Hilary Rosen Gripes About iPod, iTMS 764
mijkal writes "Hilary Rosen, the former RIAA CEO and chairwoman, has spoken out against Apple's "lock-in" with iPod and the iTunes Music Store." From the article: "The problem is that the iPod only works with either songs that you buy from the on-line Apple iTunes store or songs that you rip from your own CD's." Ironically, she appeals to consumer rights and anti-monopoly tactics."
Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Funny)
Jack Valenti made a similar about-face after he retired. Does the *AA install some kind of behavior modification chip in their employees that gets taken out when they leave? (can we get one for a couple of the Slashdot editors?)
Well, she did insert that line about pirate sites being full of viruses (I get viruses form my mp3's al lthe time, god bless her), and soart of backhandedly danced around the fact that DRM and lossy music are the reason we can't transfer, so I guess the party line is stil lsorta there. Oh well.
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Insightful)
Fricking cow. Why don't YOU and all the lawsuit happy pricks on your side let OUR music go.
That's some fricking gall to blame Steve Jobs for Apples answer to the RIAAs psycho DRM paranoia.
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Funny)
Rescue workers were quick to arrive at the scene, but surprisingly found no casualties.
"Apparently, the building was only staffed by vampires - bloodthirsty creatures who feed on the blood, sweat, and tears of the living - and they proved immune to the effects of such irony" said a broke-musician turned fireman that was among the first to arrive at the scene.
The irony broke free shortly after a Boeing-767 carrying lawyers to file papers against an entire sixth-grade class stopped at Ronald Reagan National Airport to take RIAA head Mitch Bainwol to a charity dinner for the school of the same children.
According to witnesses, the irony could be seen by bloody everyone; however, apparently it was not visible from within the RIAA headquarters itself. Washington DC mayor Anthony Williams has discussed potential legislation to force all employees of businesses within city limits to remove their blinders during working hours.
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Funny)
Thank you Rei.
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Insightful)
If they would've let the stores sell MP3s from the start, we wouldn't be in this situation.
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember, just like the oracle in the Matrix, she doesn't speak the "truth," just what she wants you to hear. In this case, that's "abandon Appl
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple actually aknowledges than when a person buys a song/album, they should be able to listen to it in their car, on the MP3 player (iPod of course), their computer, etc. No, they don't think you should be able to stand on a street corner and hand out copies to complete strangers. Apple's solution is actually that happy medium where music companies get money for online music downloads and consumers get music in a form that is convenient and easy to move around their different listening devices. So yes, the OP had a legitimate gripe and Hillary Rosen is just being moronic and trying to twist reality into something it isn't.
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:3, Funny)
And ASCAP would charge you and your landlord everytime you decided to sing while taking a crap.
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously I don't know how people can use this emotive and inappropriate analogy. It's used for the GPL too.
For fuck's sake: There is a WORLD OF DIFFERENCE between sharing copyrighted works and sharing someone's wife. One is copyright infringement, the other is adultery.
Cheers
Stor
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Insightful)
you wanna share my wife? that's a different story. let's talk about something that really is property? change that to a car. want to borrow my car? not likely. want to make an exact copy of my car and leave mien intact and not hamper me in any way, feel free.
as for the "laws" the RIAA is enforcing... in case you didnt' know.. they bought those laws, to serve their own interest. they took the original copyright laws, which were intended to give the artist a LIMITED time to recoupe some money from their work, then be contributed to the public domain and changed them so that the middle men, who have nothign to do with the creation or performign of the music make most of the the money. artists went broke long before P2P.. it's because the industry is ripping them off far worse than any pirate ever has.
i also contend that there would be no music if there were no copyright laws.. history proves otherwise. people who want to make music will make music. especially in this day and age, it's very easy for a small time artist to make music and get it distributed, even if he/she doesn't want to make any profit from it.
