Quote:
Originally Posted by sigma8
Speaking of Apple, let's use them as an example. They kept the iPod locked to the iTunes store--and vice verse--until they were the only viable game in town. Then they ditched DRM--enabling customers to use the iTMS with any device. This will only broaden their audience.
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I beg to differ!
Apple hasn't been the one keeping the iPod "locked to the iTunes store" (although it may have worked out to their benefit).
<history lesson>
Back at the beginning of the iTunes store, Apple started out trying to get the big record labels to permit no-DRM distribution. The folks at the big labels wouldn't even consider it without DRM. You may recall the Steve Jobs letter on DRM from a year or two ago -- it contains some of this history. Apple did eventually manage to convince one of the four biggest labels to allow DRM-free music at a higher price (it was the smallest of the four, of course).
Later on, with the iTunes store in a relatively dominant position, the labels decided that they would try to change that (that is, build up a competitor) by letting everyone except Apple have DRM-free music. The labels didn't get what they wanted -- Amazon wound up #2 in digital music sales, but are still 10x smaller than the iTunes store. Apple didn't get what they wanted (no more DRM and higher quality... er... less-compressed music). So everyone went back to the negotiating table.
When the dust settled, Apple backed off a little bit on fixed pricing (making the labels happy) and the labels let Apple go DRM-free with higher-bitrate music.
And now lots of people are talking about how Amazon forced Apple to remove DRM...
</history lesson>
Xenophon
P.S. There has
always been a trivial way to remove the iTunes DRM: Tell iTunes to transcode your music to AIFF format (or just burn a CD) -- that's plain old CD audio. Then, if desired, re-encode the MP3 (or whatever). Presto! No more DRM!