Music's hurt locker [Consumer Music]

Fifteen years ago, when digital storage technology and compression algorhythms became strong enough, the record industry suddenly found itself in a panic. It had to play catch-up with the computer industry and adjust how it managed its rights and how consumers were copying their CD collections to computers and portable devices.What they came up with was digital rights management a method of controlling how digital music could be downloaded, copied or streamed, primarily to protect their revenues. It has, at the very best, been a qualified success.Companies are developing services that enable consumers to upload their digital content to storage servers over the Internet and stream it on any device. Mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse launched a digital locker service called Music Anywhere, which allows customers to store their music collection in the cloud to be accessed by different devices.