iTunes Store- The Next AOL

[Rodimus Prime]

Of course Apple will break everything that gets around the DRM, all manufacturers do. BTW, i still dont understand your point here. From what im reading you are blaming Apple for creating a proprietary DRM format and employing it to work on iPods, and any other software that supports, and runs, Quicktime? DRM is the way of the music industry, which is a monolithic structure that i hope falls soon. They are hopelessly stuck behind the times, and for that they will eventually pay. Apple facilitating DRM for now atleast shows proof that people will actually buy legal music. When DRM free becomes the norm, i am sure Apple will be on the forefront of the movement. Hell, Steve Jobs already campaigned against it and iTunes was the first major online service selling DRM free music.

As much as I would like to see DRM free music I do not think it is going to happen. At some point I believe their will be a DRM standard agreed upon. Right now there are 2 DRM out there. Apples and M$. M$ is willing and do let others use their DRM Apple on the other does not. Over time M$ DRM will eat away at apples because as more and more players enter the market they will start taking more and more of the slice of the pie away from apple.

As much as it pains me to say it when the DRM standard comes I believe it will be the M$ one that is used because of apple refusal to let others use theirs.

 

[aristobrat]

Right now there are 2 DRM out there. Apples and M$. M$ is willing and do let others use their DRM Apple on the other does not. Over time M$ DRM will eat away at apples because as more and more players enter the market they will start taking more and more of the slice of the pie away from apple.

Actually, aren't there 3 DRMs? I thought that the Zune used something that didn't work on other Plays-for-Sure devices (as well as not working on iPods, either).

Also, how much time are you talking about giving Microsoft? It's been several years and iPod sales haven't declined any as far as I know.

 

[Stampyhead]

if they only live in apple's world (i.e., every piece of music player+computers are from apple), then its not bad at all, problem is, there are major amount of people don't have themselves all apple-fied.

What does that even mean? When you download iTunes music you can play it on your computer (Mac or PC), you can play it on your iPod (which plugs into a Mac or a PC), you can burn it to a CD and listen to it on your stereo... I don't see where these 'non-apple-fied' restrictions are. Maybe you're talking about the .0000001% of people that have an iPod and a Zune and want to play it on both? DRM-free music would be nice, but until that becomes standard I don't see a problem with the way Apple does things.

 

[Blubbert]

As much as it pains me to say it when the DRM standard comes I believe it will be the M$ one that is used because of apple refusal to let others use theirs.

Other manufacturers used FairPlay, and that was a disaster. Motorola's ROKR and SLVR both support and use the FairPlay DRM scheme from Apple. As the situation stands right now, no music player that supports FairPlay, like Motorola's ROKR and SLVR, can compete with the iPod or the iPhone.

 

[bonkiebonks]

As long as the iPods sell well, the iTunes Store will survive! I, for one, started making more music purchases since the introduction of the iTunes WiFi Music Store. It's just so convenient to be able to buy music on the go!

 

[clevin]

What does that even mean? When you download iTunes music you can play it on your computer (Mac or PC), you can play it on your iPod (which plugs into a Mac or a PC), you can burn it to a CD and listen to it on your stereo... I don't see where these 'non-apple-fied' restrictions are. Maybe you're talking about the .0000001% of people that have an iPod and a Zune and want to play it on both? DRM-free music would be nice, but until that becomes standard I don't see a problem with the way Apple does things.

obviously you are ignoring the users who owns other music player (1.x m for ZUNE already? and about 4m for sandisk), yeah, compare to common stuff like iPod, they are not massive, but do those people not count? thats about 20% market share!

maybe in your mind, iPod is taking 99.999999% market share, but sorry it is not the fact.

and I do not think this is all the case yet.

You might not be able think about other scenarios which DRM-ed iTMS music have troubles. but others like "mac friends bring over iTMS music to my vista machine, etc." do exist.

I don't pretend I now everything.

but DRM-ed music vs. Freed Music, its an obvious conclusion that you can't excuse. especially we now have amazon's DRM-free music as a good example.

 

[Blubbert]

obviously you are ignoring the users who owns other music player (1.x m for ZUNE already? and about 4m for sandisk), yeah, compare to common stuff like iPod, they are not massive, but do those people not count? thats about 20% market share!

maybe in your mind, iPod is taking 99.999999% market share, but sorry it is not the fact.

and I do not think this is all the case yet.

You might not be able think about other scenarios which DRM-ed iTMS music have troubles. but others like "mac friends bring over iTMS music to my vista machine, etc." do exist.

I don't pretend I now everything.

but DRM-ed music vs. Freed Music, its an obvious conclusion that you can't excuse. especially we now have amazon's DRM-free music as a good example.

Well if you look at it from that standpoint, i have to ask what about iPod users? They are restricted to playing music from iTunes because all other music stores sell their music in a microsoft proprietary DRM format, which doesnt work on Zune either... DRM is not a good solution to any problem, i agree, but it will not go away. Not atleast while record companies retain their power. Even Amazon's DRM free music comes with restrictions. The only music that still comes DRM free are older cd's without copy protection, but they usually run up the price on those to like $15...

 

[sartajc]

You are WRONG. iTunes protected format -> CD = no DRM, usable on all machines.

Do that when you have 1000 songs.