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Doesn't Jobs make his iPods none compatible with the majority of mp3 players?
"Mr. Jobs contends that the recording industry isn't solving piracy with the technology, and could spur the market further if music lovers could buy music online without the restrictions. Many consumers resent the curbs on how they can listen to what they buy from online stores. Songs from one company's catalog, for example, won't work on another company's player -- a gridlock that has frustrated some consumers. Getting rid of the antipiracy software could make downloaded music as widely compatible with digital players in the market as compact discs are with CD players."
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iPods are able to decode MP3, AAC, protected AAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV, and video codecs as well, although the latter is not a part of this discussion. The iPod works fine with the leading digital music format, MP3. I would contend it is Microsoft who has been the standard bearer of fracturing the market with a format that they can control, see WMA.
It is trued that the FairPlay DRM is not compatible with non iPod music players. FairPlay has been licensed to manufacturer's of other devices, such as Netgear streaming devices and a few cell phones as well. However, from an install base or even marketshare number, the iPod is by far the dominant portable music player in the United States. Whether discussing flash or hard drive based players, the iPod dominates each category separately and when tallied together.
Yes DRM is a problem, I have written about the issue on Low End Mac, and am but one of many who have tried to tackle this subject. I used to think that Apple, Microsoft, and other companies were secretly happy to see DRM infected content continue as they each carved out a niche of trapped consumers stuck in a particular DRM fiefdom. However, both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have come out in recent months to speak against DRM, as it pertains to digital music of course. Notice the distinction. Only music. No mention of video, or computing platform DRM, just music. Something is afoot, but the DRM infection is far from defeated.
Nathan
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You know BigGuy, the first time you posted this it might have had a small bit of humourous content. Now you are well into obsessed territory. She is under no obligation to answer questions, and probably got all the answers she wanted from the rest of the discussion. By this point, she probably has you on ignore as this is not the first time you have done this. So go find something else to amuse yourself, it is getting old.
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[quote JoeH]You know BigGuy, the first time you posted this it might have had a small bit of humourous content. Now you are well into obsessed territory. She is under no obligation to answer questions, and probably got all the answers she wanted from the rest of the discussion. By this point, she probably has you on ignore as this is not the first time you have done this. So go find something else to amuse yourself, it is getting old.
Please JoeH, put me on ignore and amuse yourself your usual way.
BGnR
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Seemingly contradictory, that question could be signature material.
Really, sam posting questions and never participating in the responses seems to make her practice fair game.
And that game may still have a lot of play left.
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Well... returning to our regularly scheduled programming...
The only Apple-based iPod-locked content is protected-AAC. All the Euros and everyone else that cries about non-compatibility and Apple monopoly is really just crying about this format.
I've never bought iTunes music. I like having the CD as backup and I like having the liner notes. Everything I have on an iPod is MP3. And there is nothring that keeps me from buying any other player and putting all my music on it. Except that any other player blows goats.
The real issue that the Euros and others are crying about is that they want to get music from ITMS and put it on their device. As Leader says, this is not an Apple issue, it is a music industry issue. The Industry would have never allowed the ITMS to have any music to sell without DRM. THEY are the ones that mandate it.
As a DRM, it is one of the least onerous. You can have complete access yourself forever with no additional fees. You're not renting the content. You are not limited to a certain number of plays. You can put your songs on multiple devices. And if you want to bother to copy to a CD-RW or whatever, you can break it.
"OK... but Apple won't license it! BooHoo! MY player can't play ITMS AAC-protected songs without doing the copy thing!"
Well, if Apple licensed the ITMS DRM to anyone that wanted it, they would not have the control over it needed to assure the Industry that it was secure. (Obviously, since when it actually was reverse engineered, Apple had to do an iPod software update to resecure it.) And, again, without the Industry truly believing it was secure, they would have never allowed the ITMS to be.
Besides, the iPod was kicking ass and taking names way before there was an ITMS. And this was even though it was WAY more expensive than the existing competition at the time (Hello, iPhone...) People are not buying iPods just because they need one to have ITMS access. I'd bet a Coke that most iPod owners are like me and have a low percentage of AAC-protected content on their players. It's not Apple's DRM that is locking other players out of the market. Folks are buying iPods because the alternatives suck.
Hopefully, Leader's statements about DRM will allow the discussions about Apple's "monopoly" to become based in reality.
Don't cry to Apple, Argentina... and Norway and France... Cry to the RIAA.
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[quote sscutchen]People are not buying iPods just because they need one to have ITMS access. I'd bet a Coke that most iPod owners are like me and have a low percentage of AAC-protected content on their players. It's not Apple's DRM that is locking other players out of the market. Folks are buying iPods because the alternatives suck.
[quote http://forums.macresource.com/read/1/244655]
"Today’s most popular iPod holds 1000 songs, and research tells us that the average iPod is nearly full. This means that only 22 out of 1000 songs, or under 3% of the music on the average iPod, is purchased from the iTunes store and protected with a DRM. The remaining 97% of the music is unprotected and playable on any player that can play the open formats. Its hard to believe that just 3% of the music on the average iPod is enough to lock users into buying only iPods in the future. And since 97% of the music on the average iPod was not purchased from the iTunes store, iPod users are clearly not locked into the iTunes store to acquire their music."
Woot.
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