OSNews

I think it is self serving but however self-serving it is still a good move for the consumers. So if someone gives a billion dollars for their personaly ego to help cancer patience the end result is the sufferers still benefit.

"Maybe I’m just growing old and cynical, but I do wonder how much of this move is down to Apple's belief that DRM restricts users from /legal/ use on non-compliant hardware (especially given that Apple have spent time and money building their own DRM algorithms), and how much this move has to do with public image in the face of backlash against Vistas pro-DRM stance?"

I doubt it has anything to do with Vista's DRM, since OSX Leopard is expected to implement that same DRM required to play protected BR and HD-DVD discs. Also, Jobs, as the largest single shareholder in Disney, hasn't made any effort (at least publicly) at getting Disney to release its movies on unprotected DVD, HD-DVD, and/or BR discs, or provide them in unprotected format online.

BTW, I have my doubts as to how well this is going to work. I think most buyers of iTMS music don't care about the DRM, because it rarely gets in the way of what they want to do. And the 259kbs is irrelevant, as iPods don't provide the fidelity that such a bitrate would make any difference (and most can't tell the difference anyway). I don't think many consumers will pay $1.29 for a single song.

Edit: (Yes, I'm editing this as I post. :p) On second thought, since the songs are DRM free, a group of friends could split the $1.29 among themselves, and create a copy amongst themselves (I assume this is "legal"? Or is there some EULA that forbids copying; that would be in tune with Apple's software - no copy protection (e.g. activation, etc), but there's still a EULA that prevents copying from being legal - I'm rambling now. :p)

I'm quite cynical about this, too, but I am also sort of happy about it. It's baby steps to defeating DRM. When I look at this, plus the backlash and lack of lawsuit successes the RIAA has been having lately, I think the music industry is in for some major changes.

Personally, I wouldn't purchase anything from the iTunes music store unless it was DRM-free for regular price--when I purchase music, I want to buy music, not DRM to babysit me. It should not cost extra to purchase something the way it should have been to start with.

DRM does very little to actually stop piracy; it's just a headache, even if merely a theoretical headache to most. To me, it's just the sentiment of being treated like a criminal that keeps me away, but I suppose I am weird and one-in-a-million for that.

Edited 2007-04-03 06:33