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“A world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats � is clearly the best alternative for consumers,” Steve Jobs said earlier this week in an open letter he posted on the Apple website titled “Thoughts on Music.”
Jobs said he wants to get rid of FairPlay, the Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology that prevents songs downloaded on iTunes from being loaded onto MP3 players other than Apple’s iPod.
While it may be that Apple is simply adapting to consumer demand for DRM-free music, it’s also possible (not unlikely, I think) that Steve Jobs’ new stance on DRM is intended to sway software companies and other online music and video vendors into selling DRM-free music so that it may be uploaded onto Apple’s upcoming iPhone.
I’m guessing Apple’s recent legal conflict with Norway - the country declared the Apple iTunes DRM scheme illegal because it does not allow compatibility with other music players - might have also had something to do with Jobs’ change of heart.
What do you think?
2 Comments So Far...
it’s a smart move regardless of the intention. nobody likes DRM, the music industry would be better off without it.
[...] said Steve Jobs’ pro-consumer/anti-DRM rant might have been just “a gambit to force Apple’s content suppliers to renegotiate their [...]