Apple on music and DRM

I thought this essay by Steve Jobs published on Apple’s Web site today was a little out of character. Like Dave Winer speculated earlier, I think this is a sign of things to come.

Jobs is right though, in saying that Apple’s DRM system is one of the most liberal and unencumbered of all the systems. I’ve bought over 50 tracks from the iTunes store, and it’s always been a completely transparent process to play my purchased music on any computer and iPod that I own. That would make me, of course, the “ideal” customer in Apple’s eyes, since the only media players I own are iPods.

All of this makes sense to Apple’s bottom line. A DRM-free iTunes store would allow anyone with any media player to buy tracks and play them on in any way they want. It will be interesting to see if this will have any effect on the levels of piracy when DRM is abolished.

February 6, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized