Intel’s New DRM’ified Chip And You

All the tech world is a-buzz right now because of Intel’s new Sandy Bridge architecture which has Digital Rights Management in it.

DRM is bad because it serves absolutely no benefit to the consumer, and routinely aggravates everyone who has ever dealt with it.

In a nutshell, DRM ultimately forces you to keep spending money on things you’ve already bought – which is the ultimate insult to the consumer. If you buy a song for your portable music player, DRM-enabled devices “lock” it so it and cannot be transferred to any other device. When that portable music player dies, so does all the music you bought for it, forcing you to buy it again. To let you know how ridiculous that is, if you buy a vinyl record and the record player dies, that’s not a problem – buy another record player, not the record.

Does this mean you shouldn’t buy an Intel Sandy Bridge CPU? No, because the DRM only applies to specific content, namely a streaming technology called WiDi 2.0. If you purchase movies through that service, it will be DRM’d. This is essentially no different than streaming movies from the Netflix service. The rest of what you do on your computer – as far as I’m aware – stays the same as it has been.

If the idea of DRM technology in your processor leaves you saying, “Intel, not cool.. at all”, well, there’s always AMD – however it should be noted that it will become more commonplace to see more technologies that promote the idea of “own nothing, rent everything”.

Opt In Image
Free Weekly PCMech Newsletter
Almost 500 Issues So Far, Received By Thousands Every Week.

The PCMech.com weekly newsletter has been running strong for over 8 years. Sign up to get tech news, updates and exclusive content - right in your inbox. Also get (several) free gifts.

Comments

  1. Darn, and I was finally gonna go Intel for my next build…

  2. I’ve always felt that the ‘Constant Upgrade’ mantra would have a sting in it somewhere.

  3. I wouldn’t doubt Intel’s decision to use this DRM is a result of Apple’s affair with Intel.

    I would notion if AMD doesn’t do the same with their new chipset due in 2011 more users will go with AMD.

  4. Have to agree with Dave.
    I’ve been waiting to see what came out before a new build myself.
    May still go Sandy, because, I’m more interested working with PhotoShop.

Leave a Reply

PCMech Insider Cover Images - Subscribe To Get Your Copies!
Learn More
Tech Information you can use, sent to your inbox each and every week. Check out PCMech's digital e-zine...