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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Techies dislike DRM on the principle of the thing, not because it actually presents meaningful barriers. Indeed, the fact that DRM presents no meaningful barriers and is simply an inconvenience for the consumer is a big part of the argument against it.
You, me, and Steve Jobs are all in agreement.
...right now Amazon is superior to iTunes in just about every quantifiable way, and that unlike iTunes, Amazon is entirely DRM-free. As a matter of principle, Amazon is better.
Okay, but wasn't that "principle" effectively compromised by Amazon being unable to get all the record companies to go along with the non-DRM thing, to the effect that while their catalog is technically DRM-free, it also happens to be much smaller than the mixed-DRM catalog over at Apple?
If you dig the iTunes interface, that's your prerogative, but myself I'd rather have a simple browser-based store than a proprietary closed-source standalone program…
A solution that was probably made necessary not because Apple really wanted to do it that way, but because the Content Owners (record laels) were insistant on having DRM.
Mind you, I find the speculation that Amazon's current offerings are subsidized price- and consumer-rights-wise by labels hoping to establish a viable iTunes competitor convincing. Of course, this seems merely like an additional reason to get while the getting's good...I won't complain about an opportunity to exploit their moment of desperation for all it's worth…
In other words, you're willing to likely sacrifice your long term well-being in order to save 50 cents a track today. YMMV, but I would call that "Myopia".
Oh, and transcoding your MP3s into audio CDs for backup purposes is just asinine and a waste of data storage (unless you're one of those stick-in-the-muds that still use CD-audio only players, of course). Backing up your data is a good thing, backing up your data in a format that takes up 10x the space and requires you to constantly swap discs is silly and framing the additional inconvenience as somehow a "perk" for iTunes is delusional. Copy your MP3 collection onto a few DVD-Rs or an external hard drive or something.
Sorry, you missed the real point here:
The CD burning technique merely illustrates ONE simple technique that can be done by anyone.
It doesn't deny that there can be better ways of accomplishing either task that may be preferred by more skilled computer user.
The fallacy here is unfortunately all too common: it is the assumption that everyone else is as computer-savvy as we happen to be. Unfortunately, it is all too easy for us to forget the limitations of the end user audience.
-hh
@1969L46
I think we're getting off track here. What business model benefits the artist is a whole other can of worms. Artists have been getting screwed for years!
My real point is that the labels are up to something. They're offering Amazon a better deal so they can sell for less and they're not complaining about DRM-less tracks. Why?
Because they want to squeeze iTunes out and have a store where they can sell variable (i.e. higher) prices. They partner with a trusted online retailer, bait everyone into the store with the nice price and now they've cosied up to a store that they have more control over. Amazon, if anyone, has a chance at beating Apple and becoming top online music retailer. When that happens they increase the price.
It's a long term thing. Not this year, maybe not next year but eventually you'll see that the new hotness will cost considerably more than other tracks. If they want to push a certain artist they'll offer those tracks cheaper (probably for a limited time). It will be just like the brick and mortar stores we have now.
So all I'm saying is this may not be as good as it seems. Everyone is saying, "DRM-less music for less! It just seems to be good to be true." Maybe that's because it isn't true.
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