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BusinessWeek on Opening Apple's iTunes DRM
hype7 writes "BusinessWeek is running a very interesting story on Apple's foray into music, with a different bent to everyone else's. BW suggests that, instead of opening the iPod up to the world, Apple should instead license its DRM - 'Fairplay' - to anyone who wants to start up a music store. The upside is obvious: it would mean that Apple's music format, AAC, would become ubiquitous; Apple could quite feasibly make money on licensing fees (say 1 cent per song sold); and, it would just happen to stick it to Microsoft and the Windows Media Format. As the iTunes Music Store isn't running at a profit (or forecast to make a big one), having the Music Store clones eat into Apple's existing market share wouldn't be a problem; all these stores would be doing is building a bigger potential market for the iPod."
yeah, but a light pink iPod mini won't be helping your situation any ;)
kiddding! it's not the size that matters, it's the way you groove!
i was going to say something, but then i went to another tab, came back to this once empty text box and now my mind is blank.
...but what would the fees be? Out of the reach of the small indie shops, or reasonable?
Poor talentless underdogs, my heart bleeds. If they can't afford DRM, they either shouldn't use it or they should start sucking less so they actually turn a profit. The iPod plays DRM-FREE MP3 files just fine.
Then again, why bother with DRM at all? My Dell Jukebox cost me less per GB, has a longer battery life, doesn't have any DRM, at least none that I'm aware of,
So it can play WMA but has no DRM support? That's like Satanism without the evil, it's totally pointless.
I don't get my sexuality questioned every time someone sees me use it.
Haven't had that problem... Considering the iPod has the majority of the portable audio marketshare, I highly doubt it comes into play as a factor in determining someone's sexuality. Now buying a pink mini and loading it with Ricky Martin's complete discography probably wouldn't help your case, but I digress.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Apple make way too expensive computers that usually are more hype than anything else..
Do you own a powerbook? No? THEN SHUT UP
I've noticed a shift on /. in very recent days. You no longer automatically get flamed for posting anything anti-Mac.
When I used to work at Apple, it amazed me that DURING COMPANY MEETINGS, Apple people would open their powerbooks and start flaming anti-Mac folks on /. while Jobs was talking (on a Giant TV screen, too. Just like the 1984 ads portray IBM.)
For some reason, the tide has turned, and Apple Computer's goon squad can no longer overpower the voice of reason on /.
When I was forced to use a powerbook, I was EMBARRASSED to use it in public for fear that some Mac zealot would come by and start talking to me. Airports were the worst.
Best Buy can have you arrested
"My Dell Jukebox... doesn't have any DRM, at least none that I'm aware of"
Give the guy a break. He is clearly clueless. He bought a DJ for God's sake!!
ah yes...another moron who does not know that AAC is a better encoder than MP3 so at 128, you actually get a much higher quality sound than you do at 192 in MP3.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Is it just me or has companies like Apple managed to sneak DRM in under our noses while at the same time tricking us into thinking they're cool?
And really, 99c for a song isn't even that great of a deal. That makes a 15 song cd = $15.... Which essencially is the same price it was before. Not only that but you end up with an inflexible lossy-encoded file.
If by "sneak" you mean "implement because without it the major labels would never have agreed to let Apple distribute any of their songs" and "trick" you mean "tell you up front that their files are 'protected' by the weakest/most flexible DRM available from any online store that carries works from the major labels", and if by "$15 per cd" you mean "$9.99 for the majority of the albums", then yes, you're absolutely correct.
It works for crack.
InstantCool
Did you really just answer your own question in the last sentence of your post, and click Submit anyway?
Nah, I'd just question their intelligence.
my slightly "not equal in size" nuts
You mean "small" and "smaller"?