Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:20 pm

Bosco,

LOL! Great response!

Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:58 pm

Bryan,

1. CDs did not have DRM. There's no going back - the train has left the station. Thus, Jobs' comment.

2. In order to have digital stores, the labels (and studios) insist on DRM. (My belief: It would be better if there was no DRM, but I understand the labels attempt. All in all, DRM is a bad solution to the problem of piracy.) But still no DRM, no digital media stores. The content owners have spoken. The contracts are written whereby Apple is legally liable if the DRM is broken on the songs it sells (and same for all the other stores except those that sell non-DRMed music like emusic.)

3. If there is no DRM, thus no digital music stores, piracy will increase. (Apple's assertion but likely true.)

4. If using digital music stores becomes non-aligned with user's expectations, then users will use other means, such as piracy, to acquire music for their players. This can happen if the song price is too high, if DRM is too restrictive, or if the playback tools become too complicated (i.e., no longer just works.) To date, Apple believes iTMS,in tandem with iTunes and the iPods, provides a good compromise and people are buying. On the other hand, Apple believes that the other music stores, mainly WMA, have not provided a convenient, just works solution, even as they provide megachoice in stores and jukeboxes and players. That's because the DRMed WMA songs have varying restrictions and prices, players don't always work with jukeboxes, and jukeboxes don't always work with stores, and oftentimes the issue is the DRM.

5. If this law passes, then these three things could happen (not sure since law not clear):

a. Other jukeboxes/players will play Fairplay-DRMed songs. These songs will have different restrictions from WMA songs, and may not always work with jukeboxes or players (unless Apple invests resources to make it work).

b. Other stores will sell Fairplay-DRMed songs. These songs may have different restrictions from iTMS Fairplay-DRMed songs, and may not always work with iPods and iTunes (unless Apple invests resources to make it work).

c. Other jukeboxes/players will translate Fairplay-DRMed songs into other-type-of-DRMed songs. These songs may not always work with jukeboxes or players.

6. So good, you say, the other players/jukeboxes will continue to have trouble, and iPod users won't buy any non-iTMS music because of RDF so they won't have any problems. So Apple benefits. But who's ultimately responsible to ensure that Fairplay works? Apple is. If the DRM is broken, who do the labels hold responsible to fix it, even if it involves a third-party store or player? Apple. If the DRM causes troubles with other players/jukeboxes, who's brand is tarnished? Apple. (In the same way that Microsoft is tarnished when Windows doesn't work right on all those different PCs.) And when even iPods don't work right with songs from other stores, who will those users look to to fix it? Maybe 50% Apple, maybe 50% other stores. When people get tired of fingerpointing as to who should fix it, what will they do? Use MP3s instead (CDs or pirated).

That's the gist of Apple's comment. It's the exact same motivation that drove the Real comments. Which is, don't muck with my integrated system - when you break "just works", the user will walk. Got it?

Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:56 pm

Has it not been mentioned yet that you can still play Apple DRM music on a 3rd party device? iTunes will let you burn an audio CD (NO DRM) which can be imported back into iTunes or other player program as MP3 (NO DRM), then drag and drop into your crappy RCA Lyra Viola problem solved. I really dont see what all this fuss is about!

I dont see how Apples Fairplay is broken, it works! I can play fairplay music on my iPod and within iTunes and not on another version of iTunes not associated with my account, this is what Fairplay was designed to do, Apple could care less if their iTMS purchases play on a 3rd party vendor player, they do allow (although limited) burning to red-book CD, and this is the practice I use to burn MP3 cd's to play in my vehicles.

Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:29 am

You know something is bad if you need to jump through hoops in order to get to "normal". DRM is not a good thing. And btw this law isn't either. For the CD burning guy: this law is one step closer to making that illegal. Already this law makes copying your DVD for backup purposes illegal.

But I like the idea of not being tied to this or that gadget. Jobs' quote is telling, and saying "yeah, but he MEANT CD's" as if that makes it less true for DRM crippled stuff, well, I don't know, lame?

With all respect for Jobs and his iTunes only approach, in the end it's not ideal. Meaning: the iTunes content can't be the answer to everybody's taste, or else they should really try and sell everything. If you're a mainstream kind of person, iTunes is incredible. If you're not, um, it's nice. For instance, if you're into Jazz, you'll find a good and broad selection of some good musicians and ensembles. But it WON'T match a speciality shop's selection. See? Same goes for every genre. Hurray for iTunes, but I think ultimately the supermarket approach can't satisfy real music lovers (not talking about bitrate which will get better I trust).

And for the "user experience" argument: do you really think that for example amazonmusic (why not?) can't match iTunes in usability? Anyway, bad experience in one shop means no more buying in that shop. Apple's damage: minimal. Shop's damage: 100% Bad for Apple, iTunes, the iPod? Maybe a few years back, but now it's not that fragile ecosystem, now it's the only game in town.

Cheers!