Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, Bad Apple
BBC: "Why I don't believe Steve Jobs"
Bill Thompson doesn't particularly like Apple. In his latest BBC News column, he manages to hit a bunch of anti-Apple notes: Apple is over-covered in by the media, Jobs single-handedly stole attention from the Consumer Electronic Show with the iPhone announcement, that Macs are regularly mentioned in the same breath as the PC, the "reality distortion field", and so forth.
Finally, about halfway down the column, Mr. Thompson makes his point: Apple is bad for refusing to license FairPlay and they are bad for using DRM on tracks that are sold elsewhere without DRM. "Jobs also said that Apple would stop using DRM in an instant if they could...I don't believe him."
He does, however, believe reports that EMI is willing to set up stores without DRM despite any official announcement and he believes that Jobs will be crushed under foot by "those who really understand the music business and didn't sell their souls to the record companies back in the days when they believed in DRM."
I personally think that non-DRM is the way of the future. I also agree with Mr. Thomson's suggestion that removing DRM from sales will open up digital downloads to a much bigger audience of consumers, who are put off by the "only plays on iPods and iTunes" restrictions. I'm just not sure that Apple will be crushed under foot to get there.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
RobW said 7:22AM on 2-13-2007
Surely if Mr Thompson wasn't particularly fond of Apple, he wouldn't be a Mac user? Impartial is a far better way to describe his position.
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Matt said 7:23AM on 2-13-2007
I too read this on the BBC site.
Usually Bill offers some pretty balanced arguments but after reading this the only thing that came to mind is just spiteful journalism.
I dont see how his points are really justified or based on any fact.
Apple sells and makes the most money on ipods not the songs.
As long as they continue to make and design excellent hardware that people want to buy they will have no problem.
People dont go out and to buy music from itunes and then realise they have to buy an ipod.
They buy an ipod because of its design and brand image then experiment and buy from itunes.
As long as that is the case Steve can be happy in the knowlege that he can open up the drm as people are still going to buy the ipod.
In fact, i believe more people will purchase from itunes if its drm free. I know I will.
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Nic said 7:32AM on 2-13-2007
Bill is Mac user so don't think you can say he doesn't like Apple, in fact he is a big fan of the technology. Additionally apart from the last paragraph it seems a reasonable enough article, he just seems to have a bee in his bonnet about Jobs insisting he'd gladly get rid of DRM. Personally I find that a bit much to swallow as well.
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schlomo said 7:35AM on 2-13-2007
I do believe that DRM should be forgotten. now. I do not think that FairPlay should be licensed for the same reasons Steve highlighted in his open letter - the human security risk is just too big for someone that sells 1.5bln songs per year.
that being said, I don't think any of this will ever matter outside of Europe. the combination of having the world's best-selling digital music player (by a HUGE margin) and having the world's largest online digital distribution service (by a HUGE margin) doesn't quite spell doom for DRM. the fact is, most people that buy iPods either don't buy from iTS or don't realize that the songs have DRM. in fact, I would bet that at least 3 out of 5 iPod users in the US do not know what DRM is. all they care about is that they only paid 9.99 for their album and it plays great on their shiny iPod. as much as I want it to die, I don't think DRM (at least for music) is going to go anywhere. people are just going to know that iPods get music from the iTS or CDs, Zunes get their music from the MS Store or CDs, and other players get their music from other places. the only 'open' DRM we had before was PlaysForSure (correct me if I'm wrong) which was made so that devices other than the iPod could support digital music distribution, and it was cracked.
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wookie said 8:11AM on 2-13-2007
"Bill Thompson doesn't particularly like Apple"
Hmmm… Isn't that the same Bill Thompson who used to have a regular column in the back of the UK MacUser magazine…?
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Chris said 8:31AM on 2-13-2007
Personally, I don't pay much attention to anything he says as it's usually flawed technically (Bill, the command prompt in XP is not DOS) or logically, or designed to stir up a bit of controversy (and increase the hits to his pages on news.bbc.co.uk?)
The last column I had the misfortune to read seemed to be arguing that as long as people weren't sufficiently computer-savy, those (in governement in his example) involved in illegal/immoral activity who failed to erase their digital footprints would continue to get caught.
And that's bad because...?
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guilt+1 said 8:40AM on 2-13-2007
The irony is that yesterday on BBC News 24 the iPhone managed to gain coverage, despite not even being at 3GSM.
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Fred said 8:59AM on 2-13-2007
Ok, so he likes Apple, just not Jobs. Which is actually kinda how I feel too. I love Apple, but I think Steve Jobs is kind of a jerk. If you've read anything on the guy psersonally he's rude to people, and he's a slave-driver. At any rate, I'm not sure that Bill here understands that the record companies are the ones pushing DRM on all of us. They require Apple to use some form of DRM. Apple uses Fairplay. Ask yourself this, why would Apple not want to sell more music to more people? Thompson says that Apple would make less money, but would they really? I think $.99 a song if pretty fair ( I think most people do), so they wouldn't have to change the pricing structure. I think that Steve is sincere in his desire to see DRM go away, it's one less thing to mess with, he can redirect the resources going towards keeping Fairplay up to date. And even though I think he's kind of a weenie, he's very passionate about music.
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Dom said 8:56AM on 2-13-2007
Bill Thompson != The BBC
He's a freelance journalist - and a Mac user. Check your facts!
