If "the Euros" are upset about Apple not opening up iTunes then Apple should simply disable the iTunes store in Europe. People should be grateful Apple trail blazed and understand this is a business. Heck, I wish a lot of things would change but that have to be a certain way to protect others' livelihood.
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EU Not Interested In Pushing Legal Case At iTunes
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I think the major problem is that people are complaining, and are not providing viable solutions of their own regarding the closed ecosystem. I can't see how iTunes would be any better supporting any player you hook up to it since the manufacturers of those players may not even design their hardware to meet the requirements of it. Sony definitely won't since they'll probably want to hold on to their Connect store, Microsoft is currently holding onto their own closed system and Creative and a few others are already feeding off of their own DRM-wrapped media source through Rhapsody and whatever else.
Seems like the EU wants to talk about open DRM. Which just seems like a contradiction in terms. The DRM key has to be stored somewhere and if everyone knows where it is and how it works then what's the point.
#1 solution here is for the music labels to drop DRM altogether. Hell, they release all of their music in a non-DRM format anyway (CD), why not allow it to be sold DRM free in electronic formats too.
Hmm.. Maybe it's because when you buy a CD you have to buy all the other crap on the album also, instead of just the one or two tracks that are actually good. They're protecting their ability to sell the crap they produce by bundling, not just the good music. I guess that makes sense for them, but not for the people who are essential forced to choose between buying 8-9 crap songs to get a single good one and buying the single song in a DRM crippled format.
#1 solution here is for the music labels to drop DRM altogether. Hell, they release all of their music in a non-DRM format anyway (CD), why not allow it to be sold DRM free in electronic formats too.
Hmm.. Maybe it's because when you buy a CD you have to buy all the other crap on the album also, instead of just the one or two tracks that are actually good. They're protecting their ability to sell the crap they produce by bundling, not just the good music. I guess that makes sense for them, but not for the people who are essential forced to choose between buying 8-9 crap songs to get a single good one and buying the single song in a DRM crippled format.
Don't forget also that lots of online albums don't allow all of the songs to be purchased individually. If DRM were extinguished this sort of thing would still be around. They know that those album only songs are usually the most popular too, and if you read reviews you see that most people are pissed that they can't buy that one song that they wanted. Sometimes one can find the same song on another album but most times not. It sucks.
Of course. I'm still waiting for him to put his money where his mouth is and stop carrying music from labels that insist on DRM. Not all of them do.
I do care, I love music, and the average stereo doesn't do it justice, including iPods, making matters worse is the compression used in this type of players, but to start with, things could improve by enhancing the hardware, hence my request for improved output stages, but i agree that that's not where the story ends, uncompressed files at the quality you suggest is the way forward,especially since memory prices are gradually dropping.
They were going to bring legal action, but then they got distracted by the latest singles on the UK iTunes store. 
This is probably the very reason they didn't pursue legal action against Apple. If they had they would have been obligated to treat Microsoft the same way. I think governments don't want to admit that Microsoft has grown too large to control. The debacle of the U.S. antitrust trial and the E.U. continuously faltering hold Microsoft to the terms of their antitrust trail shows this. Any place they have been found guilty the sentence/reparations are so low its not even a punishment. Microsoft needs to be broken up AT&T-style, but no one has the guts to do it because they're afraid of the effect it would have on the economy.
Maybe they should force Microsoft to at least make it's own DRM compatible with all Windows Media players...
This is probably the very reason they didn't pursue legal action against Apple. If they had they would have been obligated to treat Microsoft the same way. I think governments don't want to admit that Microsoft has grown too large to control. The debacle of the U.S. antitrust trial and the E.U. continuously faltering hold Microsoft to the terms of their antitrust trail shows this. Any place they have been found guilty the sentence/reparations are so low its not even a punishment. Microsoft needs to be broken up AT&T-style, but no one has the guts to do it because they're afraid of the effect it would have on the economy.
Fairplay?
DRM does not affect me at all, in fact I care little about it. What I do care about is getting a fair price for my music and iTunes achieves that.
Now everyone is going on that Apple should do this and Apple should do that. Stop and think for one moment. What if the shoe was on the other foot, do you think MS or any other company would allow Apple to tie a product to work with their music stores. Yep I tihnk not I hear you say.
Also why is that the stupid people on the planet kick up a fuss about iTunes then go to consumer groups and cry no fair. All is fair dipstick, didn't you read the system requirements, didn't you even think to consider compatibility issues, are you the type of moron who would go out and buy a betamax cassette to play in a VHS machine. Are you the same person who purchased a cheap Windows based PC with Windows home edition thinking that it would also have the compelete suite of Microsoft Office products and that you would not have to fork out £399 for it. Whoops sorry you undoubtly are hence why you got some putts at the EU fighting your corner.
The best thing is that there is a loophole that can be exploited where you can burn your tracks purchased on iTunes and move to another media format, but hey I am talking stupid people here who don't have a clue.
Shame we don't have a worldwide policy on knumb skulls.
