Management)

With the Grammy’s having just passed I thought Digital Rights Management would be a good topic for the second tutorial. According to TechTerms.com the definition of Digital Rights Management (or DRM) “refers to a collection of systems used to protect the copyrights of electronic media. These include digital music and movies, as well as other data that is stored and transferred digitally.”

DRM has become a huge issue in our instant gratification generation and, with the appearance of Youtube.com and iTunes, downloading and pirating music has never been easier. This is why it is so important for recording artists and the owners of these copyrighted arts to protect their rights by limiting access to their work. This is where DRM comes in handy.

DRM's basic function is to prevent copying, and it can control access to digital music through several different ways...

-By limiting playback to one device- For example this will only allow music to be played on one computer.

-Using an expiration date- Music will expire after a certain amount of time.

-Using digital watermarks- This is special digital data that is written only on the original file.

Many companies use DRM to protect their media. Below is a screen capture I took using Jing, of iTunes' use of DRM.

Below is another screen shot I took that shows iTunes policy of limiting playback to 5 devices. The page shows how to authorize a computer to allow for playback

Unfortunately DRM is not a fool-proof plan for protecting copyright owner’s rights. There are a number of ways to get around DRM. One of the most popular ways is an “Analog Hole”. An Analog Hole is basically when you record music from one device using a microphone on another device. This simple technique is just one of the many foils to DRM.

Another issue facing DRM is the debate of whether or not it should even exist. There are some people who argue that the results of using DRM outweigh it's benefits. Some of the issues they cite include annoying honest customers because they are limited in the control of their legally acquired purchases, as well as the legal issues they face because of the tracking some DRM software does on customers activities. These issues are just a few of the many problems plaguing DRM today, for more information on the different issues and views concerning DRM you can find hundreds of articles at... http://www.computerworld.com/s/topic/144/DRM+and+Legal+Issues.

Below is a 5:50 min clip about the differing views on the topic of DRM by some of the leading experts in the music industry including Richard French, Gerd Leonhard, Ted Cohen and Lee Shupp.

Digital Music Panel Discussion – Pros and Cons of DRM Video. By ForaTv. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78XRwWwUkow.

For more in-depth information about the history of DRM and how it works, there is a really interesting article by Julia Layton, “How Digital Rights Management Works”. You can find the article by clicking on the following link....http://computer.howstuffworks.com/drm1.htm

EXCEL PROJECT

For this project we were told to organize data for our “boss” the owner of a fitness center. The owner wanted information on the customer's heart rates, target heart rates, maximum heart rate and whether or not the heart rate was achieved. The owner also wanted a few Pivot Tables to analyze the data and to use as a quick guide. Below is a screen shot I took of one of the Pivot Tables I created so that the owner could see the average percent increase in the subjects heart rates divided by age group and gender.

To complete this project I had to learn a few new techniques from Excel. Three of the techniques that I learned and felt to be the most useful were...

1) Using the Freeze Panes

2) Learning how to use the Pivot Table

3) Learning how to create an Absolute Value in Excel formulas

I couldn't believe how easy it is to organize data using Pivot Tables. Also, how professional and organized a chart can look by using something as simple as Freeze Panes. The absolute value in Excel formulas was a great new tool to learn about too. Before, trying to type out 30 different formulas was a real problem, now I just type it in once with the absolute value and then copy and paste! This project opened my eyes to the crazy amount of things you can do with Excel...I really think that these techniques will be valuable tools I can use in the future.