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Mr. Jobs’ Thoughts on Music Not So Sincere
Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 at 2:00 PM - by John Martellaro
Apple may not be completely sincere in their stance that they would like to see music DRM go away. That's the view Cory Doctorow presented in a detailed analysis of Mr. Jobs' Thought on Music at Salon.com on Friday.
DRM is basically a legal issue, not a technical issue. By virtue of the DMCA, the entire force of the American legal system can be brought down on offenders. But in terms of technology, it only takes 180 seconds from the time a song is released in the iTunes store until it shows up on P2P Servers.
The author argued, therefore, that while Mr. Jobs agreed that no DRM system is technically perfect, Apple gets to enjoy the legal protection of DRM that is able to keep the vast majority of iPod users from switching to another music player platform. So the sincerity of Mr. Jobs was questioned.
Moreover, it appears that Mr. Jobs stance has varied a lot depending on the winds of change. At one time, "Rip, Mix, Burn" was the mantra of Apple. But, now, Apple attorneys have said that Apple would retain its DRM on music even if the labels asked to have it removed.
Mr. Doctorow wondered, "The reasoning goes that users will be confused by a store that sells both DRM and non-DRM music. But if this is so, how is it that Apple currently offers DRM-free podcasts alongside DRM'ed, pay-for-use podcasts in the selfsame store?"
DRM is bad for the industry, bad for the consumer, and many independent artists want it removed. Some labels are planning to experiment with DRM free music. But, given the effect DRM free music would have on the number one on-line music store and the number one seller of MP3 players, a key question remains as to whether Mr. Jobs was really serious about Apple's desire to embrace DRM free music.
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