Letters to the Editor
-
i-tunes file restriction would be fine if i-pods didn't suck
i'll never buy anything off of i-tunes ever again. I've had two i-pods go to shit in two years.
-
no backups for music besides your ipod?
Have you ever heard of backing up your hard drive to DVD/CD/Tape/Another Hard drive? That's a ridiculous and petty gripe. The main thrust of this article is all based on Doctorow's inability to trust Jobs. Sorry, that's not enough for an argument. It's a sad excuse for a petty diatribe, but not a legitimate argument.
-
Say what??
"The main thrust of this article is all based on Doctorow's inability to trust Jobs."
Jobs' is inconsistent in his public statements and has a clear vested interest here. This is not news. Only Apple fetishists (or stockholders, I suppose) could fail to see this.
-
Steve Jobs wants to make money - Shocker!!!
I really dont understand the big deal about DRM? As a recording artist myself, and a consumer of music, DRM makes sense, even if it is proven as not working. I want my music protected, and as long as I am paid, I do not necessarily care about those who buy it. People who buy songs off iTunes should understand the restrictions their given. This article reaks of pretention and spoiled kid, give me what I want-when i want, attitude. Steve Jobs probably doesent mean everything he says... do you, Cory Doctorow. He's a business man, why should it surprise you that he is trying to make money anyway he can. You argument is pointless, and leads to no where, have you ever made an album, ever had people download it for free, and potential buyers become in effect thiefs. Cory Doctorow, you seem like a hack of a writer, who lacks the reasoning and understanding needed to take on an issue that is to big for you. Good day sir!
-
I believe him
Apple doesn't benefit from DRM the way you claim. The fact remains that the vast majority of the iPod owner's library doesn't come from iTunes. It comes from ripped personal CD collections or illegal copies/downloads. The iPod sells well because people feel (rightly or wrongly) that it is the best digital music player. The music store could disappear tomorrow and Apple would still be the market leader; much as they were before the debut of the store. I've never heard of anyone buying an iPod to use the iTunes Music Store. It's simply a convenience that they discover afterwards.
And for those worried about "lock-in", circumventing the DRM is trivial. A Google search will show you at least three different methods. And, if you're truly afraid of DMCA or are unusually law-abiding, you are allowed to burn your music (to actual discs or images) and then rip it to any format you like. While this isn't the most high-fidelity conversion you could make it should suffice for people who purchase digital music to begin with. That is, people who are okay with purchasing "lossy", compressed music and are more concerned with convenience. Most consumers would never notice the difference between a M4P (iTune Music store file) and one that's been transcoded to an MP3 via AIFF (CD format).
Historically, for those of you concerned with being trapped into an iPod, were you equally concerned about being trapped by vinyl, or eight-track, or tape or even CDs? All those formats are dead or decaying. The fact that you could buy a player from any number of companies didn't save the format, nor did it stop you from repurchasing your music on a different format. If you do decided to switch to another digital music player, you can transfer your iTunes purchases to it with much more quality and ease than you could with any previous format.
Jobs believes (truly and fanatically) that the Apple experience is what sells the iPod. The ease of use, the supposed seamlessness between the software, store and player is what keeps sales going. DRM does nothing to enhance this experience and perhaps even hinders it.
-
people have the freemdom to be stupid
I am not a big fan of DRM but I buy a lot of songs from the itunes store (most of my music actually), but i do so knowing quite well the restrictions that come with buying my music from the itunes store, such as the DRM, and the poor sound quality, that is why i still buy my absolutely favorite songs on CD (mostly because of the sounds quality). would I change any habits in a DRM free itunes world? no. when i go to the itunes store, I am made aware of the limitations that come with the itunes DRM, i as a consumer then have to make a decision if i want to buy the product with those limitations. I can choose not to and buy a CD, rip it and put it on my ipod. i find the arguments made against apple and the other DRM using music stores in a way ridiculous since this is not some trick or scheme by those stores, in which case I would understand and fully support the anger against those sites.
is drm good? well that is another question, but that is not a question apple or microsoft will have to answer, but the rights holders. if the music industry decides to go drm-less then the market will be drm-less, no matter if apple likes it or not. if all labels would start using drm less mp3s then ipod users could buy them on some non-itunes store and use them on their ipods which would force apple to adopt drm less on the itunes store as well. ultimately it is up to the labels to realize that drm is only costing them money and customers and that they have to stop using them. this has nothing to do with the ipod, apple, the zune, ...
-
iPod ought to be a perfectly good backup device
There's nothing unreasonable about expecting to use your iPod as a music backup device. After all, an iPod is nothing more than an external hard drive plus some extra display and playback circuitry. It's only the unworkable legal system that keeps Apple (or their major competitors) from allowing it to be used as such.