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:3, Insightful)
The RIAA as representatives of the multi-rich music companies DEMANDED that if Apple wanted to sell their music they would have to implement some sort of DRM. So Apple implemented some DRM and now that same person who demanded it complains about it. Before the iTunes store existed I remember the "rip, mix-burn" ads from Apple. Even now the constituents of the RIAA are implementing CDs with all sorts of (mostly useless) anti-copying (sharpiepen) tech
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:3, Insightful)
well, that might be what you intended, but what you said sounded different.
geeze. they are getting SOMETHING. in some cases they are getting debt... lots of it, cause they end up owing more money for the millions of records they sold than they made.
it was suggested this thread that the music is owned by society. in that case, they get NOTHING.
why do they automatically get nothing? musicians existed before and managed
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:3, Informative)
- The Constitution:
The foundations of the coutry already had it set in that arts and sciences were meant to enhance and enrich our culture, but creators had a limited time to recoupe their loses. the current system locks modern art from being able to be added to our public domain and enriching our culture.
A simple solution (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:A simple solution (Score:5, Interesting)
She said the iPod only accepts iTunes tracks and songs she ripped from her CDs, but not from OTHER stores.
That's what she's complaining about!
She doesn't care that people rip music from their own CDs!
Pot, meet Kettle (Score:5, Insightful)
Her own organization, the RIAA, hires people to create and distribute those viruses to deliberately infect P2P sites. I wonder if Hillary Rosen ever met the truth.
Re:Pot, meet Kettle (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Pot, meet Kettle (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Pot, meet Kettle (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Pot, meet Kettle (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Pot, meet Kettle (Score:4, Informative)
But there is so much disinformation out there, it's hard to know who to believe sometimes.
This shouldn't surprise you (Score:5, Insightful)
Makes me/our company/our friends lots of cash, probably at your expense: good
Gives you freedoms/etc at our expense: bad
locked into Apple's DRM != freedom (Score:5, Insightful)
But arguing that Apples DRM in any way means "Gives you freedoms/etc at our expense" for RIAA, is the epitome of hypocrisy. It gives you exactly what freedom? The "freedom" to have exactly one choice of online music?
Apple _is_ using two products in a way that each keeps you pretty much locked into the other. Same as, you know, Microsoft loves to use its own products to enforce a monopoly.
In fact, _that_ is MS's monopoly. It's not just "waah, they're evil because they have money", it's that each product reinforces the other, as to (A) make it painful to break out of that vicious circle if you're already hooked, and (B) make it a painfully high entry barrier: if you want to compete with Windows you have to pretty much compete with all of them at the same time.
So why is it good and "freedom" when Apple does it?
Re:locked into Apple's DRM != freedom (Score:3, Insightful)
Because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. It's as simple as that. I support Apple because keeping the forces of DRM divided makes them weaker, and gives us a better chance of winning.
If iTMS didn't exist, we wouldn't be able to use the argument "DRM == incompatibility," MS DRM would be standard, and would quickly become so entrenched that we would have lost the "War On Culture Terrorism" already. We need this, because it keeps the issue in the pub
Want to know what's REALLY funny? (Score:5, Insightful)
Y'know what? None of my MP3 collection has "degraded sound quality."
If any of the stores wanted to, they could easily sell me MP3's, which would go onto my iPod no problem. But they won't, because the RIAA still haven't wised up that consumers don't want their DRM crap.
No, now we get Hilary Rosen, mouthpiece of the RIAA for so long, whining about how "Apple" stops their songs from going onto the iPod rather than whining about how none of the stores are willing to sell a song in a format the iPod will take.
Give me a fucking break.
Re:Want to know what's REALLY funny? (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, every single one of your MP3s has "degraded sound quality." The nature of MP3 (and any other lossy compression method) assures this.
Re:Want to know what's REALLY funny? (Score:3, Insightful)
>Then convert it to mp3 and do the same thing. You
>will see the difference for yourself.
Yes, the frequencies that you can't physically hear are gone. It's an audio codec, it's not designed to LOOK GOOD.
Re:Want to know what's REALLY funny? (Score:3, Insightful)
If you WANT to sell your music in the iPod PROTECTED format, contact Apple and sell it on the iTunes Music Store. There you go!
