The iTunes music store, along with others is a special case.
I dont think many consumers know in fact that they are, in effect, renting the music even though they have paid for it (by renting I mean the fact that without an internet connection, if you were to shove your iTunes purchases onto another computer (that belonged to you?), they would not work since it would not be able to phone home and your purchases would be useless). One of the reasons I do believe that the DRM on the iTunes music store is not necessarily a good thing is because it locks the user into the iTunes/iPod system and if the user were to ditch the iPod and iTunes theyd have to purchase all their music again, or indeed, burn it to disc and re-import, therefore ending up with even lower quality files then they would have started off with. And heres another thing to chuck into the pot. What about those of us that want the flexibility of being able to choose our tracks to be able to download, but will not compromise on sound quality (i.e. want pure linear PCM WAVs or lossless)? Apart from quasi-legal Allofmp3.com, wheres the download store for us serving up popular music for those of us who want quality and flexibility? Not all people want DRM laced low bit-rate files you know. IMO, DRM should only be used in situations where the content is hired out to the user (in that, the user is explicitly using a subscription service, such as Napster to go, or whatever its called) and not for services where the user purchases the song outright. After all, if you purchase a washing machine, do you want to be told when and where you can use it, and if you move it from house to house, do you want to have to check in with the company that made it, so that it can be used at the new address? - C. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jason Cartwright Sent: 05 February 2007 18:24 To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Subject: [backstage] RE: [backstage] £1.2 billion question (or RE: [backstage] BBC Bias??? >Click and Torrents) This is all my personal opinion. > withdrew DRM, since it totally failed, like it always will iTunes Music Store (solely selling DRMed content?) appears to be doing pretty well... over 2bn songs, 50m TV episodes and 1.3m films sold [1]. It turned over around $1.7bn last financial year [2]. Doesn't make it right, of course, but it's hardly "failed". J [1] http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/01/09itunes.html [2] http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/10/107357/reports/10K_FY2006. pdf - they don't breakdown the revenue far enough, but its about $1.7 to $1.8bn I'd reckon. - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
