Downloadable Music vs. CDs
Today, Steve Jobs posted a note on the Apple Inc. web site about iTunes and Digital Rights Management (DRM, AKA anti-piracy). You should go read it, as it's quite good. It's OK, I'll wait. Done? Good. According to Jobs, about 10% of the music sold in 2006 is downloadable, DRM-protected, and purchased online. The remaining 90% is sold DRM-free on compact discs.
In his note, Jobs talks about the restrictions the music industry imposes on Apple, such as strict requirements that any breaches in DRM security must be fixed within a matter of weeks. DRM must be bulletproof, according to the music industry. The majority of downloadable music sold online has always been protected by DRM, so the music industry finally has a medium where they control how music is shared. Unfortunately for them, a non-DRM'd format is already the de facto standard. Since the mid-90s, MP3s have been available for download via newsgroups, web sites, and P2P networks. It's no wonder that DRM'd music has met so much resistance.
iTunes and Norway
If you haven't heard, the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman has ruled that the iTunes' DRM violates Norwegian consumer protection laws because it prevents consumers from using their music on digital music players other than the iPod. Most people outside of Norway don't know how many consumer protections are in place in Norway. It's actually quite nice being a consumer in Norway, compared to the United States. For instance, most non-disposable consumer electronics in the US have something like a ninety day warranty on defects in the manufacturing process. In some cases, it's one year. Norwegian law requires a minimum five year warranty on these products (if I'm not mistaken, Norwegians please correct me).
One of the things I really liked about Norway is that it was obvious that big companies hadn't stripped away the rights of individuals. The iTunes case is the same sort of situation. Many people argue that Apple is no more responsible for making sure their songs are compatible with their competitors' MP3 players than printer manufacturers are responsible for making sure their printer cartridges are interoperable. However, they're missing the point. The Ombudsman seems to be saying that purchasing music is more than just buying a certain file format. It's buying the right to listen to the music as you see fit.
DRM and Me
I applaud Steve Jobs' willingness to remove all DRM restrictions from music on iTunes as soon as the music studios allow it and I hope this redirects the Norwegian Ombudsman to the real culprits here: the music industry. To this day, I haven't purchased any DRM'd music or copy-protected CDs and I have no intention of doing so. I'd really like to buy some DRM-free and music industry sanctioned downloadable music, though. Please Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI, make it happen.
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Jobs and Gates agree!
DRM in the long term will only encourage piracy. As with DRM its people who pay get less. It's an extremely dumb mechanism.
Uncle Bill also said the same thing
I don't think anyone outside
I don't think anyone outside of the music industry actually likes DRM (other than maybe a couple of companies that make DRM technologies). I hope that iTunes has gotten big enough that it can finally do something about DRM.
Warranty in Norway
Small correction: If the item is meant to last significantly longer than two years, the warranty is five years. In other cases it's two years. So, in case of something like a laptop, you'd have five years on the laptop but two years on the battery. (That still doesn't cover expected effects of normal usage, of course - you do expect the battery life to become somewhat shorter after a few years, but should the battery suddenly just die, you have a case). This law applies to every item, by the way, not just electronics.
Thank you for the
Thank you for the correction. :)
Not Warrany
It's not really a warranty -- that term is used for promises from the manufacturer or retailer which gives the consumer even more rights than the law grants him or her, i.e. it's illegal to call it warranty if your computer store gives you the right to free repair or replacement within five years after you bought the item, provided that they don't grant you extra service or it covers more situations than the law.
Fair enough
Fair enough. I guess I'm just used to using the term warranty because of the laws in the United States. I'm not really sure what kind of consumer protection there is against manufacturing defects in the US. I do know some states have "No Lemon"* laws on vehicles, which is nice. In fact, I think most consumer protection is done via state laws rather than federal laws.
* A "Lemon" is a product that just doesn't work from the time you purchase it. So, if you get a new car and it's constantly in the shop after you first buy it, you'd call it a lemon.
Yes - federal law is
Yes - federal law is generally the bare minimum - states must at least provide the federal "floor" of protections and rights to their citizens. However, states can also go beyond federal law and establish additional protections and rights for their residents; in many ways, the states are like little countries, but they are bound together as "united" states.
they are the pirates who can hack anything...
my brother always gets frustrated by anti-copying stuff. he points out that it's not the pirates who suffer - they just sit down and fiddle until they hack it. and they're only getting better and faster. (See the bbc's video.) it's truly the consumers who are most inconvenienced. ugh.
Exactly. Have you noticed
Exactly. Have you noticed the anti-piracy commercials on most DVDs these days? I've already gotten the DVD legally, why do I have to watch stuff about buying bootlegged DVDs?!
*cough*
um, probably b/c you need something to rip to be a pirate..? and a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy is worse than a copy of an original, so why not start with the real thing? though, yes, again, it is we, the legal consumers, who're made to suffer (sitting through an unskippable commercial) b/c the industry just can't get over how many billions more they could be making off us hollywood-addicted saps. b/c we all know those studio owners are totally suffering at the hands of pirates... they are now forced to opt for the 85-bedroom house instead of the cool 100-bedroom one. i'm getting choked up.
for the record, though, i'm always confused by the logic of that one anti-piracy commercial that says piracy is hurting the "guy just like us" (as portrayed by a carpenter). now, unless he, as a carpenter, was able to make some excellent deal with the studio whereby he gets a percentage of the earnings as opposed to a flat fee, he shouldn't be hurting at all. it's not even like movie biz people would go, "that movie didn't do so well... it must be b/c of the carpentry. let's not ever hire that guy." oh, well, i guess the commercial would've been more thought-through if only they'd had the money...
missing the point
Your "right to listen to the music as you see fit" isn't correct either because I could just as easily make the argument that I should have the right to print as I see fit as well. The difference in my opinion is in *expected life span* of the product.
Music is expected to be ours "as we see fit"- which to most of us is often forever (if you exclude that bad, bad disco album you bought in the 70's). In contrast, I don't think we expect our printer ink to last forever. We have the notion that it's disposable which makes it acceptable to have them be specific to the printer. We understand the physical limitation of ink and that it runs out... so our "as we see fit" has a clear limitation: "as long as it lasts" Digital music doesn't have that problem...(but oddly enough, CDs do -at least at my house when I drop it or sandwich it or something and it become scratched and worn)
...so that's why I would prefer open standards on my music, but dont' care about my printer-ink standards. Of course, I could empathize with someone who wants open standards on ink cartidges, but in reality I just wouldn't care all that much.