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Music Companies Mull Ditching DRM

Posted by Zonk on from the dogs-and-cats-living-together-mass-hysteria dept.

PoliTech writes to mention an International Herald Tribue article that is reporting the unthinkable: Record companies are considering ditching DRM for their mp3 albums. For the first time, flagging sales of online music tracks are beginning to make the big recording companies consider the wisdom of selling music without 'rights management' technologies attached. The article notes that this is a step the recording industry vowed 'never to take'. From the article: "Most independent record labels already sell tracks digitally compressed in MP3 format, which can be downloaded, e-mailed or copied to computers, cellphones, portable music players and compact discs without limit. Partially, the independents see providing songs in MP3 as a way of generating publicity that could lead to future sales. Should one of the big four take that route, however, it would be a capitulation to the power of the Internet, which has destroyed their monopoly over the worldwide distribution of music in the past decade and allowed file-sharing to take its place."

2 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Undermining Apple? by tyme · · Score: 5, Insightful
    GizmoToy wrote:
    I doubt Apple would ever switch to MP3s. They've got too much invested in their format to abandon it now.

    When, in the last decade, has Apple shown any reluctance to abandon proprietary technologies, in which they had a large investment, rather than adopt industry standards? Hm, lets see:
    • I doubt Apple would ever switch to PCI. They've got too much invested in Nubus to abandon it now.
    • I doubt Apple would ever switch to IDE. They've got too much invested in SCSI to abandon it now.
    • I doubt Apple would ever switch to USB. They've got too much invested in ADB to abandon it now.
    • I doubt Apple would ever switch to USB2. They've got too much invested in Firewire to abandon it now.
    • I doubt Apple would ever switch to Intel CPUs. They've got too much invested in PowerPC to abandon it now.
    • I doubt Apple would ever switch to PDF. They've got too much invested in QuickDraw to abandon it now.
    • I doubt Apple would ever switch to VGA/DVI. They've got too much invested in their proprietary video connector to abandon it now.
    • I doubt Apple would ever switch to a multi-button mouse. They've got too much invested in the single button mouse to abandon it now.
    Apple just hasn't shown, in the last 10 years, any reluctance to abandon existing, home-grown, technologies when the market has provided an adequate alternative.

    Besides, the iPod and iTunes already support MP3s, all Apple would need to do is switch the format that iTunes uses to distibute purchased music.

    --
    just a ghost in the machine.
  2. Re:Undermining Apple? by shakestheclown · · Score: 5, Insightful

    God, it never ceases to amaze me the extremes that people are willing to explain away to justify the companies that they like. And then they never miss an opportunity to read evil into the actions of a company that they dislike.

    News: Apple doesn't sell music without DRM. Response: Oh, the labels won't let them.
    News: Some labels gave Apple the opportunity to sell music without DRM, but Apple refuses. Response: Oh, what if there was a mistake? The legality! Apple is safer this way.

    Give me a break.

    And just as bad is the post above about how Apple only uses a proprietary DRM to combat Microsoft's EVIIIL proprietary DRM.