Your rights in Vista

There have always been restrictions over what you can do with some files built into Windows, but Vista contains more than previous versions.

Restrictions of any kind are frustrating, especially if they impinge on something new.

This has been especially true with all forms of digital media, particularly music. Companies have made a concerted effort to stop people copying music and videos on their computers. This is to ensure the creators and owners of the work get paid.

When Windows Vista was released there was a lot of controversy about the ways in which it enforced Digital Rights Management (DRM). Some of this was true and some was just wild speculation. We will take a look at the ways DRM affects how you can use Vista, and what you can do about it.

How DRM works
A file that has had DRM added to it is encrypted so that it can only be played by those who have permission. That usually means someone who has paid in some way. For example, if you purchase music from a website, a licence is transferred to your PC along with the audio file. The track will play only if the licence is present.

The licence file also stores information about what is allowed to happen to it. In the case of music it may be allowed to play but not be copied from one computer to another. In the case of purchased music there may be a limit on the number of times it can be played or a date after which it will no longer play.

These restrictions do not sit easily with all computer users, especially because they can lock users into particular hardware or software, and the need to decrypt the file places extra demands on the computer.

Moving music
The most commonly protected form of media is music, and you may not even have been aware that this was the case.

For example, the default settings for Windows Media Player are to include DRM on music copied from CD onto the computer. This only really causes inconvenience when the files are copied from one computer to another.

In this case the music will not play and a web page is loaded asking that the licence for the music be transferred to the new computer. So, if you buy a new Vista PC and try and copy music files over from an old PC, you will most likely come across this.

It is very simple to stop Windows Media Player from adding DRM to files when importing CDs. Hover the mouse over the bottom of the Rip button so that a small arrow appears. Left-click on this arrow, and then click on More Options.

If the Format in Rip settings is set to MP3, the option to copy-protect music will be greyed out anyway. This is because MP3 has no support for DRM. Any of Microsoft’s formats can have DRM applied to them.

Click in the box to remove the tick and protection. It is not possible to remove protection from files once they are encoded – the only way to remove it would be to rip the music again. DRM applied to music bought online cannot be removed – well, not legally.