What am I missing? If you're a 3 person Indie band that Apple won't sell on the store, but choose to sell protected music, I guess you could fall through the cracks. But then, will people actually pay for
Re:Want to know what's REALLY funny? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess she wasn't aware of the fact that there is an option in the iTunes menu which says "Convert selection to mp3," instantly making your AAC files into cross-platform mp3s. And she probably didn't realize her statement that "even if the cheapest one costs a few hundred dollars" is invalidated by going to the Apple website and seeing that the base iPod shuffle costs $99.
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/dev
I felt so much more educated after reading that! I wish my iPod had fun extras and I wish a professional would make my playlist for me because I miss adverts before, after and during my music!
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:3, Insightful)
The biggest ta
Re:Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. (Score:5, Funny)
I think my brain just died.
Then you're perfectly qualified to work for the RIAA.
HOAX (Score:4, Informative)
The (Like Microsoft) was the clue for me.
The Reg covers it off.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/09/rosen_joke _jobs/ [theregister.co.uk]
Re:HOAX (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:HOAX (Score:5, Insightful)
Rosen's article is so obviously a commercial for Microsoft's DRM that I couldn't bring myself to read anything else Huffinton's site offered. More shills no doubt.
Try rereading the Reg's article with a tongue planted firmly in your cheek. (^_-)
or... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:or... (Score:3, Funny)
Would save them the trouble of hunting down pirates themselves. These people are clever.
yeah... (Score:3, Informative)
emusic.com has the best deal on REAL mp3s, and you can play them on an ipod or any other "MP3 player".
Re:yeah... (Score:3, Interesting)
I stopped subscribing to them.
Re:or... (Score:3, Insightful)
She calls for Apple to "open up" the iPod, but then conviently forgets to mention that if all the other stores sold unencrypted MP3s they'd play on the iPod right now.
Almost every digital music player on the market is currently open (even sony is getting their act together) as long as the format is MP3. Her complaint is the equivelant to someone opening up a hydrogen fuel station today and complaining that no one has cars that work with hydrogen. No shit, Shirlock. If they ope
Who is kidding whom, Hilary? (Score:5, Interesting)
I think Hilary Rosen might have encountered the concept of telling the truth at a party once, but didn't get beyond the cursory introduction.
I went ahead and RTFA to make sure the above statement wasn't being taken out of context by the post. It wasn't, and it might actually kind of be true if one is absolutely insistent on playing only AAC files on the iPod. The actual truth, which Hilary Rosen would likely not be willing to acknowledge without the threat of slow torture death behind it, is that the iPod works with sample MP3s that you might legally download from a band's website or any one of a gazillion legal indie music MP3 sites, and also works with audiobooks downloaded from Audible.com. But Rosen probably considers any music by an unsigned band to be beneath putting on an iPod anyway, and probably isn't too interested in audiobooks, either.
Other ridiculous ideas in the blog entry include: "He [Steve Jobs] is as laconically casually cool as Bono" and the idea that the iPod constitutes a monopoly. First off, Steve Jobs might be a little bit hip, but he's not cool except to the Mac faithful, the only ones who really care who he is (that's my opinion, though. I might be wrong). Second, a monopoly means that no-one can buy or use a product or service type by anyone other than a specific company. Ma Bell had a monopoly on phone service. There wasn't an alternative. There are zillions of alternatives to the iPod. The iPod is just really, really popular. That doesn't make it a monopoly.
The oddest thing to me is that no-one who would actually seek out and read Hilary Rosen's blog would be the least bit fooled by the misstatements in it.
Re:Who is kidding whom, Hilary? (Score:3, Funny)
Sorry, that's not the Slashdot and Judge Jackson definition of a monopoly.
Re:Who is kidding whom, Hilary? (Score:3, Insightful)
I wasn't arguing that Microsoft does not have a monopoly, nor that Apple do - I was pointing out that using an example of a total (and legally enforced, iirc) monopoly as a counter example to prove that Apple can't possibly have a monopoly is disingenuous, or just misguided.
However you feel about Microsoft's 'monopoly', the millions of Mac and Linux users prove that there is an alternative (c
Irony? Dripping with molten iron! (Score:5, Funny)
Ok, tell us something we can't guess. So you have a new rag and you've got Hilary Rosen writing thus:
Oh my... Has anyone seen my unawarded Humanitarian of the Millenium trophy around? I've got someone to give it to at last.
Or all your favorite pirated mp3's seems we've been here before.
!Cough! Surely you jest, Hilary! What next will you be pushing? Fair Use? You commie!
Yeah, how cruel. Seems when the big labels were withholding everything from us consumers we were somehow evil to rip and make our own mp3's. Only able to get what the powers that be (RIAA) felt we were worthy of (mostly whatever manufactured band or act they were currently exploiting and wanted us to buy into like so many lemmings. "Puny mortal, you are only worthy of Britney Spears Greatest Dance Songs of Last Week, with CD-ROM destroying anti-copy-protection, now BUY!") Now the stiletto heel is on the other foot?
UltraGasp! This just can't be the same Hilary Rosen! Impostor!!!
I dunno. Maybe you're a consumer now. Or just another cyberslut.
Re:Irony? Dripping with molten iron! (Score:3, Funny)
You mean...its not the same thing?
;-)
Re:Irony? Dripping with molten iron! (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it's bad coming from Apple too.
I agree that Apple should open the iPod up a bit, to let others make DRM'd AAC's for the device without resorting to Real's Harmony approach.
What the problem here is is that while Apple is promoting vendor lock-in a little bit, Microsoft, via, walmart, napster, and all the other WMA stores, is promoting not only format lock-in, but the most hideous DRM ever conceived by mankind.
If you want a portable music device that will delete your music by itself simply because you haven't connected it to a computer recently, then look into WMA10 and the "Plays For Sure" logo. Because that's what it does, and that's what it means. Go read the WMA10 SDKs, it's pretty clear once you get past the pretty diagrams.
well that's odd (Score:2, Interesting)
Should I file a bug?
Huffington Post shows up on /. their first day ... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Huffington Post shows up on /. their first day (Score:3, Interesting)
Ms. Huffington went to great lengths to insist that she's commissioned a multitude [latimes.com] of Democratic party aligned writers to contribute articles to her site.. There are 14 authors on the front page today, and we've got: Tips from Cronkite on how to fix the Democratic party, Sen Corzine blasting Bush on not supporing one of his bills, Huffington making fun of Tom Delay, Rep Markly criticizing
Childish (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Childish (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm absolutely sure that the RIAA would love people paying for 5 copies of the same song, but at least Rosen is coming to realize that people just won't do that. If a person downloads Kazaa in order to get an unlocked version of a song that they own and in turn finds 50 songs that they don't own, then it's flagged as a loss.
Every spokesperson acts and rallies in their own company's best interest. It's a fact of business, and a fact of life.
Hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, wait, I forgot-- those people aren't RIAA members. So I guess to Hillary Rosen, they don't exist.
Still, it seems awfully odd that "can play anything but WMA and FLAC" means "can only play personally ripped music and iTMS purchasers".
Clueless? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmm... And whose fault would that be? If the Record companies didn't require DRM we wouldn't have to worry about this. Or does she want Apple to open up their DRM scheme?
Wrong lock-in (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Clueless? (Score:5, Insightful)
Afterall, it is easier for RIAA to "control" online music if there aren't any individually strong serious players. With a couple of really strong players in that field, it could become more difficult for RIAA to stay the master of their domain.
Just a thought, opinion really. No facts to back it up.
Re:Clueless? (Score:5, Insightful)
The current generation of music stars will stick with their labels (or be forced to), but new, unheard-of bands can gain popularity and make money off their music. They won't need a label, other than iTMS, and the RIAA will go down the tubes real quick.
Then Apple will have a stranglhold on the music industry. They will then force every song added to the iTMS to include a lyric about buying a Mac. Soon, Microsoft and Dell will crumble. Apple will be left standing along in a sea of dead computer companies, all because of a freaking music player.
Re:Clueless? (Score:3, Informative)
They do. [apple.com]
Re:Clueless? (Score:4, Insightful)
From TFA (Score:5, Funny)
The former head of the RIAA pointing out that the only way to listen to your legally purchased music on an iPod is to break the DRM. That's rich.
Problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
And some obscure audio file format. What's it called? Oh, yeah. MP3.
Re:Problem? (Score:3, Informative)
Now, for #1, the *format* you rip to can be AAC, MP3, or (I think) WAV/PCM. But that's not really relevant.
The real thing she's complaining about (and rightly so, though it's totally hypocritical) is that the only place people can *purchase* songs from the Internet and have them work on the iPod is from iTMS. Anywhere else that you
Hilary now complains about what she created (Score:3, Informative)
Wasn't it easier when we all just had MP3's? Funny how that format works with everything.
Good rebuttal
http://www.corante.com/copyfight/archives/2005/05
Source: Ariana Huffington's Celeblogs (Score:5, Funny)
Truly, it warms my heart to see come to fruition the hopeful idealism of a youth spent dreaming of a world where who a person is matters as much or more than what that person is saying!
Thank you, Ariana.
Because Walmart gives me a choice ....right. (Score:5, Funny)
But hey, I'll take Hilary's advice here and navigate over to walmart.com and see what I'm missing by not being able to buy music from there. But wait, what this? IE 5.5 required to buy music? Well, gee, I guess Walmart is the paragon of a quality music buying service, even though I can't use their service because they only support one browser!
This isn't about Apple's lockin with the iPod and the iTMS, this is about Apple's lockin vs. everybody else's lockin on Windows machines.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have to have an approved player right now just to use Napster as well.
Re:Because Walmart gives me a choice ....right. (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't about Apple's lockin with the iPod and the iTMS, this is about Apple's lockin vs. everybody else's lockin on Windows machines.
This is sort of correct. Except Apple lets Windows users join in on their lock-in and you're forgetting Real who would be happy to lock-in windows and mac users, but has not managed either.
Actually, I do agree with Miss Rosen in that I think if we have to have DRM, it should be an open standard DRM that is not owned by MS or Apple. Of course it should be legally mandated an so MS can't break the law and embrace and alter it. On the other hand, I just buy all my music without DRM in the first place and I really wish the media would stop portraying DRM as having something to do with pirating. Anyone can pirate DRM'd music. If you can hear it, you can record it. This is about controlling what people who legitimately bought music do with it. And I think the RIAA has some very hard questions to answer regarding that. If only the media was not owned maybe someone would have the balls to ask them on camera.
Only works with itunes? (Score:5, Informative)
That's rich (Score:5, Insightful)
Jobs was unique in finding a way to make the harsh restrictions placed on downloaded music by the recording industry palatable to a wide audience and profitable to boot.
Seeing as Apple took the risk and won, I think it's unreasonable to ask them to give up the fruits of their labors. As an Apple shareholder I'd hold Jobs culpable if he ever did such a thing. I say to Jobs: "Milk it for all it's worth." Especially since there are plenty of competitors out there to keep him honest. The iPod doesn't have a monopoly because Apple locked everyone else out of the market, ala Microsoft, it has one because it's better.
If you don't like the fact that you can't play your Windows Media songs on the iPod, buy a different player ... or do what I do and buy the physical CD and convert it into whatever format you prefer. I get my CDs primarily from Amazon.com, but never from Apple.
And Hillary, if you don't like the myriad proprietary forms of DRM on downloaded music, consider the fact that it's your fault it's there in the first place.
What she meant to say, "I was born yesterday" (Score:3, Insightful)
"The new iPod my girlfriend gave me is a trap," said Rosen.
Girlfriend??
______________________________________________
"... when oh when will Steve Jobs let me buy music from somewhere other than the Apple iTunes store and put it on my iPod?" "
When the market dictates that this is a good business move. Right now, Apple can combat the RIAA on prices (read as lower prices for you and me) with such large marketshare.
Also Ms. Rosen is free to walk in to the thousands of retail locations that sell CDs and rip them to her iPod at any time she wishes.
"There are little players to make your favorite music even more portable than ever starting at as little as 29 bucks."
Then go buy them! Apple isn't telling you to only buy iPods. By controlling the player and the store, Apple is able to sustain a successful business model - NO OTHER COMPETITOR IS MAKING MONEY!!!
