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Sony Announces DRM-Free Music at Amazon
sehlat brings us a New York Times report that Sony has agreed to start selling DRM-free music from Amazon's MP3 store. This comes days after Sony revealed plans for physical MusicPass cards that would allow DRM-free access to a small portion of Sony's library. Now that all four major record labels are on board with Amazon, some are expecting Apple to make moves away from DRM as well. From the NYTimes:
"Sony's partnership with Amazon.com also underscores the music industry's gathering effort to nurture an online rival to Apple, which has sold more than three billion songs through its iTunes store. Most music purchased on iTunes can be played only on Apple devices, and Apple insists on selling all single tracks for 99 cents. Amazon, which sells tracks for anywhere from 89 cents to over a dollar, offers the pricing variability the labels want."
...this is the voting power of your dollar at work
I dont think thats true. I think it was more the stubbornness and vendor-lock-in of the ITMS, and that this is a response of the labels to attempt to reduce Apples power (and hence increase their own power).
If there was only one shop that sold to consumers, and they insisted on a reasonable price, there isnt much the labels could do about it. If there are many shops, the labels could threaten to cut them off - that ol divide and conquer thing...
Except, you are out of your mind. They didn't do this because they weren't making enough money--iTunes has been mildly successful, you know.
They did it because they didn't like Apple's strangehold due to Apple's monopoly over Apple's own DRM'ed format. They just didn't like being under Apple's thumb, and that is all.
Wake me up when they're selling mp3's at a reasonable price...say, 4 cents. Then, I'll buy it every time I want to hear it, instead of "downloading" it and "keeping it on my hard drive for no good reason".
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