Feb 8, 2007
Steve Jobs calls for end to DRM
In a move which has surprised many people within the music and IT industries, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has launched an attack on record companies which insist on including DRM software on their music downloads offered through services such as iTunes. It’s interesting to see the dominant player in the music download market (a statistic that Apple likes to boast about at every opportunity) coming out so strongly against DRM, because usually it’s the smaller players who complain about any practice which they see as anti-competitive.
So why would Apple want to remove this restriction on music sold through its online store? First of all, it would make it much easier to play songs purchased from iTunes on devices other than iPods, which could significantly extend the number of potential customers for Apple. DRM may also put many people off buying music online and its removal could lead to faster growth in digital music sales, a situation which Apple, as the major player in the market, would be well poised to take advantage of. Finally, it would save Apple the significant costs that are currently involved in updating the protection each time some wiley geek manages to crack it.
One of the reasons why I don’t purchase music from iTunes is because of the DRM that comes with it—I believe that you should have the right to play music on any device you want (obviously in a private context such as on an MP3 player or your home stereo system) once you’ve purchased it in one format. If DRM protection was dropped then I’d be much more inclined to go online to get my music, particularly because I often only like a few songs on a CD so buying a whole album is an expensive way to acquire music.
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