If this topic is of interest to you, you should listen to today's Fresh Air on the subject: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99312293
It's excellent and insightful. For the record, my take was that Jobs did not want DRM-laden music, but, since it was either that or no contracts with the labels, he figured out a way to exploit that and sell more iPods (his true goal). Now that iTunes is established as the market leader, there's really no harm to Apple to have the DRM removed, especially since the music format itself (AAC) is an exit barrier for many of Apple's customers. On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 11:54 PM, Eugenio Perea <[email protected]> wrote: > Not that I believe everything that Jobs says -far from it- but this > little piece he published on Apple's site a year ago, calling for an end > to DRM, would seem to support my case. See: > http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/ > > What legal action would cause Apple to "allow" DRM removal? > > > > Harry C. Johnson wrote: >> --- In [email protected], Eugenio Perea <euge...@...> wrote: >>> Also, I'm pretty sure Apple never wanted DRM in iTunes. I believe it >> was >>> a requirement of the record companies in their neverending quest to >>> infuriate their customers. Now that Apple is the leading distributor of >>> music on the planet, they have enough clout to force the removal of DRM. >> >> Not true. Apple has been sued and criticized by the consumer >> protection groups of several countries and the EU for their >> monopolistic use of DRM to tie the iPod to iTunes and their lack of >> willingness to allow others to license their DRM. They also went so >> far as to invoke the DMCA to sue RealNetworks for providing software >> that would allow the iPod to download music from Real in addition to >> iTunes. Apple loves iTunes and DRM and its likely because of legal >> action that they are allowing DRM removal. >> >> I provided links to related stories in an earlier post. If your >> curious I can repost those or you can just do a google search. >> >> -Harry >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------ >> >> Yahoo! Groups Links >> >> >> > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > >
