08 Feb 2007
RIAA misreads Jobs' open letter on DRM

...they think he's offering to license FairPlay! Can these people read? What part of this don't they get:

So if the music companies are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system? There appear to be none. If anything, the technical expertise and overhead required to create, operate and update a DRM system has limited the number of participants selling DRM protected music. If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies.

It's not Apple that's to blame for the obnoxious DRM placed on songs from the iTunes store. Nor is Microsoft responsible for the DRM baggage that accompanies every Zune sold. It's the record companies - which are already selling the same music unprotected on CD's every day.

They don't get it - and the fact that they think that Jobs was offering to license his DRM scheme in this little screed shows just how out of touch with reality these folks really are.

Steve Jobs' open letter about DRM and music yesterday definitely got a lot of tongues wagging, but there's one group that might want to re-read what he wrote.

(link) [Engadget]

21:50 /Copywrongs | 1 comment | permanent link