CDFreaks makes the ridiculous claim that DRM shortens an mp3 player’s life by 25%, which I find silly. To that end, I am going to perform the following three tests on my new Creative Vision M mp3 player to give a factual refutation of this claim:

• Playing 1 ~4m mp3 file on loop until the device dies
• Playing 1 ~4m wma file on loop until the device dies
• Playing 1 ~4m wma DRM protected file on loop until the device dies

These tests will take a few days to complete. Here are the results:

• 11 hours 37 minutes (02/18/2006 2:11 PM to 1:48 AM)
• 10 hours 08 minutes (02/19/2006 2:38 PM to 12:46 AM)
• 8 hours 55 minutes (02/21/2006 8:50 AM to 5:45 PM)

Going from MP3 to WMA at the same bitrate costs you about 10% battery life. Going from unrestricted WMA to WMA protected by DRM costs another 10% battery life, or 2.7 hours compared to MP3–24% of the maximum possible.

However, I think the following chart, which compares the percent change between formats, to be more telling:

There are two disparate effects here:

1. WMA v.s. MP3
2. DRM v.s. Unrestricted Media

The results of this test show that

1. WMA uses battery 12% faster than MP3
2. DRM uses battery 12% faster than Unrestricted Media

The glaring error that the media made was to unfairly associate both factors (Format and DRM) with the issue of Digital Rights Management. When you look at the variables independently, it’s only half as bad as reported.

Related Stories:

• Engadget
• I-hacked
• Digg
• BoingBoing
• Inside Stretch
• /.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 7th, 2006 at 9:15 pm and is tagged with digital rights management, s mp3, glaring error, boingboing, creative vision, cdfreaks, percent change, refutation, bitrate, battery life, mp3 player, 4m, variables, few days. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

3 Responses to “DRM Does/Doesn’t Shorten Player Life”

1. Ryan Moore says:

   4/8/2006 at 10:28 am

   I’m missing a couple things here…

   In your results, when was it the 29th of February in 2006?

   Also, how can you substantiate “DRM uses battery 12% faster than Unrestricted Media” when your results are a minute apart (longer, even) for DRM vs Non-DRM?

   Reply
2. Elliott Back says:

   4/8/2006 at 2:03 pm

   Sorry Ryan–those numbers weren’t what I had meant to publish They were for a repitand of the second test.

   Reply
3. ceejayoz says:

   4/8/2006 at 5:13 pm

   It would seem, though, that the main point – that DRM reduces your battery life significantly – remains intact.

   Reply