DRM Free Europe

This article has been causing quite a stir on the 'net and even sparked a few lively debates within our office. In it Steve Jobs airs his thoughts on Digital Rights Management (DRM), the iTunes store, the iPod, and music. He makes some good points and it's definitely worth a read.

I like the article because it abolishes the popular misconception that somehow Apple is the prime mover behind the iPod and iTunes store being a closed system. Using a DRM—in this case FairPlay—was simply the only way Apple could convince the major record labels to let them license their music for sale through the iTunes store.

I was shocked to discover that if Apple's FairPlay DRM encoding is hacked, Apple only has a short amount of time to fix it or the labels can pull out of the iTunes store without any recompense. Yikes.

Another point which Steve Jobs did not address is that the iTunes store and the music it sells don't make Apple any money. The music sold through iTunes is a loss leader for Apple, something they carry simply so they can sell iPods while avoiding the record label's wrath.

This excellent article by the esteemed Eliot Van Buskirk puts forth the proposition that soon all music will go DRM-free MP3 anyway. It's only a matter of time.