[mythtv-users] DRM Music on it's last legs - Another prediction comes true ahead of schedule.

[Steven Adeff]

On 8/10/07, Ryan Steffes <rbsteffes at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 8/10/07, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> > On Friday 10 August 2007 06:47, Joe Borne wrote:
> > > In all honesty, Moore's Law is in effect on this process in a way I
> > > never predicted. I did see these events unfolding as we discussed in a
> > > previous thread, but this is so much faster than I thought it would
> > > happen.
> > >
> > > From Slashdot, 8:46 AM EST:
> > > **********************************
> > > "Universal Music Group, the largest music company on the planet, has
> > > announced that the company is going to sell DRM-free music. The test
> > > will see UMG offering a portion of its catalog — primarily its most
> > > popular content — sold without DRM between August 21 and January 31 of
> > > next year. The format will be MP3, and songs will sell for 99 each,
> > > with the bitrate to be determined by the stores in question.
> > > RealNetwork's Rhapsody service will offer 256kbps tracks, the company
> > > said in a separate statement. January 31 is likely more of a fire
> > > escape than an end date. If UMG doesn't like what they're seeing,
> > > they'll pull the plug. UMG says that it wants to watch how DRM-free
> > > music affects piracy rates."
> > > **********************************
> >
> > The attitude of the vendors seems wrong. They act as if they are doing us some
> > great favor by making free (as in libre, not gratis) tracks available, either
> > charging more or limiting the availability. They are trying to make
> > us "thankful" for something we should have in the first place.
> >
> > I'm not sure how they are going to measure trhe piracy rates, and any
> > professional pirate can get around their DRM anyway.
> >
> > Would they tell us if the piracy rates actually go down, and sales go up?
> >
> > --
> > BEWW
>
>
> I'd wager it's actually more of a hardball bargaining technique to get
> more cash per song out of iTunes.  My guess is they want to see if
> there's enough market interest to put a noticeable increase in vendors
> like Wal*Mart and Best Buy at the expense of iTunes  to see if they
> can demand more per song from iTunes in exchange for letting them sell
> DRM free songs.

IMNSHO $0.99 is already too much for a twice compressed audio track.

-- 
Steve
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