Jobs gains support from Yahoo, Monster on DRM issue
Executives from both Yahoo and Monster Cable are the latest industry figures to throw their weight behind Apple chief executive Steve Jobs when it comes to DRM-wrapped audio tracks.
Goldberg said that Yahoo Music has engaged in experiments where it has offered music without DRM and witnessed a boost in sales.
Meanwhile, Monster Cable chief Noel Lee was also quoted in a company press release Tuesday as fully supporting the ideology presented in Jobs' open letter on DRM, title "Thoughts on Music."
"Monster Cable shares Mr. Jobs' vision of breaking constraints for legal music downloads," said Lee. "We've always believed in the power of music. So much so, we launched Monster Music to introduce high definition surround to the world without restrictions."
The leading manufacturer of high performance cables says its Monster Music service boasts a format known as the SuperDisc, which not only contains high definition surround tracks but DRM-free files. The firm, based in Brisbane, Calif., was recently successful in negotiating DRM-free files with Universal and their multi-platinum selling rock band 3 Doors Down for a SuperDisc release entitled, Away from the Sun, Live from Houston, Texas.
But for Jobs, who claims Apple would "embrace" DRM-free music should the four major record labels abolish their anti-piracy requirements, the tide has not been completely in his favor.
In an immediate response to the Apple cofounder's February 6th letter, Electronic Frontier Foundation urged Jobs to put "his music store where his mouth is" by promptly stripping the company's proprietary Fairplay DRM protection from independent music on the iTunes Store for which it is not required.
Jon Lech Johansen, an infamous DVD protection cracker known as DVD Jon, seconded the motion and even did some background research on the matter.
"It should not take Appleâs iTunes team more than 2-3 days to implement a solution for not wrapping content with FairPlay when the content owner does not mandate DRM," he said. "Actions speak louder than words, Steve."
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Executives from both Yahoo and Monster Cable are the latest industry figures to throw their weight behind Apple chief executive Steve Jobs when it comes to DRM-wrapped audio tracks.
"I've long advocated removing DRM on music because there is already a lot of music available without DRM, and it just makes things complicated for the user," Dave Goldberg, head of Yahoo Music, told the Silicon Valley Watcher.
Goldberg said that Yahoo Music has engaged in experiments where it has offered music without DRM and witnessed a boost in sales.
Meanwhile, Monster Cable chief Noel Lee was also quoted in a company press release Tuesday as fully supporting the ideology presented in Jobs' open letter on DRM, title "Thoughts on Music."
"Monster Cable shares Mr. Jobs' vision of breaking constraints for legal music downloads," said Lee. "We've always believed in the power of music. So much so, we launched Monster Music to introduce high definition surround to the world without restrictions."
The leading manufacturer of high performance cables says its Monster Music service boasts a format known as the SuperDisc, which not only contains high definition surround tracks but DRM-free files. The firm, based in Brisbane, Calif., was recently successful in negotiating DRM-free files with Universal and their multi-platinum selling rock band 3 Doors Down for a SuperDisc release entitled, Away from the Sun, Live from Houston, Texas.
But for Jobs, who claims Apple would "embrace" DRM-free music should the four major record labels abolish their anti-piracy requirements, the tide has not been completely in his favor.
In an immediate response to the Apple cofounder's February 6th letter, Electronic Frontier Foundation urged Jobs to put "his music store where his mouth is" by promptly stripping the company's proprietary Fairplay DRM protection from independent music on the iTunes Store for which it is not required.
Jon Lech Johansen, an infamous DVD protection cracker known as DVD Jon, seconded the motion and even did some background research on the matter.
"It should not take Apple?s iTunes team more than 2-3 days to implement a solution for not wrapping content with FairPlay when the content owner does not mandate DRM," he said. "Actions speak louder than words, Steve."
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
First post w00t!
I do not see the record labels moving much on drm. They have been on the wrong side of consumer rights since the good ol days of cassettes.
Certainly agree, though I would like him to write an open letter to Steve Jobs asking why doesn't he do just that. In other words what's stopping him.
The problem is the music companies and the contracts that Apple has signed with them.
Certainly agree, though I would like him to write an open letter to Steve Jobs asking why doesn't he do just that. In other words what's stopping him.
The problem is the music companies and the contracts that Apple has signed with them.
This is all starting to look like the first couple of volleys in a pretty ingenious strategy by Apple to license FairPlay to other music services and hardware manufacturers.
Certainly agree, though I would like him to write an open letter to Steve Jobs asking why doesn't he do just that. In other words what's stopping him.
The problem is the music companies and the contracts that Apple has signed with them.
Yeah, but if the contracts with the indie music publishers don't call for DRM, why is Apple pushing it on the files? That's the question. And why should anyone have to write an open letter to anyone else to get answers.
This is all starting to look like the first couple of volleys in a pretty ingenious strategy by Apple to license FairPlay to other music services and hardware manufacturers.
You might be right. Since, as Steve said, most of the music on the average iPod did not come from iTunes, Apple could only gain more music sales, with nary an appreciable drop-off of iTunes sales by licensing FairPlay. They'll come out of this smelling like a rose either way.