For those of you with some savvy, lets not forget the dark days at Apple where the doors could have remained permanently shut. Lets not forget when Jobs got back on board and started working his magic Adobe would not even consider making a basic photo app for Macs.
Open up iTunes hah, hah, lets think how many companies would do that if thery had a heard start hmmm, Micro........
DRM does not affect me at all, in fact I care little about it. What I do care about is getting a fair price for my music and iTunes achieves that.
Now everyone is going on that Apple should do this and Apple should do that. Stop and think for one moment. What if the shoe was on the other foot, do you think MS or any other company would allow Apple to tie a product to work with their music stores. Yep I tihnk not I hear you say.
Also why is that the stupid people on the planet kick up a fuss about iTunes then go to consumer groups and cry no fair. All is fair dipstick, didn't you read the system requirements, didn't you even think to consider compatibility issues, are you the type of moron who would go out and buy a betamax cassette to play in a VHS machine. Are you the same person who purchased a cheap Windows based PC with Windows home edition thinking that it would also have the compelete suite of Microsoft Office products and that you would not have to fork out £399 for it. Whoops sorry you undoubtly are hence why you got some putts at the EU fighting your corner.
The best thing is that there is a loophole that can be exploited where you can burn your tracks purchased on iTunes and move to another media format, but hey I am talking stupid people here who don't have a clue.
Shame we don't have a worldwide policy on knumb skulls.
For those of you with some savvy, lets not forget the dark days at Apple where the doors could have remained permanently shut. Lets not forget when Jobs got back on board and started working his magic Adobe would not even consider making a basic photo app for Macs.
Open up iTunes hah, hah, lets think how many companies would do that if thery had a heard start hmmm, Micro........
There are plenty of other music stores in Europe.
It wouldn't be a great loss for them... especially since a small minority use Macs, so there's no issue with Mac compatibility and online music stores. Apple would then be critized for not supporting the DRM on the remaining music stores, since iPod is the most popular MP3 player.
Apple are the ones to lose to in this situation.
Re: above.
Yes, if Apple were serious about non DRM - they would remove the fairplay DRM on the indy labels that do not require it on their material.
now i think we might be off-topic a bit and this forum will do no good to push audiophile or headfi stuff as probably we are more mac-focused than dual cap out headphone sockets and op-amp rolling and valve versus transistor talk.
your conversation hasn't much to do with drm. with what you have in mind, buy the cd, but make sure you don't play it on your home player without at least a signature 30 amp, singlepower headamp, valhalla power cables etc etc.
i think that this conversation would be a little shorter and more volatile had it not been apple on the frying pan here. if it were microsoft, we'd be up with our pitchforks to bring them down*edit* speaking of whom, the zune has dual cap out much like our beloved 1g shuffle -- just load up your eac, windows media lossless ripper and pump them into your zune, one microsoft point after another, then plug in your portable headamp (i assume you have one) and let windows media rock your world!
*edit* alas for free-speech, it will make socialists of us all...
Yup, you can't purchase Peter Frampton's Do You Feel Like We Do? without purchasing the rest of the Frampton Comes Alive album. But that's fine by me, I have the DVDA 5.1 version anyway.
One, CD's are not 24/96, They're 16/41, I hope you knew that and just didn't write yourt post clearly. Two, 24/96 uncompressed = 562 kilobytes per second. That would make The aforementioned Do You feel like we do consume 458 megabytes of HD space.With all of my music recorded at that lossless bitrate, my music collection would weigh in at an astonishing 208 Terabytes. Trust me, it ain't getting that cheap.
Simple, buy a CD (she seems to like those), rip it to MP3 format, and load it in all the devices you desire.
If in itunes then make a play list with all the music you want, burn a cd, rip it into mp3 format and load it in all the devices you want.
NOBODY is locked to iTunes or the iPOD, it takes a little work. If one can not be boddered to go thru the steps, then obviously playing the music in a different devices was not such an important issue. Instead people just complain and the politicians overreact.
I can't believe that she compared the freedom you get with a CD versus the ties with iTunes. In both cases the music can be moved from place to place, one takes more steps than the other but you have the freedom eitherway.
If in itunes then make a play list with all the music you want, burn a cd, rip it into mp3 format and load it in all the devices you want.
NOBODY is locked to iTunes or the iPOD, it takes a little work. If one can not be boddered to go thru the steps, then obviously playing the music in a different devices was not such an important issue. Instead people just complain and the politicians overreact.
I can't believe that she compared the freedom you get with a CD versus the ties with iTunes. In both cases the music can be moved from place to place, one takes more steps than the other but you have the freedom eitherway.
All EU has to do, is create a law that prohibits the sale of music with any and all forms of DRM.
No pushing, no negotiation, no talking back, its the law (or would be).
Now labels have no choice, Apple, M$, and others have no choice, all music DRM free just like a CD.
Now that is helping the people. Don't tell me about the rights to protect the Artist, CD does not protect the Artist either. Lets balance the issue and not overload one side. Same protection.
How long does it take to rip a CD? 10 minutes? Is that going to make it that much harder so pirates will not copy the music and make it available?
