Wed, 29 Nov 2006

Universal Wants a Slice of Apple's iPod Pie

There's another name for this kind of semi-legal shakedown: it's called "extortion". I daresay that the real repositories for all the "stolen" music are the record companies themselves, who've managed to steal it from both the artists and the public. Perhaps it's time for us to get paid for their theft...

According to a Reuters report, Universal is now taking the precedent set by Microsoft's Zune and moving to force Apple to include a royalty payment with each iPod. In the words of Universal Music's Doug Morris, "These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it,. So it's time to get paid for it." Does Microsoft's precedent mean the start of a slippery slope that will add a "pirate tax" to every piece of hardware that touches digital music?

(link) [Slashdot]

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