Jobs on DRM
Nick says:
I was wondering when you’re going to comment on Steve Jobs latest outporings on DRM.
Surely the only interoperable DRM is no DRM.
He’s an opportunistic hypocrite. DRM allowed Apple to create the iPod monopoly. Just a few months ago he was vocally pro-DRM. So what? The fact that he’s one of the most prominent rats leaving the sinking DRM ship doesn’t disguise the fact that it’s sinking.
You have to feel sorry for Microsoft. Vista is lumbered with an onerous cargo of DRM badness (See Vista’s suicide note). If, as seems likely, DRM falls out of favour during its lifetime that’s a hell of a lot of useless baggage to be carrying.
More on Jobs’ flip-flopping here:
techdirt: Steve Jobs Says Record Labels Should Ditch Their DRM
BoingBoing: Will Steve Jobs drop iTunes DRM in a heartbeat?
Scobleizer: Why not turn off DRM on Disney movies?
the INQUIRER: Jobs’ cry against DRM is a sham
February 8th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Everything Jobs is saying at the moment seems to be a slight at Microsoft.
I don’t care about DRM, I have no intention of buying digital music, ok yes, it’s on CDs and stuff (probably), but I tend to not really rip them anymore..
DRM is here to stay, I’m sure there’s some DRM madnes going on with Apple TV too, along the lines of it only playing iTunes purchased movies/video.
February 8th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Depends on if you believe simple minded frigtards like Cory Doctorow or Scoble who type quicker than they think. The Inquirer? May as well sift tea leaves.
It’s easy to take the ’state sponsored piracy’ soundbite and suggest Apple were FOR DRM and that the piracy was of music. Or you could have read it in the entire context of the Apple PR piece and realised they actually were objecting to the French government sailing in on their pirate ship and forcing them to give up their IP. It’s Americans complaining about the French remember. I imagine just any old company being allowed access to how your DRM works by law is going to cause a few leaks outside France where you’ve still got record company contracts to adhere to. The French law wasn’t about removing DRM - it was about letting other companies ADD it.
I’m not entirely convinced how DRM has built the iPod monopoly if there’s only an average of 22 DRMd songs on an iPod and 97% of music sales are still on CD. Could it be because the iPod is actually quite good, well marketed and has software that works well?
Steve Jobs as opportunistic hypocrite? Sure. Most top business people are. I’m pretty sure he’s got wind of the big record labels starting to budge on DRM and wants to be seen as the Man who Slayed the DRM Monster. My bet - it’s gone by October.
And his call for Europeans to go after the record companies instead of Apple is cute but since the contract of sale is between Apple and the consumer he presumably didn’t pass that one by Apple legal.
February 8th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
“Depends on if you believe simple minded frigtards like Cory Doctorow…”
Must be thinking of a different Cory Doctorow then.
February 8th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
I was thinking of the Cory Doctorow that defines himself by being a counter culture alpha geek. You know, the moody Mission fan at school that then switches to The Fall when the Mission became popular just because they can’t be seen being even _that_ mainstream.
Which Cory Doctorow were you thinking of?
Anyway, back to the man who’s head expanded… :)
February 8th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
There’s plenty to Jobs’s statement that was deliberately opaque and/or just plain wrong, but it’s true that we seem to be headed in a good direction. For example, his little schpiel about 97% of content on iPods being DRM free. A more telling stat would be of people who use the iTunes store (not just the software) how many songs do they have in a DRM protected format. I’d guess a fair share of new users have exclusively DRMed content.
The big cover job is his claim that FairPlay can not be shared. DVD is a shared standard format with DRM and while that DRM has been broken (multiple times), DVDs sell better than ever. A better explanation of this stance is required before we move on to MP3 (of which I’m a fan and the format I use exclusively by ripping CDs).
Anway, I wrote a column about it, which I think you can get to by clicking on my name. Thanks for making people more aware of DRM issues! This is what we need!
February 8th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
“simple minded frigtards” - someone reads fake steve then :)
I’m not Jobs’ biggest fan, but I think this is probably a good thing. If this leads to more content being sold online without DRM attached, all the better.
According to a recent NYT article, Apple were approached by Nettwerk Music Group (Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, etc) about selling music on iTunes without Fairplay. They refused.
February 17th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
I remember Nettwerk when they completely dumped on some of their artists that had been with them since the beginning (Consolidated, MC900ft Jesus etc) so they could sell mainstream crap like Sarah McLachlan so forgive me for suspecting they’ve other motives.
However, we’ve no idea what the deal is Apple has with the majors and Apple so far has managed to keep them all in tow with their policy of it being the same deal for everyone.
I could imagine those deals would fall apart rapidly if Apple started negotiating separate contracts with each record company.
Greg - Why mp3? I prefer AAC at lower bit rates. At higher bit rates the two are almost the same but AAC is smaller and supports more features for tagging, chapters and cover art.