Now this is interestink.

[kickaha]

Steve Jobs posts an open letter to, well, everyone, on music and DRM. http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/

And the general reaction on slashdot is... positive? What crazy bizarro world is this?!?

I love it.

Comments

[franktheavenger.livejournal.com]

All right, I'm suprised; I expected him to be saying 'we'll happily license FairPlay to everyone, muahahaha! Apple's way is better!' Although he probably should have realized that selling online music DRM-free is only viable until the primary music vector is buing music online. That doesn't change the fact that the record companies are pathetically clinging to an outmoded business model that can't endure, of course.

Also, he failed to mention that DRM can lock you to a player if that online store is the only place you've been able to find that 3% of songs on your player; if you can't find it anywhere but online, the first place you buy it will dictate what player you need to stick with for the future.

And come on, he ended by essentially saying 'information should be free!' and you're suprised slashdot likes it? Please, you're smarter than that. :p

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Naw, I'm surprised by the fact that (most of them) are taking this as genuine, and not simply as a finger-pointing PR stunt.

As for needing to stick with a player, it depends on the DRM. If you don't mind a transcode, FairPlay lets you burn the bugger to CD... which is then rippable back to MP3 or AAC, without any DRM. Kinda like copying a tape back in the day, with the copy being not quite as clear. :D

I think I was most surprised, as were you, by the fact that it wasn't a 'license FairPlay!' pitch. Given the reasons in the piece though, it makes sense why they've been holding off on that. If the labels really have the right to yank their entire catalog within a specified time period every time FairPlay gets hacked, then hells yes they're going to want to limit who has a copy of the keys. It actually explains nicely why they haven't yet, when everyone has been expecting them to.

[franktheavenger.livejournal.com]

Well yeah, burning and re-ripping is possible but the kind of folks that will be hunting for rare music on itunes etc are not going to be willing to reduce the quality of the music once they've found it. Which means they either have to stay with one player or re-buy it (which arguably some of them will be willing to do).

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Jobs has always been leery (at best) of licensing his tech. He seems to have a pathological fear of giving up control of anything. It's why the PC won out over the Apple architecture--anybody could always build to the PC platform, but for, well, ever, nobody but Apple could build an Apple. Competition and copious supply made the PC a no-brainer for the accountants.

(It's also a big reason why the PC platform has historically been buggier than the Apple platform--and why the Apple platform is going to get buggier in the future--but that's another rant.)

So it doesn't surprise me that it wasn't a pitch to license FairPlay.

It also doesn't surprise me that slashdot is knee-jerking. Why does it surprise you? :)