Apple Accused Of “Encouraging People To Steal Music”

“In 1898, newspapers provided the major source of news in America. At this time, it was common practice for a newspaper to report the editor’s interpretation of the news rather than objective journalism. If the information reported was inaccurate or biased, the American public had little means for verification. With this sort of influence, the newspapers wielded much political power.”

“In order to increase circulation, the publishers of these papers often exploited their position by sponsoring a flamboyant and irresponsible approach to news reporting that became known as “yellow journalism.” Though the term was originally coined to describe the journalistic practices of Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst proved himself worthy of the title. Today, it is his name that is synonymous with “yellow journalism.”

• More songs
• Better quality recordings
• Compatibility with Mac and Windows
• Compaitiblity with most popular music players
• Easier purchase capability (have you tried Real?)

“Songs purchased from iTunes can be played only on a limited number of computers, and on only one portable music player, Apple’s iPod. Music lovers don’t seem to mind, though. Apple has sold about 3 million iPods, making it the most popular such device on earth.”

“It’s also an incitement to steal music. Only honest music lovers have to worry as they buy from RealAudio or iTunes or the new, legal version of Napster, about which music players will play which songs. RealNetworks’ new technology offers a way out: an all-purpose antipiracy system that will work with everybody else’s, making it easy for consumers to stay on the right side of the law. But Apple’s not having it, because Steve Jobs is a jealous god who will have no false technologies before him. As a result, the heretics will say the heck with it, log onto Kazaa or some other peer-to-peer file-swapping service, and steal music instead. Since his amazing comeback as Apple chief executive in 1997, Jobs hasn’t made a single major mistake—until now.”

“Sheesh!  A little perspective, please.  Think it through.

Real is trying to create a market in which its DRM becomes the standard, because it runs on anything.  In such a market, the incentive to steal music is lessened, because there’s none of the current head-scratching about whether this or that file will play on this or that player.

Apple wants a world in which iPod players can only listen to iTunes music, or raw MP3s.  All other DRMs are verboten.

So what happens if the only legal copies of a particular tune are available only in a non-Apple DRM?  iPod listeners will either do without—or swipe the stuff.  This would be equally true if Rio users wanted to listen to something available only through iTunes.

It’s obvious that this approach encourages music theft.  How much theft, I dunno.  But inevitably, some fans will respond by hunting up unprotected, illegal MP3s of desirable files.

From the music industry’s standpoint, the best approach is a universal DRM or at least multiple interoperable DRMs.  Exclusivity only benefits Apple—nobody else.  And in the process, the company sets back the cause of digital music.

That’s my column and I’m sticking to it!