2007-04-04 00:00
The Beginning of the End for Digital Rights Management
Nearly a month ago I listed all of the reasons I don't buy music online. EMI, a British music publishing company, is going to eliminate some of the most pressing complaints I have about buying digital music: they are partnering with Apple itunes to sell most of the music in their catalog without digital rights management, and at a higher bitrate than is usually available. The blog where I heard about this story explains that the songs will cost more, and called the extra 30 cents per song a "piracy tax." The company may view their extra commision as a piracy tax, but I say they are entitled to charge more for every DRM-free song, if for no other reason than they are pioneering DRM-free music sales through itunes, and on a scale not seen before now. Despite EMI still not agreeing to allow sales of any music by The Beatles, they may be the spark needed to turn the entire digital music sales industry into a DRM-free business. If it turns out that no one follows suit, people will at least be able to enjoy EMI artists without the hassles traditionally associated with sales through itunes. I look forward to reading about more digital music related news, and maybe by the end of this year I will be a digital customer, whether I have to pay a slightly higher cost, or not.
- Kevin
Kevin (at) Upcsite (dot) Net
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Related Entries:
- Three Reasons Why I Still Do Not Purchase Digital Music Online (2007-03-09)
- My Itunes Alternative, MediaMonkey (2007-03-17)
- I Finally Got my First Real mp3 Player (2007-03-12)
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