"Most every player device works at every one of these "stores" and it is pretty easy to keep all the songs, no matter where you got them, in a single folder or "jukebox" on your computer."
But not as easy as the iPod
Also, tell me how many custom cases & accessories I can find for the Creative Muvo again?
Damn Microsoft (Score:3, Insightful)
Are we now advocating that all content must be available for all platforms? That's just silly.
Re:Damn Microsoft (Score:3, Interesting)
About ten or twenty years ago it was looking like we were headed that way. Common formats, common APIs for convertors (EVERY modern OS can run almost all straight UNIX command line tools, without more than a thin wrapper to change the names of the calls... that was sure as hell not true 20 years ago), the whole world was on track to tear down every last barrier between communication, at least for computers. And then it ground to a
Doesn't make sense (Score:3, Insightful)
That's a monopoly. That's lock-in. Exactly what she's arguing against.
As a Mac owner, I won't be shopping at the alternatives any time soon.
Look closer... (Score:5, Informative)
WMA 10 has some nifty little features with it:
- Specifically designed such that *only* Microsoft approved devices can receive the music. They don't make the device themselves of course, they just sell licensing schemes.
- What do you think that whole "Plays For Sure" certification is all about? It's about the most restrictive DRM ever developed. A "Plays For Sure" device is certified to be capable of ERASING your music, by itself, if you don't reenable it every so often by connecting it to your computer. How do you think the new Napster-To-Go actually works?
She states it pretty clearly here, in fact:
If you are really a geek, you can figure out how to strip the songs you might have bought from another on-line store of all identifying information so that they will go into the iPod.
Exactly. You have to remove that violently horrible DRM in order for Microsoft's products to work on your iPod. Let's not forget that Microsoft WMA10 came out into a market where the iPod was king. They're not interested in compatibility, they're interested in owning the market by owning the format and controlling the devices and stores themselves that way.
I admit that Apple has been a bit stupid with regards to compatibility. Specifically breaking Real's Harmony software should have been beneath them.
However, if walmart.com wanted to sell AAC files, those AAC files would play on the iPod just fine. It plays un DRM-encumbered music like nobody's business.
the push for Windows Media (Score:3, Insightful)
That's my take on it as well. The subtle message is that Microsoft used to be closed but is now open, while Apple is still closed.
Let's not forget that Microsoft WMA10 came out into a market where the iPod was king. They're not interested in compatibility, they're interested in owning the market by owning the format and controlling the devices and stores themselves that way.
Exactly. Hillary's assessment is particularly absurd given that you can
Follow the money (Score:4, Insightful)
This may seem like an incredibly stupid thing to say, but in reality you just have to follow the money. The RIAA doesn't like the iTunes model because Apple has this segment of the market locked up real nice because their system works so well for 90% of the American public. With power comes control of the cash. If the RIAA tries to leverage itself against iTunes, the egomaniacal Jobs will push back, because he likes using his power.
Market power translates directly to money, for all those who don't understand why companies like Microsoft have $40 billion in the bank. Apple has a lot of say over what gets sold and for how much. Too much for the comfort of the RIAA.
Bottom line, The RIAA wants to chip away at iTunes' power and get more of it themselves. The more power they get, the more money they get. And Joe consumer will buy it because only those educated in the supply chain of music understand the details.
Re:Follow the money (Score:3)
I'll be the first to admit that Steve is a megalomaniac, driven by perfection, style, coolness, and ease
Clarification please (Score:4, Interesting)
To clarify, if you have an iPod (which plays mp3, wav, aac, and Apple's DRM aac version Fairplay.), you cannot download music from other websites like Wal-mart which uses the proprietary DRMed Windows format wma. So you want Apple to adopt somebody else's DRM?
Remember this simple fact: The standard default file format for 99% of all portable media players is mp3 not wma not Fairplay. Apple supports that default format. They will not support somebody else's format that is not the standard.
Re:Clarification please (Score:5, Insightful)
Why not? Woudn't it be of benefit to consumers? Or better yet, how about Apple licensing their DRM liberally, like Microsoft does, so that we can play our iTMS songs on other-than-Apple devices? How would this hurt the consumer?
