Here at Transcription City we work with a range of both audio, video and document formats on a regular basis.
Recently, we were sent some legal CD’s for transcription, these had been converted by the client into .wma format, but would not play because they were DRM protected. So what is a DRM protected file and how can you open one?
What is DRM Used For?
DRM or Digital Rights Management files can be video or audio files and as the name suggests are files that have been protected, or encoded to only provide playback on devices that have been authorized to do so (or with the use of a username and password. This helps to stop the content of the file (be it music, interviews, documents or a film for instance) from being shared, copied and freely distributed over the Internet or via hard copies. Music and video production and distribution companies will often add DRM protection to their media in order to avoid loss of revenue from piracy and authorized online sharing. DRM protected files can also be used by those in medical, legal or government sectors to protect sensitive or confidential information.
How Do I Remove DRM Protection?
As far as music, video and eBook purchases are concerned; generally speaking removing the DRM protection will be against the Terms of Use laid down by the owner of the original content (usually a big company). This can often mean that while are able enjoy the media you have purchased, you don’t actually own the content, and therefore only the license to use it. This can be problematic when you wish to either convert your files for use on another device (for instance PC to iPhone) or if you’d like to back up your files. Luckily, there are many sites that offer software that will remove DRM protection we have generally found this software from Aimersoft works quite well.
Another way of removing DRM protection is of course to simply ask the owner themselves to remove it for you, which is what we always do – as the files sent to us need to be able to play for us to transcribe them for our clients.
If you would like more information about document, audio or video conversion or would like to know more about the transcription services we offer, why not get in touch today? We are available to help seven days a week and also provide additional services such as subtitles, captioning, translation and virtual assistance.