What about before there was iTunes and iPods? Did not keep them from pirating either.
IMHO DRM makes no sense, but then that is my opinion, you will probably think different, that is what makes the world go around, different opinions.
No pushing, no negotiation, no talking back, its the law (or would be).
Now labels have no choice, Apple, M$, and others have no choice, all music DRM free just like a CD.
Now that is helping the people. Don't tell me about the rights to protect the Artist, CD does not protect the Artist either. Lets balance the issue and not overload one side. Same protection.
How long does it take to rip a CD? 10 minutes? Is that going to make it that much harder so pirates will not copy the music and make it available?
What about before there was iTunes and iPods? Did not keep them from pirating either.
IMHO DRM makes no sense, but then that is my opinion, you will probably think different, that is what makes the world go around, different opinions.
I don't see how anyone in their right mind can find a real reason for the DRM scheme to exist. With the ease of going around it I'm amazed it hasn't been killed off yet.
The 5 computer per account rule imposed by the iTunes DRM has no effect on me since I burn and rerip songs to transfer to other computers, thus circumnavigating the restriction with little to no effort on my part. Gracenote, being the handy little tool it is, will rename the songs, and then add the album art into the receiving library. Isn't that sweet? Now, this may mean lower quality music to the more sophistomicated of cochleas, but to me this method is *slap* Dy-no-mite.
The DRM scheme runs on a half-baked assumption that all PMP owners are theives and need to be kept on a tighter leash. Ironically if not for the DRM scheme I'm willing to bet more people would be willing to simply purchase music online and be happy for the convenience and consistent quality rather than trudging about on a peer to peer network trying to find favorite songs. (Anyone who does this often knows this can be a pain in the ass on occasion)
The 5 computer per account rule imposed by the iTunes DRM has no effect on me since I burn and rerip songs to transfer to other computers, thus circumnavigating the restriction with little to no effort on my part. Gracenote, being the handy little tool it is, will rename the songs, and then add the album art into the receiving library. Isn't that sweet? Now, this may mean lower quality music to the more sophistomicated of cochleas, but to me this method is *slap* Dy-no-mite.
The DRM scheme runs on a half-baked assumption that all PMP owners are theives and need to be kept on a tighter leash. Ironically if not for the DRM scheme I'm willing to bet more people would be willing to simply purchase music online and be happy for the convenience and consistent quality rather than trudging about on a peer to peer network trying to find favorite songs. (Anyone who does this often knows this can be a pain in the ass on occasion)
where do we stop!!
I completely agree with this statement if we are going after apple to open up the ipod should we also not go after sony because non of their ps3 games work on my xbox360 and their both gaming platforms, people get upset because the songs you buy from itunes dont work on a different player, then the answer is simple dont buy an ipod and dont buy from itunes. Apple did not start this market but they sure did make it a good experience for all.
I completely agree with this statement if we are going after apple to open up the ipod should we also not go after sony because non of their ps3 games work on my xbox360 and their both gaming platforms, people get upset because the songs you buy from itunes dont work on a different player, then the answer is simple dont buy an ipod and dont buy from itunes. Apple did not start this market but they sure did make it a good experience for all.
IMHO we fight one battle at a time, otherwise you win none.
I love to see the RIAA be procsecuted for their Mafia like tactics as a good starting point.
But I agree with others that Apple needs to remove DRM from all songs that do not contractualy require it. After Steve wrote the letter, he needs to back it up. Actions speak louder than words.
Next I like to see the major labels either stop making CD(s) and stick to DRM, or drop DRM and sell online like they do with CD(s) (DRM free). Im tired of their forked tongue.
I mainly buy CD(s) and once in a while I may go to itunes for a song for a home movie, but mainly I like having a CD and keeping it in mint condition to rip as I need if the files get corrupted or I erase by mistake.
I guess these Nazi-esque wunderkind see a world where everything is androgynous and nothing has its own identity, where you can buy a Bugatti Veyron, and complain that the exhaust system costs $78,000 and instead put a $48 Kia muffler on it. The bottom line is, this is the very foundation of capitalism, and a corporation should be allowed to do whatever they want for the good or ill of their company unless they are overtly harming consumer interests. If anything, Apple has done more than any other company in the realm of digital music to stifle the greedy maw of the recording industry and yet, Apple is by far the most lambasted digital music vendor simply because it prefers a vertically integrated business model in order to ensure quality end to end.
Meglena Kuneva, kiss my ass.
Meglena Kuneva, kiss my ass.
Thanks, but I considered the first paragraph, rather than the footnote, to be my daily magnum opus.
Because the iPod isn't the only player available, and not everyone wants or should have an iPod. Many other players "work", and are a lot cheaper too.
I own an iPod myself, and love it but you can't push it on everyone. Before my iPod I had a Zen Micro Photo 8GB and I liked it just as much (if not more) than my current iPod.
SPUY767 said:
hahahahha
And there goes Sony, snickering in the background while they have their Connect store. How many non-Sony players does Sonicstage support again?