Mar
17
CNET says DRM drains battery, but wait a sec…
CNET says DRM drains battery, but wait a sec…: they’ve performed some tests claiming that DRM’ed files consume more battery than unlocked ones. The Zen Vision:M lasts for 16 hours with unlocked MP3s, 12 hours with locked WMA files. The iPod sees a similar (but smaller, at only 8%) drop when switching from unlocked MP3s to AAC/FairPlay files. Thing is… the tests are wrong. They’re using MP3 vs WMA—different formats inherently drain the battery with different paces. Re-do the test with unlocked WMAs vs DRM’d ones and we’ll have some figures we can consider more seriously.
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