Steve Jobs Sides with Desslock Over DRM
From the WSJ , Tues Feb 6
Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs called on major music companies to stop requiring Apple and other companies to sell songs over the Internet with antipiracy software, calling the technology ineffective at deterring illicit copying of music.
Such a move, if embraced by music companies, could eliminate one of the biggest criticisms of Apple's current hold on the digital music market -- that music sold over the Internet by most of Apple's rival doesn't play on iPods, while songs from Apple's iTunes Store don't play on rival hardware devices.
The message by Mr. Jobs, delivered Tuesday afternoon in an unusual 1,800-word essay posted on Apple's Web site titled "Thoughts on Music," said major music companies should abolish digital rights management, or DRM, software that is designed to deter copying of music.
It's unclear whether the major music companies -- EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music and Warner -- will agree to drop DRM, a sentiment that has been gaining traction in recent months among executives in the technology industry.
"Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it?" Mr. Jobs asked in the essay. "The simplest answer is because DRMs haven't worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy."
One reason DRM software doesn't work, Mr. Jobs said, is that the vast majority of music sold by recording companies is on compact discs, which generally contain no copy-protection software. He estimated that less than 3% of the music on the average iPod is purchase from the iTunes Store and protected by DRM. Mr. Jobs said Apple would embrace "in a heartbeat" a scenario in which songs purchased without DRM software from any online music store would play on the iPod.
