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Jobs' Invitation To Microsoft a Trap?
An anonymous reader writes "Chris Seibold over at Apple Matters, has written up an interesting analysis on Steve Jobs' suggestion that Microsoft make their own mp3 player. He argues that it is more bait than business plan, a deft move by Steve Jobs to lure Microsoft into a can't-win war. The key, according to the article, is the licensing of FairPlay." From the article: "The folks who stick with Microsoft get to fight over, roughly, twenty percent of the market. The folks that go with Apple would be aligning themselves with what has become the industry standard. The players that license FairPlay would have access to the iTunes store, backwards compatibility with the songs consumers have already purchased, and a chance to compete on a perfectly level playing field with the iPod. It doesn't take a Stanford MBA to deduce that the potential rewards of opting to use FairPlay far outstrip the rewards of going with PlaysForSure."
... a monopoly? Wow. Slashdot actually endorsing monopolies now.
From the article:
"Jobs reasons that since iTunes and the iPod use the vertical integration model that Microsoft could use the same tactic to finally relegate the iPod to the technical trash bin. In theory, the system would work as follows: Microsoft would bundle a music playing program with every PC that, of course, pointed to an iTunes like music store. The model would be completed when people buy a Microsoft produced digital audio player. Consumers, being the lazy slugs they are, would take the path of least resistance. Inevitably, iPod marginalization would ensue."
Did Microsoft get in trouble for this sort of anti-competitive bundling before? If so, are they really stupid enough to try it again on such a large scale?
In soviet russia, You ask not what country do for you, but what you do for country!
Oh wait...
Does Apple even have any plans on licensing FairPlay, or is this another blogger speculating about the mighty Apple?
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
DRM-free mp3 files beat the hell out of both FairPlay and Playz-Fer-Sher!
My mp3s play on all of my computers, all of my mp3 players (2 ipods, oakley glasses (they were a GIFT), empeg car, xbox media center...
FairPlay plays on a few of my macs at a time; only 4 because, sadly, one of my "authorized" computers got blown away when I reinstalled the OS on that box. I'm sure there's a way to resolve this, but its one of those steps that "keeps honest users" from using the iTunes Store. So I can't play FairPlay songs on 2 macs (more than 5 in this household... is Steve Jobs trying to tell me I buy too many boxes from him?), 2 PCs, my car, my non-ipod mp3 players, or my xboxes. That ain't fair. I've stopped using the iTMS, since I'd have to convert them to mp3 if I want to listen to them (and that's against the license).
PlaysForSure - somehow I doubt those will play anywhere in my house. Hmm... Maybe on the windows laptop we keep around for configuring a couple of devices that are *only* supported by Windows, but sometimes I like to listen to music outside of my office cabinets, where these files SurelyWon'tPlay.
For now I'm still "stuck" buying CDs and ripping them myself. The only real drawback is having to store all of the physical media (as backups) in boxes somewhere in my basement once its ripped to disk.
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