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U. Pittsburgh: Editorial: Apple's decision is music to downloaders' ears
(U-Wire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
UWIRE-01/07/2009-U. Pittsburgh: Editorial: Apple's decision is music to
downloaders' ears (C) 2008 The Pitt News via UWIRE
By Editorial Board, The Pitt News (U. Pittsburgh)
PITTSBURGH -- At the Macworld 2009 keynote yesterday, Phil Schiller,
Apple's vice president of worldwide product marketing, made an
announcement that music aficionados had been waiting to hear for close
to a decade. Apple's iTunes service will offer customers the option to
purchase high-quality songs free of Digital Rights Management software.
Apple recently reached an agreement with Sony BMG, Warner Music,
Universal Music and EMI, which allowed the move to take place. The
transition isn't fully complete - the full catalog of iTunes songs
won't be available for DRM-free download until April. But with an
initial offering of more than 8 million songs, it should be enough to
slake even the most ravenous music-buyer's thirst for new songs.
Additionally, the DRM-stripping service costs an extra 30 cents per
song, bringing the total to $1.29 a song. Apple's move will likely
spell the end of single-song DRM. As the industry's largest online
retailer, the iTunes service is to music sales what the iPod is to the
MP3 player market: a nearly untouchable and ubiquitous presence with a
huge market advantage over the nearest competitors. For the most part,
this looks like a move in the right direction. Offering DRM-free music
is potentially the only way to combat the problem of illegal
downloading and piracy. Apple's solution offers a third option:
DRM-free music at a slight price premium. Unfortunately, the problem is
that most people don't pirate music to avoid DRM, but to avoid paying
for music in the first place. Few things are as attractive as genuinely
free and open information, including music. Most pirated music being
DRM-free is incidental, an added bonus to people willing to take the
risk of dealing with a lawsuit from the record industries. Instead of
acting as a method of digital security, DRM was in many ways just an
annoyance to people who were already willing to obey the laws and buy
their music legally. However, people will now have less restrictions on
the music they buy online, which might be an attraction for people wary
of tempting the law. Now that iTunes purchases will be compatible with
music players other than the iPod and iPhone, like Microsoft's Zune and
Creative's ZEN players, users of non-Apple hardware could turn to
iTunes as their primary way to buy music. The other thing to consider
is Apple's 30-cent surcharge on the DRM-free music. Hopefully this
isn't just a method for the company to increase its own profits or
those of the record companies. Given that concert attendance and CD
sales have been slipping steadily for the past several years - overall
concert attendance fell an estimated 19 percent in 2007, according to
Billboard Magazine, and music CD sales fell 20 percent in the same
period - digital music sales are the only profitable portion of the
music industry. Those profits should be shared fairly with bands and
musicians, rather than swept up by retailers and executives. Apple's
move looks like a good one and one that will benefit the customers and
company's business. Hopefully it will have a positive impact on the
struggling music industry as well by exposing listeners to more music
and allowing them to use that music any way they please.
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((Distributed on bahalf of U-Wire via M2 Communications Ltd -
http://www.m2.com))
((U-Wire - http://www.uwire.com))
Copyright ? 2009 U-Wire
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