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发信人: AM (闯荡江湖), 信区: Microsoft
标 题: 微软开始反击Real啦！
发信站: 荔园晨风BBS站 (Thu Jun 28 07:03:45 2001), 转信
RealNetworks, Microsoft Face Off on DRM
作者 / Streaming Media Jose Alvear
RealNetworks’ launch of the RealSystem Media Commerce Suite is the first
spark in an impending battle with Microsoft and others in the digital rights
management arena.
By Jose Alvear
June 22, 2001
Advertisement
Streaming Media Research
On Wednesday, RealNetworks Chief Executive Officer Rob Glaser unveiled a
digital rights management solution called RealSystem Media Commerce Suite to
empower the “next phase of digital media delivery.” The long-awaited DRM
system will be used to power the security of MusicNet, the digital music
company formed recently by RealNetworks, BMG, EMI and Warner Music.
During his keynote at Streaming Media West 2001, Glaser showed the first
live public demo of MusicNet, a browser-based subscription service that lets
users search and store their music online. In the demonstration, Dave Halprin,
MusicNet’s director of product marketing, illustrated how a user can
stream and download music after acquiring a license from the RealSystem
Media Commerce Suite.
According to Glaser, the DRM system, which was in planning for about two
years, was one of the “missing pieces” of such a service. Some of the
tamper-proof technologies came courtesy of Aegisoft, which RealNetworks
acquired in January 2001. Glaser said that RealNetworks wanted to take an
integrated approach. “We wanted to unveil a very comprehensive solution to
the marketplace,” he said.
Glaser stressed that the company wants to securely deliver “all media, to all
devices,” in any format including downloads, streaming, peer-to-peer, and
even physical form.
To underscore the importance of the new technology, Ben Rotholtz, general
manager of systems and tools for RealNetworks, said this is one of the
company’s top three announcements ever.
Late to the Game?
Microsoft, however, did not seem impressed at the news. According to Michael
Aldridge, lead product manager at Microsoft’s digital media division, “We’
ve had [DRM] since 1999.” He said that Microsoft has powered over 8 million
secure transactions already, with audio, video and even e-books.
Microsoft’s DRM technology is also in its second version — the company
released DRM 7.0 in July 2000. “[RealNetworks’] DRM is coming late to the
game,” said Aldridge. “They have a lot of catching up to do and will have
a huge learning curve.” He pointed to services like CenterSpan’s Scour, a
file-sharing system that operates exclusively with Windows Media and that uses
digital rights management to control access to files, so if a user shares a
file with someone else, that user must register and use Scour to play the
file.
Aldridge pointed to announcements this week that showed Windows Media being
adopted by digital asset management companies to control and protect content.
Partners such as Mediasite, Bulldog and Jaguar have built on top of Windows
Media to help manage digital media for news organizations and pay-per-view
systems. “We’ve developed great core technology that allows customers to
build on top of that,” said Aldridge.
Apple’s Absence
Phil Schiller, vice president of worldwide marketing for Apple, said DRM is “
very, very important.” But with RealNetworks’ announcement, Apple is the
only major player not to have its own DRM solution. This may make QuickTime
less attractive to content providers that want to make money with audio and
video. “There are digital rights systems that work with QuickTime,” said
Schiller, pointing out SealedMedia as one such provider.
Schiller wasn’t convinced, however, that RealNetworks’ solution is the
best way to go. “It’s important for the industry to have solutions that work
with all,” he said. “It’s still a wild, wild west for DRM and we need to
have standards.”
What Price DRM?
When Real’s Rotholtz sees Microsoft’s claims of 8 million secure
transactions, he scoffs. “I would strongly question that number,” he said,
wondering what percentage of transactions actually generated some revenue.
When asked what level of success RealNetworks would settle for, Rotholtz said,
“Eight million transaction in 10 months? That’s pretty sad.” He said
that Microsoft, in the end, just wants to sell more copies of Windows. “We
don’t have an agenda,” he said.
But RealNetworks has yet to release information about how it intends to
price the new RealSystem Media Commerce Suite. Rotholtz said to expect some
pricing news in 30 to 60 days. But some clues are already emerging. Rotholtz
said that although RealNetworks won’t act as a clearinghouse for
transactions, companies will have “a relationship” with RealNetworks. “We’
re in the water together,” he said.
Ready to Pay?
DRM solutions are clearly beginning to mature, but are consumers ready to
pay for audio and video content? Despite the big news by RealNetworks,
consumers have shown they prefer to get their content for free — what’s
often referred to as the “Napsterization” of society. Glaser said that
RealNetworks’ GoldPass subscription service — which now has over 200,000
subscribers paying about $10 a month — is proof that users are willing to
pay. GoldPass features premium content from the NBA, Major League Baseball,
exclusive music and more.
Glaser said that a lack of DRM standards is what’s holding back a lot of
content providers from going online. “A lot of content owners say, ‘Heck, I
’ll just wait until next year or next month’,” he said. According to
Glaser, XMCL – the technology behind the Media Commerce Suite — will “
fuel the availability of digital media and lower the cost of deployment
because there’s no custom work to build a solution.”
XMCL, Glaser said, will eventually be submitted to standards bodies like the
W3C or the IETF for ratification. Glaser hopes to push XMCL as a standard “
much like HTML was unleashed on the Web.” He pointed out that RealNetworks
has done similar things with SMIL and RTSP, now standards in the streaming
industry. “It’s great for the industry and the spirit of collaboration,” he
said.
With a list of backers that includes technology companies and content owners
(including IBM, Adobe, Sony, MGM Pictures, Intertrust, Sun and Starz Encore),
RealNetworks is in direct competition with Xerox spin-off ContentGuard.
ContentGuard is pushing for the XrML (eXtensible rights Markup Language)
standard, with the help of Microsoft’s DRM technology. Partners backing
XrML are Adobe, Xerox, Hewlett-Packard, Portal and others. It seems the
competition between XrML and XMCL—and RealNetworks and Microsoft in the DRM
space — is just beginning.
※ 来源:·荔园晨风BBS站 bbs.szu.edu.cn·[FROM: 192.168.35.4]
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