Apple for DRM-free Music

[jackofallgeeks]

Ok, so this may just be him covering his ass, but I like Steve Jobs a lot more after reading This. From the article:

Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store.

Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy.

Comments

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

Well, you and I would disagree, then, as to the lengths we believe the RIAA will go to 'stick it to the pirates.' These are the same guys suing grandmothers and little girls, using strong-arm/bully tactics to force settlements, and crying about how we're screwing the artists when they screwing them first with crummy royalty contracts. I don't think it's much of a stretch to imagine them saying, "you want our stuff, then you play by our rules." And yeah, I'll concede that it's not hard to imagine Jobs & Co didn't mind too much, as they were certainly selling iTunes/iPod as a package deal. I'm just saying I believe he'd do what he says if the RIAA would let up, never mind that his product is already secure in the market and he can only really benefit by opening it to other forms of media.