Steve Jobs wants to do away with music DRM


A bold move, and it's already being deliberately misinterpeted
John Markoff at the New York Times is missing the point here.

Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, jolted the record industry on Tuesday by calling on its largest companies to allow online music sales unfettered by antipiracy software.

The move is a gamble for Apple. Its iPod players and iTunes Store have defined the online music market, and they have much at stake in the current copy-protection system.

Under terms reached with the major record labels, online music stores embed software code into the digital song files they sell to restrict the ability to copy them. Because Apple uses its own system, the songs it sells can be played only on the iPod. That limitation has drawn increasing scrutiny from European governments, pressure that Apple has recently begun to acknowledge.

Mr. Jobs’s appeal, posted on the company’s Web site Tuesday, came in the form of an essay titled “Thoughts on Music,” but in essence it was a letter to the “Big 4” music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI.

Now, I'd like to clear up any confusion. Apple doesn't make money selling music. Apple makes money selling iPods and computers. DRM exists because of the record labels, not because of Apple.

And the restrictions for Micro$oft's Zune are far worse than anything Apple has imposed.

It's not a gamble for Apple. Apple wins with or without digital rights management.

It's all about the perception, not the reality. The reality is that Apple is the fourth largest music retailer, all without selling a single CD, tape, or anything physical.

Despite all that, the only reason Apple is selling music is to sell iPods.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Wed - February 7, 2007 at 10:16 AM  Tag


 ◊  ◊   ◊  ◊ 

Random selections from NeoWayland's library


Pagan Vigil "Because LIBERTY demands more than just black or white"
© 2005 - 2009 All Rights Reserved