Apple, iTunes, and EMI

[RAMd®d]

A couple of questions--

It seems to me that cutting such a deal takes a good deal of time. So, did Stevie have this in the works when he posted his open letter?

Or, did EMI see an opportunity and bust a move?

[BigGuynRusty]

PuhLeeze!
SJ is thinking 5 to 10 years in the future, always.
He didn't want DRM in the first place but he had to play the game.

BGnR

[vision63]

I think the European Union forced his hand. Probably earlier than he wanted. I'd bet dollars to donuts that he absolutely didn't want "any" song above the 99 cents benchmark, but had to concede.

[deckeda]

I know what Steve tinks at all times. But to share it wit youse guys? Fuhgettaboudid!

[Seacrest]

EMI had been thinking of this for a while.
They were already selling selected tracks w/o DRM, I think, before Steve posted his open letter. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-0...tion_x.htm
Steve got another win, however, because he gets to claim that he's offering twice the quality at only a 30% price premium.

I predict Sony/BMG will probably be next to fall.

Warner will be the last holdout, but they sell the most music.

[mikebw]

Yes, Jobs is always the forward thinker.

What seems really ridiculous about big labels who are against this is how the majority of their sales (CD's) are completely DRM free. Why should the Internet be any different? Why punish your customers and give them reasons to steal music? Copying a CD from a friend is way easier than downloading a bunch of tracks from from P2P app, and few of the labels seem to object to people buying CDs...

[Mike Johnson]

I don't care which came first or who gets credit.

What I like about it isn't the higher quality -- it's unlikely I would notice the difference. And it's not the lack of DRM, either -- I have 567 ITMS tracks, and I've never had a problem with the DRM. No, what I like about it is, Steve set a precedent: to all the labels who want to charge more than 99 cents, Apple can now say, Sure, we can do that. It'll be like EMI.

[Sam3]

Maybe they'll do a Pepsi giveaway to celebrate?

Mmm... free 256k DRM-free songs...

[ADent]

[quote mikebw]What seems really ridiculous about big labels who are against this is how the majority of their sales (CD's) are completely DRM free.
They have been working on fixing CDs for years. See the Sony root kit for one example of a 'fix'.

[RAMd®d]

And that root kit didn't last very long.

But their ARCCoS DVD protection is going strong, strong enough to be problematic for some of us.