Google used Digital Rights Management (DRM) to control and lock down the videos that were legally purchased and then sent a kill signal to the videos when the company decided to get out of selling videos. DRM is the tool favoured by the music and film industries to restrict what consumers can do with their purchased content. They say that DRM helps to prevent piracy but so far it has merely slowed it down. At the same time, DRM has spoiled the consumer experience for the vast majority of people who are not interested in pirating their music or films. Ironically, while Google customers were locked out of their own content by anti-piracy technology, pirates and hackers were still able to watch the videos as they had, unsurprisingly, defeated the workarounds.

Pirates naturally are against DRM but there are also a lot of passionate people who do not like the fact that they are being told how they can use their digital content. How many people does it take to break the copy protection on DVDs? One. How many does it take to create a workaround so you can unlock your iPhone without signing up to AT&T? One again, and also one to break the copy protection on iTunes songs.

For these examples, the person who did it is the same person, Jon Johansen or 'DVD Jon', as he is known in tech circles. DVD Jon broke the DVD protection when he had just turned 16 and quickly became the most hated man in the film industry as people started freely converting their DVDs into digital format, allowing them to play on any device, computer or operating system.

Some, of course, uploaded their films online. Jon and perhaps thousands like him have a philosophy that people should be able to do what they want with their own purchases. It's hard to stop a philosophy.

This philosophy of allowing people to do what they want, where they want with their own purchases and to stop interfering with them seems to be catching on in big business at long last. The Apple iTunes system, while still having restrictions, did make it easier for people to put their music on a few devices and computers. Apple is now going further. In February of this year, Apple boss Steve Jobs wrote an open letter saying it was time to get rid of DRM and give more freedom to consumers.

Apple is the expert when it comes to designing products that give people the best consumer experiences so it knew better than most that DRM needed to go. It also helped that, in terms of digital music, Apple now holds more power than most of the record companies.

EMI quickly agreed with Apple and last week Universal Music followed suit.

With the music industry deciding to go DRM-free and allowing consumers to consume more, the next big battle is going to be video. Hopefully the proponents of DRM in video will learn from the experiences of the record industry and create content which will allow consumers ultimate choice and ultimate freedom. If people are allowed to watch their films on any device they want, in any format they want, then you can turn them into super-consumers who can also become super-purchasers, which will benefit both industry and consumers.