Have you heard that latest about EMI allowing DRM free music to be sold on iTunes? Both DRM-free and DRM versions will continue to be sold with the DRM-free being of higher quality bit rate. This comes at an extra cost. The DRM-free music will sell for $1.29/song while the DRM version is still 99 cents. Is it worth it to pay a little extra for Dfree music? I think so. I always felt a little funny buying music which is locked to a particular companies DRM system. Even if it is Apple. Who knows if this system will be supported in the future, and then you would be out of luck.
This may have the side benefit of squelching all of the lawsuits which are brewing in Europe. Or may be due to them. At any rate, I think Jobs made it clear that Apple is not the one pushing for DRM it is the record companies. And now they are starting to budge. There are still other record companies which think that EMI is making a mistake. We will have to wait and see.
12 comments:
I did indeed hear the good news! A lot of credit goes to Jobs for pursuing this change and helping to make it happen. I still remember when Jobs posted his letter about DRM, and how pissed off some of the other MP3 guys were (a Zune guy was practically enraged!), and now Jobs goes out there and does it! Awesome! It's great PR too.
As someone who has purchased on the order of 250 songs from the iTunes music store, I can definitely tell you I'd pay extra for the higher quality and lack of DRM. The only thing I find disappointing is that we still won't have the option to buy in Apple Lossless Format. (Le is turning me into an audio snob one speaker at a time!) Still, doubling the bit rate is nothing to sneaze at. I would guess that, except for certain types of music, I won't be able to tell the 256 kbps from the Lossless. One of the nicest surprises is the ability to upgrade to the higher bit rate!
By the way, I really think the other record companies will now start feeling immense pressure! We all have to hope that this actually INCREASES the sales of EMI songs and albums, and then the other record companies have no choice but to admit that they were wrong and Jobs was right. On the other hand, if nothing happens, we are all in for a long stretch of DRM burdened songs.
First, I think it's great that they are eliminating the DRM and that they're increasing the quality. I, too, wish that they would add some kind of lossless format, whether that be Apple's or traditional cd format - seems that since they're selling movies and TV shows, there's no real issue with downloading large files.
Lo, yes, I am a self-proclaimed audio snob, and I am more than happy to see you moving in that direction a little bit. :-)
-Le
I must say, if Lo has purchased the "Neptune System", the premier laundering system, then I believe he is on his way to becoming an audiophile. Quality begets quality. There is no end. Once you taste the sweet necter of quality you must have more.
As for the lossless format, I am sure there is no technical reason to offer it but maybe a financial one. Yes you can download feature movies but you are paying far more them too. Maybe the economics aren't quite right yet. But with cost of storage and bandwith dropping every day it won't be long. Then you would have to buy an iPod with a bigger hard drive. And the cycle continues. Actually the whole idea of MP3 was to shrink file sizes for easy transport over the internet. I would imagine that this format will eventually die off as storage and cost of transmission are no longer an issue.
Stitch, I must applaud you on your magnificent analogy of the Neptune system and audio quality. I have drank deeply from the sweet nectar of quality, and I am now insatiable! Quality does indeed beget quality! Indeed, beginning with the Mac, I am on a never ending quest for the quality things in life, and quality audio is next on the list. Well said, Stitch, and I could not agree more with your assessment of the file storage issues - you are right, with time storage is less of an issue! Le, feel free to jump in anytime!
I would say that you and Stitch are shoveling the BS just fine without my chiming in!
-Le
And yet, Le, you must feel free to chime in and add your 2 cents to this pithy and complex conversation!
For me audio quality does not matter. I am from the AM radio era. I have converted my entire iTunes music collection to 15bps so that is sounds more like AM radio. Now my music only takes up 10MB. It's all a matter of priorities, I prefer hard drive space over audio quality, but hey I'm a bit twisted to begin with.
I am headed in the other direction - Audio Snob Lane. I'm not sure if anything can help me now. I even have a few Lossless tracks on my nano for crying out loud!
Stitch! Blasphemy!! Audio quality is of paramount importance!
Lo, stay on the road to hi-fi - it's a road well worth traveling!
-Le
Blasphemy, I say!!
Surely what I say was in jest!
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