Wednesday 20 January 2010

Why is iTunes only partly DRM-free?

If Apple still puts DRM on TV shows, music videos and movies bought over iTunes, then they are in favour of DRM in general. They have the industry clout to flip off the MAFIAA and say "our customers want DRM-free, so we're getting rid of DRM", but they aren't.

So here's my question: what made them start offering DRM-free music in the first place? If it was customer demand, then why not for all media? It wasn't industry demand. If it was an experiment, it's proved overwhelmingly that DRM-free is the way iTunes customers prefer their music, and that opens the door for a similar experiment on video. If it was just an altruistic internal decision, then (again) why not for all media? I don't get it.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - They weren't sued into that situation either.
PPS - Perhaps they were competed into it by direct sales from independent big bands.

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