DRM (Digital Rights Management)

Ottawa Boy

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/07/ballmer_doesnt_get_it/page2.html

Apple's iPods have DRM, but you don't really have to notice it, because it's 'good enough DRM', enough to keep the music business in check (Apple now being a major force in online sales helps here as well) but not unspeakable enough to conform to that industry's crazed desires, and not strong enough to be a significant negative for iPod and Apple Music Store purchasers. It's like handsets, except with Apple it's headsets - the company's objective is to sell its own stuff, not to police the music industry's stuff, and it keeps that objective in mind.

I gotta admit, I never thought of this. And yeah , I agree, it probably is going to kill the microsoft
version of the DRM. I mean ...

I want to go out and "buy" a cd. Phandom of the Opera. Why ? Because I like having the real cd on hand
in case my computer system goes south. Computers do that. Hard drives die (lost two so far) and you
lose everything on them. Nothing like having the an actual music CD on hand.

Do I want to pay AGAIN to rip it into mp3 format so I can play it on my computer ? No ! I already paid for it , I aint paying twice for the same songs ! I should be able to play those songs on any device
I like (as long as it's just me and my wife and maybe my family listening to them).

A weak DRM that seriously limits the aspirations of the music industry is probably going to be the way to go. I gotta agree with that.

Of course maybe that's just my "Microsoft should not be allowed to own everything everywhere in the whole wide world" attitude, but thats life.