Jobs Against DRM

[Jimmy 2004]

Apple Inc.’s CEO, Steve Jobs, has published an open letter on the Apple website giving his views on Digital Rights Management for music – in other words, the copy protection that stops people easily sharing music purchased over the internet. Jobs wrote that the problems caused by DRM are down to restrictions set in place by the music industry, and he would be willing to go along with an abolishment of DRM, saying Apple would “embrace it in a heartbeat.” He claims that Apple is not in control of the DRM restrictions used by iTunes, and that the big four record labels are to blame for the inconvenience. If Apple breaks these restrictions, it has just a few weeks to fix the problem before the record labels withdraw their music. His reasoning behind Apple refusing to use the FairPlay DRM technology (which is supported by a number of companies) is that if problems were found with the music, all companies involved would have a huge task to change all software and firmware to support any modifications required to fix the issue.

Source: DailyTech

[newtekie1]

DRM needs to go away. This might be the only thing I agree with Jobs on.

[lemonadesoda]

I find two very very interesting political statements that Jobs has made:

1./ The music industry (RIAA) is the root (sic) of all these nasty consumer restricting DRM issues and that he is againt them

- with this statement the RIAA is getting (another) kick in the teeth
- the RIAA is already being accused of "cartel" behaviour and this underscores their unethical behaviour
- the RIAA is implicitly responsible for instituting restrictions that go BEYOND legel copyright issues and the rights of the consumer
- Jobs is responding to events from Gates, Fairplay, and embarassing news items relating to assinine action by RIAA
- that Jobs should be LOVED for trumpeting the rights the consumer and all should be forgiven... he is on THE CONSUMERS SIDE

2./ There has been a BIG SHIFT in the positions that industry leaders are taking

Jobs' fairplay comment is smoke and mirrors. Apple clearly wants to have its own tech lead the industry... which has made sense in the past. He is also wrong in the "why". Since if there was a problem with iTunes... but Fairplay was OK... then he would be OUT of favor in the market pretty fast and market share would be lost by Apple. WHEREAS if the whole Fairplay bandwagon had a problem... it would effect the whole industry and everyone would be trying to fix the issue (and therefore less costly for Apple). Market share for Apple would not change.

So, some interesting insights in the strategic shift in the industry mixed with a little bullshit. Well, that's what I call "JOBS P.R.". Has been, always will be. LOL

[WarEagleAU]

hmm..

[DMSMac_Consult]

I think that Jobs' statement was a powerful one, honestly. Everyone has been on Apple's ass for locking iTunes to iPod and vice versa and not licensing Fairplay m4p files to other vendors -- but Jobs' explanation is perfectly plausable. I'm sure it's in their contracts with the Big 4 -- if the DRM gets compromised, it's Apple's ass. What easier way to get a DRM compromised than to start leaking -- or rather, licensing -- the technical details of the DRM to other third parties?

P.R. fluff or not, I hope Jobs' statement has an impact on the industry, and perhaps we'll see .m4a and not .m4p on the Apple iTunes store if the Big 4 come around to agree with him -- unprotected files would be a welcome change.

[Benpi]

I read the statement... It's as if Steve Jobs Ctrl+Cd / Ctrl+Vd what Bill Gates said about DRM months ago.

[Scavar]

I never liked Apple, and I never will, and ever if what Jobs says it bull, it might help get rid of the DRM that doesn't even work.

[Easy Rhino]

im against music piracy but im also against DRM. things just need to change. i would love the see the numbers the riaa uses to say piracy is hurting them.

[XooM]

RIAA is taking an asspounding from everybody these days; heck, they assaulted a friend of mine over the use of the windows startup sound (which he was using with explicit permission from Microsoft), and now he's got MSFT's lawyers on their asses over that. I think he's settled for a written apology from the RIAA, which, thanks to the MSFT lawyers, amounts to quite the asspounding

[DaJMasta]

Ugh.


If it's so bad why aren't they doing something about it?



It's fine and good if Gates and Jobs say it's bad, but it's a damn shame ALL of their products say otherwise.



They're trying to curry favor, let's just hope this leads to something.

[Misiowiec]

Originally Posted by Jimmy 2004

...His reasoning behind Apple refusing to use the FairPlay DRM technology (which is supported by a number of companies) is that if problems were found with the music, all companies involved would have a huge task to change all software and firmware to support any modifications required to fix the issue.

A blatant lie. Apple don't want to know be part of FairPlay as it would hurt their profits due to people not buying from the iTunes store.

I never have and never will buy and DRM coded music, no matter how beautifully they dress it up.

[Completely Bonkers]

Personally, I find that most relationships with women adhere to DRM principles! LOL. I prefer a little more liberation!