Making Money Selling Music Without DRM

phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica's Nate Anderson has an excellent writeup on the rise of eMusic and how they're suceeding despite their unwillingness to hop on the DRM bandwagon. From the article: 'The Holy Grail of online music sales is the ability to offer iPod-compatible tracks. Like the quest for the mythical cup itself, the search for iPod compatibility has been largely fruitless for Apple's competitors, whose DRM schemes are incompatible with the iconic music player. For a music store that wants to succeed, reaching the iPod audience is all but a necessity in the the US market, where Apple products account for 78 percent of the total players sold. Perhaps that's why eMusic CEO David Pakman sounds downright gleeful when he points out that there's only two companies in the world that can sell to them--Apple and eMusic.'"

Comments

Record companies will embrace this eventually

[Anonymous Coward]

DRM is bound to fail. Consumers hate it. Eventually the music labels will see the light. Just like when Jack Bauer said "Right now, right here, you are going to face justice. And if you think for a second that I'm scared to put a bullet in your brain, you don't know me."

But after counting to three, Bauer couldn't pull the trigger. Rescue arrived. Bauer was taken into custody. Logan went free. The time was 6:24 a.m.

This was all according to plan. A few minutes later, the U.S. attorney general was listening to a recording made from a microtransmitter Bauer had planted on Logan to capture the heated exchange he would soon have with his wife. Logan was taken away by federal marshals. Happy ending? Not exactly. In the finale's cruel, closing moments, the triumphant Bauer was abducted by the Chinese authorities he had faked his own death to escape 18 months before -- to evade their revenge for the death of the Chinese Consul. Warning: spoiler!

Re:Allofmp3.com

[Anonymous Coward]

In post Soviet Russia, the mafia is the government! Too bad this isn't a joke.