02-07-2007, 04:51 PM
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.
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.