Before Mobile World Congress came to a close last week, the public got the opportunity to send in some hard-hitting questions via Twitter for Nokia to answer. In an interview with Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President of Services for Nokia, Savander reveals that Nokia is once again looking at dropping DRM for Comes With Music, in addition to explaining why the restrictions are still in place. To find out more, read on after the break…
Comes With Music is a fantastic idea, providing all the music you can download for your Nokia smartphone – such as the Nokia 5800 Comes With Music – but critics are unimpressed at the fact it’s restricted by DRM (Digital Rights Management), preventing you from swapping your downloaded tracks to other mediums, or from downloading any more music after the first year.
When asked whether Comes With Music could be free from DRM restrictions, Savander happily pointed out that “we’re having dialogues on this one with the music industry”. He was also keen to highlight the fact that it’s not entirely in Nokia’s hands, however, stating: “It’s a very tricky question for the music industry, because they’re toying with survival here”.
Further dampening the spirit, Savander went on to say: “Think of it, when you’re sitting there running a business where already now 30 per cent or so of your output already gets stolen, and now somebody asks can you make sure that it’s easier to steal the rest as well”.
So will we be seeing DRM-free Comes With Music in the near future? According to Savander, it’s “a little bit early to predict the outcome”.