hi there!
I see you've stumbled on to my humble home on the net, Drive:Activated. My name's Sam, I'm an ambitious and driven uni student, residing in Melbourne, Australia, wanting to make my mark on our world. This is my site, which is mainly just my blog and some other bits. There's no definite theme to my blog, just anything that interests me, and currently that's web trends, startups, ideas and cool stuff. Check it out, leave me a comment, click on 'Who is this?' to find out more about me, or drop me a line by clicking on 'Let's Talk'. Hope you enjoy it!
Was a bit caught up this week, so I didn't get a chance to blog about this, but a few days ago EMI and Apple did a joint press conference, announcing...wait for it...
the sale of music WITHOUT DRM
There were some downsides though, in that they cost 30% more, in the unpopular AAC format but are of a higher quality. You can unlock your existing files though by paying the extra. More info here and a nice summary here.
Wow, the power of Jobs is evident again. While Microsoft were buckling over to charge Zune buyers a surcharge at the demand of Universal Music, he manages to pull of this amazing feat. I've said before that this would be near impossible, and that DRM, in its current or different form, is a necessity for a capitalist society to function, but I've clearly been proven wrong in relation to music distribution.
There are some who are skeptical about the intentions of this (and the popularity of myspace music and many other music marketing sites is another threat), but I think by and largely, this is possibly the start of the music companies venturing out and embracing the changing ways to use their content, instead of encumbering them.
All said though, I think what Apple needs is a subscription service, with unlimited access to millions of songs while subscribed. Use the subscription service as a taster, and lock it to the iPod with DRM. Then when the user decides that they like that song, allow them to buy it which will convert that song into a DRM-free file and they can use it anywhere. The Zune has a subscription service, and have signaled interest in embracing EMI's new offer to Apple, so maybe this could be the break they're looking for.
I'm just waiting for the day the RIAA admits they were wrong go after alleged piraters the way they do now...