Comments on: calling Steve Jobs an opportunist

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:03:53 +0000

I don’t see what all the fuss is about confusing the customer base between DRM and non-DRM music. Simple solution. Use a stoplight icon. Green light is non-DRM i.e. unrestricted. Red light is DRM i.e. there will be restrictions on this music – expect trouble if you do anything not utterly vanilla with it. Then put up an FAQ where the not entirely illiterate can explore this distinction in greater resolution.

-Steve (not Jobs

By: Niko Nyman

Niko Nyman — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 03:37:59 +0000

I would say “Steve” (as if I believed he actually controls all this stuff) is holding onto one, unified, simplified user experience for users above what is technically possible. I don’t see why Apple *could* not sell unprotected music along the DRM-protected music. But how could they avoid the confusion the non-bit-literate average person might encounter when some of the tracks work differently than others? Confusion is costly.

Having produced and released some amount of music, even spent a week in the UK Top 40, I have absolutely no doubt in the ability of the big music industry to f**k things up. So if anyone is to blame, blame them, and give some credit to the people who try, even if they’re not perfect.

By: pekpekshorts

pekpekshorts — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 23:35:56 +0000

I smell fanboyism.

By: phil

phil — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 14:25:05 +0000

This appears out of place for you. I think you’re wonderful and smart when you stick to what you know. This post reveals that when you don’t, you’re not.

You try to be the expert recommending the ONE article that people interested in “this issue” should read. That works for people who like to jump on “sticking-it-to-the-man’ points of view-which is what you seem to be doing-but won’t help them engage in a learned discussion of “this issue.”

By: Dylan

Dylan — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:44:21 +0000

“Music industrial complex” I am glad to see this terminology getting out in the mainstream more. (Although I do recognize you are an academic, studying in this field, and thus… not so mainstream. Even this post is progress, because for awhile it was scarcely heard even in academic arenas, theorizing it would take away from serious issues like the prison industrial complex, and turn everything into an “industrial complex” thus losing its power. As more academics come the generation of digital music, whether consumers or creators, I think we will begin to see more discussion around this issue.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:09:06 +0000

Some other perspectives:
http://daringfireball.net/2007/02/reading_between_the_lines
http://daringfireball.net/2007/02/command_option_control
http://daringfireball.net/2007/02/drm_and_non_drm_music