Sony/BMG's DRM Plan Is a Little Lame

The news came out a few days ago that the final nail might be hammered into DRM's coffin in 2008: Sony/BMG, the last holdout record company, was ditching DRM. Well, the details of its plan are out now, and maybe we all rejoiced too soon. The DRM-free music plan is, well, kind of lame. Here's how it works:

• You go to a retail store
• Choose from just 39 albums, including Kenny Chesney and Barry Manilow
• You pay $12.99-$19.99 to buy a Platinum MusicPass card, like a gift card
• Take it home, scratch off a code, and go to a website to download

The files you'll download will be "high-quality MP3s," but no word about what exactly that means. All in all, a pretty half-hearted effort. Though online sales are promised later, this does smack a little of Sony/BMG setting up the project to fail so they can say "See? We tried, it just didn't work."