Red Herring: According to a new report from eMarketer, Apple's iPod is partly to blame for the collapse of the music industry, having set the tone for a "rats nest of restrictions and incompatibilities" that put the stop on music's growth. Paul Verna, the report's author, says that end-user confusion played a major role, as music fans were forced to sort out an explosion of confusing and incompatible formats, players, restrictions and retailers. Thus, Apple's iPod has been a "double-edged sword" for the industry, having contributed greatly to the splintering of the music biz with its closed ecosystem, Verna claims.
Meanwhile, digital rights management, which restricts the number of devices where users can copy their music in an attempt to stamp out music sharing, has played arguably the biggest role in hindering digital music sales. Apple popularized DRM by moving away from the MP3 file format to adopt its own FairPlay DRM standard.
Big music initially thought that digital downloads would make for plummeting CD sales, but it hasn't turned out that way, Red Herring points out, as digital revenues haven't come even close to making up for CD sales losses.
Meanwhile, digital rights management, which restricts the number of devices where users can copy their music in an attempt to stamp out music sharing, has played arguably the biggest role in hindering digital music sales. Apple popularized DRM by moving away from the MP3 file format to adopt its own FairPlay DRM standard.
Big music initially thought that digital downloads would make for plummeting CD sales, but it hasn't turned out that way, Red Herring points out, as digital revenues haven't come even close to making up for CD sales losses.
As I said last week "I didn't break my headset, it braked itself"
Last week my mic on my headset broke. I don't know how it happened, it just broke. But, as the King of the replacements said to me "it can't just break itself!"
Now I know how dumb it sounds and it correlates to the ineptitude of these musical gits.
Paul Verna says Apple is responsible for music's downfall because people are idiots and don't know how to use iTunes. He then goes on to suggest DRM is at fault.
DRM.
A conundrum.
DRM was meant to initiate further music sales because it prevents users from making multiple copies. We all told you it was a bad idea, but you wouldn't listen. Now you say it has prevented sales! Wow. I need a valium.
Idiots. Wake up to the idea that selling music as a product is dead. The labels themselves say that "for every single legal download there are 20 illegal ones" (source). What you can sell is a connection to a band, experiences around the band and the occasional T-shirt.
Theme of the day- change is here. Move with it or stay back in la la land.
This has always been my vision of la la land. Bessie, Fanny and the boys:
3 comments:
"Apple popularized DRM by moving away from the MP3 file format to adopt its own FairPlay DRM standard"
Wow. That's moronic. Apple didn't "move away" from MP3 (as if there were mp3 stores). They chose AAC, the successor to MP3. They were FORCED to wrap DRM around it by the labels who would never have agreed to the iTunes Store otherwise.
But hey, it makes better headlines to mention Apple and iPod...
Apple has always wanted to sell tunes without any DRM--they want to today--but they couldn't because of the STUPIDASS music labels.
How can anyone have any sympathy for these leeches? They got fat during the golden years by sucking dry the artists and the customers who purchased the music.
And...for the record...I have zero illegal music files in my CD collection on or my Macs.
Whiners. Apple has sold 5 billion songs on iTunes and most of that has gone to the music industry. The industry has been too stupid and too venal to come up with better business models. Remind me why it is I should feel sorry for a bunch of middle men in an era where the middle man is obsolete?
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