Re:Clarification please (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe a little, in the short term. The loss of competition over the longer term after Apple gets squeezed out of the online music business by Microsoft's bankroll, so we end up with Tweedlereal and Tweedlenapster pretending to compete, is probably not a good thing.
Theory (Score:3, Interesting)
It seems rather likely considering that everything she said while she was in charge was evil and everything she has said since her resignation is singificantly more sane.
Apple DRM vs Microsoft DRM. (Score:3, Interesting)
Does anyone really think she is interested in using all these other music services. Or is she just acting as a paid mouth piece?
I wonder who is paying for her opinions these days.
Oh come on... (Score:4, Funny)
My iPod also works perfectly fine with tracks I ripped from other people's CDs.
Cue RIAA lawyers in 5...4...Cat got my tongue (Score:3, Insightful)
The Bottom Line (Score:3, Insightful)
why do I need a subject line for hitting preview? (Score:3, Interesting)
She doesn't explain whether or not the problem goes both ways. I.e. non-Apple players (save the HP iPod clone) can't play DRMed AAC, just like Apple players can't play DRMed WMA. How much of the current situation is the result of companies' can'ts and how much of it is the result of companies' won'ts? Also, which format -- AAC vs WMA -- is more open?
RTFA (Score:4, Insightful)
It's there in black and white. "multiple (read Microsoft)"
She's actually complaining that some bastard has the audacity to come up with a file format which isn't open for Microsoft to copy.
The implication is that if iTunes dished out WMA, then she'd be happy, because MSFT are already bum-buddies with the RIAA. The rest is just whitewash.
It's been a long time since I last heard anyone complain that a system is too closed, because Microsoft don't have the license to use it.
I'm no fan of iTunes - it's still DRM'd music. I'd rather own a CD and the rights to the music on that CD - to play it in my car, at home, on my laptop, wherever I wish. Apple and Microsoft are apparently intent on denying these rights; from a PC speaker, MP3 will do okay for me. In the car, at home, I'll copy the CD, thank you.
I don't download music which I don't already own (unless the publisher allows it - eg www.slidepheromone.com) and I certainly don't pay to download music, as the only options are limited-rights downloads.
Another reason Apple shouldn't do WMA (Score:3, Interesting)
You also have to consider the fact that WMA is harder to break because it runs only on Windows and Microsoft has embedded Windows Media Player's DRM component (as of version 9) deeply in the kernel where it's much much harder to patch than iTunes, which is just an application.
This isn't really a problem, because it doesn't really matter whether DRM is breakable or not, because buildin
For the last time.... (Score:5, Insightful)
They do. They're called CDs. You still sell music on those, right?
Cry me a river (Score:3, Insightful)
Who but iPod users could possibly give a shit about anything related to iPods? Don't like the way Apple runs it? Well, there are plenty of perfectly workable competitors. They largely lack the fashionability of the iPod, but they work just fine and many of them are cheaper. Go get one and quit griping. There are also plenty of legal ways to get digital music online other than iTunes, and some of them have large collections and competitive prices. Go use them.
Despite Apple's early lead, which will likely erode over time, this is one field where there is plenty of competition and consumer choice. What Rosen is bitching about, presumably on Microsoft's tab, is that everyone hasn't chosen Microsoft's lackluster offerings in this department.
This is straightfoward (Score:3, Funny)
Rosen no longer works for the RIAA, therefore no longer gets all the free "demo" CD's.
Where then is Ms. Rosen to get her free music from?
P2P is the answer! But now she is upset that she can't play all of her "free" wma music on her iPod.
Is it April 1st again already? (Score:3, Funny)
Feedin' the troll, feedin' the troll... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Girlfriend (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Girlfriend (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Girlfriend (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Girlfriend (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Girlfriend (Score:5, Insightful)
What's more, it doesn't have anything to do with anything: slam her for lying to Congress, lying about what dire straits the music industry is in, and wanting to throw kids in jail. There are plenty of things to complain about, but insulting her sexuality (which I see people do pretty often) is uncalled for, and casts all opponents of the RIAA gestapo in a bad light.
m-