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David said 9:00AM on 2-13-2007
Does anyone think that Steve Jobs may want to eliminate DRM as a way of opening iTS to other music players in time to start publishing music there directly from big name artists, not through record labels? I saw a comment yesterday about this . . . now that Apple has settled with the Beatles, they can publish music on their own now. If bands decide to follow the iTS download model and avoid the now-useless record label middlemen, Steve would need there to be as much access as possible to the iTS store . . . even licensing their DRM would not be seen as sufficient; access would have to be seen as universal in order to accomplish this.
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Cameron Campbell said 9:15AM on 2-13-2007
I used a PC at work for a while. That didn't mean I liked it.
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shirley said 9:52AM on 2-13-2007
I agree with #5.
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Ulf Dahlen said 10:41AM on 2-13-2007
It was predictable that many people will not believe Steve Jobs, because of personal dislike or Apple hatred or whatever. I'm not a Jobs fan, but it's hard to argue with the success Apple has had since Jobs returned. In this case, I think Jobs is both correct and sincere. I don't get Mr Thompson's attitude towards Jobs, and his bias detracts from his otherwise valid point.
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m said 11:47AM on 2-13-2007
amen to #5
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Mitch said 11:37AM on 2-13-2007
This is the first time that I have read material by Bill Thompson and I definitely got the feeling that he has a seething hatred for Apple.
In the glass is half full / empty world I got the impression that it pains Bill to even admit that Apple has a glass.
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Rob said 11:44AM on 2-13-2007
In my view, DRM is part of Apple's business model. True, they don't make much money from selling music from the iTunes music store but DRM helps lock iPod owners into the Apple world.
e.g. If you bought hundreds or thousands of DRM music from the iTunes music store, you will think twice about switching to a competitors product down the road (which might even be a lot better than the iPod).
If Apple really did not like DRM, they would sell DRM free music from artists and labels who have requested that their music be sold DRM free. To date, Apple has not done that. So far, it is just talk, no action.
Apple likes DRM beacuse it is good for Apple.
Rob
P.S. I know that some have argued that selling DRM and DRM free music in the iTunes music store would be confusing to customers. I diagree. Apple already offers some contect DRM free (like the Apple Keynote). But to make matters clear, a flag should be added to iTunes indicating and highlighting whether the content is DRM protected or not.
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dave said 12:40PM on 2-13-2007
Steve Jobs feels this BBC guy is a wanker, nothing but another puss filled angry tech columnist who justifies his job by being provocative and otherwise offering nothing. His children idiot dullards, his wife unsatisfied.
I think Steve's a bit harsh but is certainly entitled to his option.
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macdadi said 1:08PM on 2-13-2007
The column sounds like a lot of sour grapes, if you ask me. He starts out ranting about Apple and Jobs garnering so much attention. Bill, that is what a CEO is supposed to do: garner attention for his company. Duh.
More importantly, I'm supposed to take seriously the opinion of someone whose point of view is that I should buy all my CDs and burn them one at a time, rather than use a sophisticated and very friendly online service? This is the voice of reason on DRM? C'mon, that's ridiculous.
For those of you who don't remember; ITS was a Godsend. It meant a simple, practical, fun way to buy music online...for the first time. It opened up a miraculous world of music through its intuitive search, reviews, mixes, and other features.
But, to do it, Jobs had to strike a deal with the devil which, at the time, was about the most liberal deal going. Now he wants to change the terms. Are his motives profit-oriented? Again, duh: He's the CEO. Does he really mean it? Who cares: he put it out there; it's up to the RIAA now to either hold him to it or continue their draconian policies. The last I heard, they were widely scornful of Jobs' letter. So to claim the recording industry is open to ending DRM is delusional, at best.
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Bruce Hubbert said 5:19PM on 2-13-2007
I know am going to get labeled as Apple FanBoi #1 after this posting but I gotta speak out, damn the risk...
For all you "Let the music be free" flag wavers; Try to come up with a business model that makes money for Apple (they are a business, after all) and keeps the record companies, musicians, and film companies happy and making money as well? I would bet my Beatles catalog that the loudest among you spend far too much time on BitTorrent (you know who you are) now rather than paying for any music or movies.
I think the DRM in fair play is just that - fair. So much so that I vote with my wallet. I have purchased thousands of songs on iTMS and a few movies and TV shows as well (I hate it when my DVR goofs up and I miss the latest BSG on SciFi) and I have done so since it opened. I have never had my right to use my music 'how I wish' challenged nor have I hit any roadblocks to doing so. If I really need to exercise my right to "fair use" I just burn a CD and then L O A N it to a buddy. My whole house has music in every room thanks to AirPort Express and iPods around the house and I never have to look at commercials when I watch a TV show. I am happy. I get what I want when I want it.
What is the big deal? How is Fair Play hurting you? Heck Schlomo in posting #4 states that most people don't even know there is any DRM. I can understand a battle based on ideals, heck America and many other countries were founded on principles but can somebody explain the day to day negative impact of Fair Play? I propose that it strikes a careful and acceptable balance and is the best solution so far.
"Free the Music"? Pick a fight on principles with abusers and misusers.
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mike said 12:37AM on 2-14-2007
this came up ages ago with Real (remember them?)
"Apple is bad for refusing to license FairPlay and they are bad for using DRM on tracks that are sold elsewhere without DRM"
it costs Apple money to stop R&D and put that technology in with the same level of quality that ITMS users get...
Why should Apple pay all that money to produce a bad version of its own stuff.. so the competition can get a leg up?
Doesn't that sound... anti-competitive to you?
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