Tests find DRM shortens player battery life by up to ~25%

[Guest Stuge]

When users take the specifications of an MP3 player into consideration, one very important factor most take into account is the rated battery life. However, as many are aware, the battery life stated is generally the runtime from a full charge in ideal conditions, such as when the player is left playing without any sound enhancements (EQ, bass-boost, etc.), volume set to a moderate level, all music is 128kbps MP3, backlit display goes out within a few seconds and so on. However, according to tests conducted by CNET, they found that while many players met or exceeded their claims, one feature that has a drastic affect on battery life is the infamous DRM.

When it comes to the Creative Zen Vision:M's 14-hour claim, CNET got about 16 hours of playback time with MP3s from a full charge, which was a nice surprise. However, when they tried playing WMA 10 DRM crippled subscription tracks on it, they only got just over 12 hours; a loss of almost 4 hours (~25%) of playback time due to the battery-hungry DRM. CNET found similar results with other players with WMA DRM drastically reducing battery life by up to around 20%. Apple's FairPlay DRM seems to have less of an effect with battery life being reduced by around 8% when compared with MP3 playback.

When it comes to maximising battery life in a portable MP3 player, this is a clear sign that one should avoid playing DRM protected music if at all possible and also another good reason to get the music converted into a more battery-friendly format. While 2 to 4 hours may not seem a lot to some people, this can be the difference between listening to music to the end of a lengthy journey or getting left in silence a couple of hours before the journey is complete.

With the shorter battery life caused by DRM, this means that consumers have to recharge their battery more often, which in turn results in a shorter overall battery life before it needs replacement. Finally, while most MP3 players now have a rechargeable battery, for those who still use disposable AA/AAA type batteries and listen to copy-protected music, not only does DRM cut their listening time, but it also costs them more in replacing batteries, not to mention more battery waste building up in landfills (if not recycled).

Read further here :

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13193

[RedemptioN419]

Who uses dispodable AA/AAA?

Shame on you . Rechargable is the way to go.

I don't like DRM protection at all anymore. This is the kind of stuff that drives people to P2P file sharing programs, not away from them.

[imagine_]

True.. and it's not like people distribute songs by sending copying from their devices to other people's computers... that is just inconvenient and not even close to as fast as p2p.

[Damage]

To note, that tuest is full of garbage, as it compares apples and oranges (pardon the pun). To be sure, you have to use a much more rigorous procedure (though, to be honest, not that much is required other than time and maybe extra units):

I don't have the said gear in question, so I can't. However, the way it should work is the following:

1. Reset DAP To initial factory settings.

2. Encode a select set of tracks and download said tracks from many music stores. Note what settings they are encoded. Rip and re-encode same set of tracks without DRM (ie Copy Protection or Copy Control flag).

2a. TO be really fair about this, you need the following three sets for WMA:

A. Control group - no DRM

B. Normal group - $.99 track you pay to keep (Or DRM'd encoded from your computer using copy control flag)

C. Heavy group - Subscription tracks (we'll put their claims to the test that subscription DRM adds an extra layer of crap)

3. Fill a DAP of choice with those tracks from Control Groups A, B, and C. If it is flash based unit, I don't think you'd have to fill up the unit entirely, as access doesn't penalize battery life. However, for HD units, you'd certainly have to fill up the unit entirely as physical access does penalize battery life. Ideally, you should be able to have three units of an identical model to make testing easier. Of course, those units must use the same headphone load (pack-ins to make thing easy), or none at all.

4. Play. Rinse, lather, repeat. You should do this several times to account for anolomies.

5. Review the information. You can certainly to all the fancy 5-tap distribution and such (and you should, but it's been years since I've done the stuff), but a simple average battery life from control group compared to DRM group should suffice.

6. Post your conclusion on the web, preferrably on Damaged Gears. This, I think we all agree, is the most critical step.

[doclloyd]

Do you think this sort of study even applies to the ATRAC format? Considering its roots were in portable devices *and* the format has always been blessed with forms of DRM, do tracks purchased from Sony Connect (or Mora for people in Japan) really suck up more battery? My inclination is that it doesn't, but I'm curious.