thoughts on music
Rumors are flyin' that EMI, one of the "big four" record labels that use Apple's DRM copy protection to license their music through iTunes, may be dropping DRM requirements — possibly announcing as early as today. Supposedly, EMI had actually been negotiating this point for weeks, "[b]ut on Thursday, those negotiations slowed dramatically." That would no doubt be a result of massive, frantic pressure from the other labels after Steve Jobs's "
Thoughts on Music" anti-DRM barnstorming. Speculation about the other labels caving is premature to say the least.
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thoughts on music
Mitch Bainwol, head of the RIAA, responded to Steve Jobs's "
Thoughts on Music" by way of thorough agreement. No one seems to have the full Bainwol letter online, though the
substance depicts Bainwol as
more than happy to endorse Jobs's thought-experiment of licensing Apple's Fairplay DRM to all the world. Of course, Jobs only mentioned that possibility in order to strike it down as impractical. Bainwol dismisses such concerns, purring, "We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen." Beware the record man — he speaks with forked tongue.
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Valleywag
drm deathwatch
