Apple licensing, DRM bad for consumers?
updated 05:35 pm EST, Wed January 4, 2006
iTunes/iPod ecosystem
With the largest Apple/Mac-centric show approaching, one columnist believes that Mac faithful's , King notes that the company has towed the music industry line in terms of licensing and digital rights management (DRM).
"That said, even that restrictive licensing doesn't ultimately get to me. Every company has the right to set up the terms of use (within reason), and that is the road Apple chose to go down. The problem is they've been so compliant with the entertainment industry -- foisting ridiculous digital rights management on consumers -- that they may very well be setting the table for the music and movie industries to expand their restrictive licensing to entirely new platforms."












Oh brother...
01/04, 05:56pm reply
another columnist with a DRM snit.
jedi2187
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2001
Negativity!
01/04, 06:15pm reply
I've just noticed (after all this time!) the "+" sign in the MacNN logo but, given the ridiculous amount of FUD that they give credibility to, maybe they should change it to a negative or minus "-" sign!
Feathers
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 1999
Apple's DRM is bad?!?
01/04, 06:17pm reply
Has he checked the DRM restrictions on any other legitimate digital music/video service? Apple's FairPlay is one of the most lenient.
What he's all worked up about is that Apple totally controls the digital player market and a major slice of the digital download market, not the DRM itself. I personally have predicted the demise of the iTunes/iPod infrastructure if it isn't opened up and licensed to others, but so far I've been dead wrong.
throatmonster
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
DRM
01/04, 06:18pm reply
So restrictive? After you burn a CD that you're allowed to do, you could, if you wanted to, re-import it without DRM. Seems kind of easy to defeat.
I however don't mind it, and don't find it restrictive as my family has 4 iPods and I share across profiles fine, and once in a while still burn a CD as waiting to install a NON FM solution for listening in my vehicle.
trevc
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2000
Editor?
01/04, 06:19pm reply
". . . the company has towed the music industry line . . ."
That's "*toed* the music industry line . . ." While it is a common usage, the "towed" metaphor means nothing.
dylanw
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2001
Umm...
01/04, 06:20pm reply
"The simple point I'm trying to make here: Jobs' deal with the entertainment industry and its DRM practices are bad for consumers. This isn't a knock on the iPod (although I really don't get it). If you love your iPod, by all means, use it in complete happiness and joy. But that doesn't mean you should be overjoyed by the DRM practices the company has built itself on."
...what does the iPod have to do with DRM? Sure it supports FairPlay DRM but it does NOT require it. This guy head down to an Apple store and try an iPod.
...something about baby and bath water come to mind...
shawnce
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2000
what?
01/04, 06:26pm reply
"It's fairly well publicized that if you have music on your hard drive, music you've purchased a license to use through iTunes, and your computer crashes -- you lose all of that music. It's not a common occurrence for sure (at least, I hope it's not), but when it does happen (as it nearly did to one editor here), your view of Apple suddenly, and dramatically, changes."
You are free to back up your purchased songs to any media you like or copying them to any number of computers. FairPlay doesn't restrict you from doing that.
In fact you can even burn your music to a standard CD that you can play in any CD player.
shawnce
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2000
Sony or MS?
01/04, 06:34pm reply
Who paid off this "reviewer"? Sorry reality doesn't line up with your irrational hatred of Apple.
bhuot
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2003
Sony rootkits
01/04, 06:37pm reply
I wonder how he feels about the malicious code Sony and the other leading record labels installs on your computer when you play a CD in your computer. At least with iTunes, Apple doesn't sabotage your right to make legitimate backup copies.
bhuot
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2003
Blithering idiot
01/04, 06:40pm reply
"It's fairly well publicized that if you have music on your hard drive, music you've purchased a license to use through iTunes, and your computer crashes -- you lose all of that music. "
It's also fairly well publicized that if a fire burns down your house and all the CD's in it, you also lose all your music.
It's your computer...back it up!
johnsonua
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2003