DRM & JOBS
Posted by
Sid Smith
on Feb 11, 2007
- This post is archived and may no longer be relevant
I'm grateful to Robert Whitman for sending in this link to Steve Jobs' thoughts on the whole DRM issue. Mr.Whitman summarises Jobs' thoughts in the following way.
"Interesting to get a glimpse into the thinking of one of the "few" whose ideas and business decisions can shape the future landscape.
DRM
apparently adds a great deal of technical overhead and cost to the
record label and to an online store. The cost of building fences also
means some sacrifice for those 'protected' inside....the basic
economics of opportunity cost."
"Interesting to get a glimpse into the thinking of one of the "few" whose ideas and business decisions can shape the future landscape.
Jobs
addresses what some have called "lock-in", noting that only about 3
percent of the music on iPods was purchased via iTunes; meaning that
the other 97 percent came from existing CD collections and other
sources. This music is DRM-free and interoperable with other players.
He also notes that CDs are mostly DRM-free, and if the major labels agreed to provide DRM-less music through the iTunes store, Apple would embrace it.
