[timwaagh]

I'd like it if this happened. if the web has some standard way to ensure DRM that means it will be possible to sell media (and hopefully possibly software) on the web without requiring people to be online at all times. It would be even better if the entire thing was managed by the w3c, not just the endpoints. that way everyone could make use of it. I do not think everything should be free although it's good if there is an option to give things away. but in general, developers and content creators have to eat.

[pornel]

It would be nice, but EME doesn't do that.

EME doesn't define the critical CDM component required for it to actually work. It's like a spec for `<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash">` tag saying it defines Flash.

So in practice you still have to license CDM integration from Google (for Chrome's CDM only) and Microsoft (for IE's CDM only) and Apple (for Safari's CDM only) and Adobe (for Firefox's CDM only).

[gsnedders]

It doesn't even define how the browser communicates with the CDM, which makes it strictly less good than NPAPI and the Pepper API, because at least they have a definition that allows you to get Flash working with your browser (well, assuming they provide a binary for your platform—or you pay to license it to port it yourself).