Beating the dead horse ’till…
… Well, till it’s dead. Dead - ER, that is!
What the hell am I talking about? Well, of course, it’s DRM, the music industry, etc, etc, on and on. I know, it’s like that old scratched Grease soundtrack you kept listening to because when it jumps in the right place, “You’re The One That I Want” sounds about the same. So, yeah, the DRM-music-consumer-screwing-industry has done something else. How anti-climactic was that!? I know, but there’s a reason. Recently, EMI, on of the big four evil-doers in this fairy tail, recently said that they would be offering songs on iTunes DRM-free. Woo-hoo! Let’s all loot some crap! Light stuff on fire.. get some real happy-riots going on as if the [insert your favorite sports team's mascot here]’s had just won the [Big Game].
Sound pretty good, right? Well, hold on a sec there, sparky. Engadget pointed out a few things about this announcement that didn’t sit well with them. Things that shouldn’t sit well with consumers in general. Seriously, I know it’s a lot of reading (God, it’s almost 1300 words!), but consumers really need to pay attention to how they’re letting themselves get screwed.
It’s not that long. Read it. Seriously. If, after reading it, you wonder why the folks at Engadget have so little faith in EMI and Apple (how could anyone question Steve Jobs’ good intents!!!???) read this.
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April 2nd, 2007 20:33
Thanks for taking notice! I should be clear, I think today is a great day for consumers of digital media everywhere. It’s a huge symbolic victory. I also think that people should be skeptical of certain intents — that’s all!
Best, Ryan
June 14th, 2007 07:11
I just re-read the post and realized that I didn’t make it clear that this is a Good ThingTM despite the minor issues I mentioned above.
I guess my biggest problem is still the lack of choice. On *some sites* I can pick just about any music format up to and including raw audio. On top of that, the price point on *those sites* is so low that I am more apt to buy an entire album rather than one or two songs because it costs so little. I am also more apt to tell people who ask for copies of music I’ve purchased to buy it themselves. Seriously, if you can’t pay a few bucks for a CD, you don’t want it that badly.
April 2nd, 2008 07:36
[...] I’m not a big fan of magenta on its own, but Ryan’s actually taken to time to comment on this site before. Being the comment-/attention-whore that I am, I feel kind of obligated to give his cause [...]