Archive for January 28th, 2008
NBC’s Zucker hints at return to iTunes? – Engadget
It hasn’t even been six months it’s been reported that NBC “may” return to iTunes. Things look bleak in Hollywood lately, the writers are on strike, that means no new shows or even movies this season so this news brings some small comfort to consumers. Could their shows have been torrented more when they left? Or was it the record earning announcement? In any case, I do hope that they resolve this soon.
Amazon MP3 store to spread DRM-free love global in 2008 – Engadget
In what could be the biggest threat the Apple iTunes store could face is this announcement by Amazon to be able to sell music anywhere in the world DRM free. But how anywhere is anywhere?
One of the biggest flaws of the iTunes store in my opinion is the limited number of countries who have it. Basically it’s just the US, EU and Japan. Apparently other countries in Asia do not need a store where officials say piracy is rampant. The limited capacity of iTunes to sell music to other countries is based on the limited rights they have with the recording company. This resulted in the varied pricing models seen in EU which practically has separate iTunes stores per country.
Unfortunately the DRM imposed by the music labels on online merchants has caused the dominance of iTunes. They wanted music that is secure enough and one way to do that is to limit the hardware where the music can be played and embed security all over it. They thought it wouldn’t last. They were apparently wrong in their projections.
Now that they want a piece of the cake, Apple will not give in. There is no way that Apple was going to raise prices or even lower prices for songs. So they allowed Amazon now to sell DRM-free music. Just to get back at Apple. Childish.
Consumers hate complicated things. It just used to be a CD from the store that can play in any player. That is the model that Amazon is exploring with their online store. I love music. I buy my music legally. Sometimes it’s expensive but I take the effort to bring it in to my iPod. I buy from the iTunes store because I like it. I like the simplicity that I can buy music and sync it to my iPod. Or even better, buy music from my iPod and play it on my iPod right now.
These are things that consumers want. DRM free music is something that consumers want. But I still want it on my iPod.
Procrastinating in the Heat 