Two month ago , when I think a humankind without DRM , I had no understanding to believe that such a world would be upon us quite so quickly . But today , with the announcement thatEMI would be bringing its catalogue to iTunes free of psyche - sucking DRM , it seems that that time to come may be just around the corner . While this is great tidings for anybody who like music , there ’s still a ways to go before that DRM - free world is a reality .
Do n’t kid yourself : as exciting as it is that high - timbre , DRM - innocent tracks will be available at the iTunes Store in May , all this really does is level the acting field between iTunes and brick - and - trench mortar retailers . AsSteve Jobs himself point out , 90 % of the music sell today ( read : every spell of euphony sell on standard candle ) is sold in in high spirits - timber sound with no digital right direction . The iTunes Store is , in essence , finally giving us what we ’ve been always able-bodied to purchase on CD , just easier and more speedily . In other words , the future tense is finally catching up with the past .
Am I reckon a gift horse in the rima oris ? possibly , but I ’m also not travel to sink to my knee and give thanks the phonograph recording companies for finally descend not to do by digital euphony consumers like 2nd - social class citizens . This is what we should have had four old age ago when the iTunes Store was found .
If you in truth desire to look at thefutureof digital music sales , look no further than last week ’s announcement of iTunes ’s fresh “ Complete My Album ” feature . Buy a single and get credit towards the full album ? That ’s something that never would have been potential with the old model of music sales . It ’s forward-looking , it ’s new , and and it establishes iTunes as something wholly dissimilar than your average music retailer . But there are still some barriers to hurdle before iTunes is full on equivalence with ceremonious retailers like Wal - Mart and Amazon . Let ’s take a look .
Album - only track : If you spend enough time in the iTunes Store , you ’ll sooner or afterward come across runway that are only available as part of an total record album . The path - itemisation is grayed out and the option to grease one’s palms the song by itself is nowhere to be seen . Oftentimes these songs are longer or more democratic than the other tracks on the album , but all this does is undermine the most basic tenet of the iTunes Store : one track for $ 0.99 . The album - only tracks must be freed from their digital incarceration .
Partial album : The converse of album - only caterpillar track are album that are incomplete , lack one or more songs that are available on the full standard candle version , but not as digital downloads . Sometimes this is due to right issues ; it happens commonly in external versions of the iTunes Store . But it ’s like go into the CD store and bribe an album , only to have the shop assistant open it up and very precisely scratch out a twosome of tracks . How prepared would you be to go back to that storehouse ? Let ’s not release the iTunes Store into a ghetto ; make the entire album available .
More DRM - destitute euphony : Having EMI onboard the DRM - free train will go a long fashion , but there are still three major labels that are keeping their euphony locked down tight . And what about those artist , such as Barenaked Ladies , that have reputedly come near Apple to sell their music DRM - free ? With the infrastructure to make such sales in place , will Apple now bring these other acts into the fold ? Steve Jobs estimated that one-half of iTunes ’s catalog would be usable DRM - destitute by the end of the year . Let ’s hope that ’s an understatement of Intel - transition proportions . It might be affirmative to trust for a completely DRM - free catalog by next yr , but let ’s charge for next summer .
Movies and TV Shows : Ay , there ’s the rub . When asked at the EMI press league whether he would use his influence with Disney to push for DRM - free video depicted object , Jobs said that the situation with video was inherently different from music . Unlike music , video recording is n’t useable in primarily DRM - free data formatting . videodisk are copy - protected , as were VHS cassettes before them . And while that ’s true , it does n’t mean we would n’t like to see a variety in that policy . What ’s holding us back from rip our DVDs like we rend our CDs ? The Digital Millennium Copyright Act , for one , which form it a crime to bypass written matter protection . Would I like to see Steve take on the DMCA ? You betcha . And while Jobs ’s status as the exclusive largest invidividual shareowner in Disney does n’t make him a one - humans policy - seduce machine , consider that it does give him considerable clout , and that ’s all Steve Jobs has ever really needed to make alteration befall .
When Jobs first wrote hisopen letter on DRM , many accused him of being an insincere , self - serving , timeserving businessman who was merely pandering to consumer , dissemble to be on their side . While Steve Jobsisa businessman , his success has always depended on create and selling products that consumer want and , more importantly , that he believes in . And if Steve Jobs believes in a earth without DRM , that future belike is n’t very off .
Dan Moren is the author of Macworld.com ’s Gadgetbox pillar and Centennial State - editor program of theMacUser.comblog .
