Steve Jobs: world’s best linkbaiter

Wow, I was just doing my link blog and I see I’m the last guy in the world to link to Steve Jobs’ memo about DRM. Let me get this straight. He sells my family three iPods that have DRM on them, then he turns around and says “that game is over.” Yeah, I’m not cynical. He gets everyone in the blog world to say “yeeehaaww.”

Meanwhile we all forget that the iPhone isn’t open to third-party developers and that the iPod has near-monopoly-status marketshare already.

So, why is he doing this? Maybe he noticed that most iPod users don’t buy many songs from iTunes. Why? We’d rather get a CD from Amazon, rip it ourselves so it doesn’t have DRM, thus denying Steve Jobs his rightful $.99 a song.

But, like I said, I’m not a cynic. And, in case you’re already sick of Steve’s DRM memo, I only put three things onto my link blog about it with dozens of other things that aren’t on TechMeme or Digg.

Oh, and thanks Gerald Buckley for the kind words about my link blog. I love his metaphorical imagery: “In Guy Kawasaki speak… he eats like a hummingbird and poops like an elephant. If you don’t yet subscribe to Mr. Scoble’s link blog you might consider it. There are some fine gems in that poop!”

Poop, poop, poop, er, “J, J, Shift-S, J, J.”

165 thoughts on “Steve Jobs: world’s best linkbaiter

  1. That’s so funny… There is ONE of the big guys trying to make the Record Companies move a bit their ass and some people are still bitching at him πŸ™‚ What’s up with billg, Zune without DRM soon ? πŸ˜‰

    ps: Even without DRM nobody will buy them πŸ™‚

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  2. That’s so funny… There is ONE of the big guys trying to make the Record Companies move a bit their ass and some people are still bitching at him πŸ™‚ What’s up with billg, Zune without DRM soon ? πŸ˜‰

    ps: Even without DRM nobody will buy them πŸ™‚

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  3. Robert, Steve Jobs is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand he has benefited from the DRM iTunes to iPod lock-in. On the other hand, several European countries are raising anti-trust issues and threatening to ban iTunes/iPod sales in their countries unless they open it up. Of course the record labels would cut Apple off if they discontinued the DRM.

    BTW, Bill Gates agrees that DRM is broken. I wrote a blog about the DRM issues and ironies today. See http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/02/steve_jobs_blam.html

    Don

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  4. Robert, Steve Jobs is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand he has benefited from the DRM iTunes to iPod lock-in. On the other hand, several European countries are raising anti-trust issues and threatening to ban iTunes/iPod sales in their countries unless they open it up. Of course the record labels would cut Apple off if they discontinued the DRM.

    BTW, Bill Gates agrees that DRM is broken. I wrote a blog about the DRM issues and ironies today. See http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/02/steve_jobs_blam.html

    Don

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  5. By the way..It isn’t the first time Jobs has criticized the music industry. Here’s a quote from 2002:
    “If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own,”

    From the MacWorld article “Jobs: Record companies should loosen their grip”
    http://www.macworld.com/news/2002/03/04/jobs/

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  6. By the way..It isn’t the first time Jobs has criticized the music industry. Here’s a quote from 2002:
    “If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own,”

    From the MacWorld article “Jobs: Record companies should loosen their grip”
    http://www.macworld.com/news/2002/03/04/jobs/

    Like

  7. That’s funny, because my iPod didn’t come with any DRM. In fact, I have 4000+ songs on there, any it still doesn’t have any DRM. Weird, huh?

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  8. That’s funny, because my iPod didn’t come with any DRM. In fact, I have 4000+ songs on there, any it still doesn’t have any DRM. Weird, huh?

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  9. “He sells my family three iPods that have DRM on them”

    Just to clarify a bit, last time I checked, the actual iPod device does not contain DRM — it can play any non-rights-protected file that you’d like, as well as interface with non-Apple players on Linux with not much effort. If you actually read the memo, you’ll also gain a bit more insight into why the current DRM-restricted online music play is a necessity.

    “Meanwhile we all forget that the iPhone isn’t open to third-party developers”

    Somewhere you must have forgotten that just because the iPhone is [currently] closed to 3rd-party developers, that does not mean that it contains DRM.

    Be a cynic all you’d like, but there’s really no reason to unjustly bash Steve’s memo, especially when you seem to strangely equate DRM == iPod == iPhone. The way I read the memo, it seemed more of a plea on behalf of all of us to the music industry — that their DRM protection schemes actually do not perform the function they would like (deter piracy), and that online sales could really take off if they were to license DRM-free files to iTunes and the other online stores.

    It also appears as though you don’t even understand what the letters “DRM” actually mean, and are just waving them around, applying them to everything. iPod? DRM! iPhone? DRM!

    Please. The least you could do is read the memo, and then maybe you could appreciate his “DRM-free” industry plea.

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  10. “He sells my family three iPods that have DRM on them”

    Just to clarify a bit, last time I checked, the actual iPod device does not contain DRM — it can play any non-rights-protected file that you’d like, as well as interface with non-Apple players on Linux with not much effort. If you actually read the memo, you’ll also gain a bit more insight into why the current DRM-restricted online music play is a necessity.

    “Meanwhile we all forget that the iPhone isn’t open to third-party developers”

    Somewhere you must have forgotten that just because the iPhone is [currently] closed to 3rd-party developers, that does not mean that it contains DRM.

    Be a cynic all you’d like, but there’s really no reason to unjustly bash Steve’s memo, especially when you seem to strangely equate DRM == iPod == iPhone. The way I read the memo, it seemed more of a plea on behalf of all of us to the music industry — that their DRM protection schemes actually do not perform the function they would like (deter piracy), and that online sales could really take off if they were to license DRM-free files to iTunes and the other online stores.

    It also appears as though you don’t even understand what the letters “DRM” actually mean, and are just waving them around, applying them to everything. iPod? DRM! iPhone? DRM!

    Please. The least you could do is read the memo, and then maybe you could appreciate his “DRM-free” industry plea.

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  11. You’re not a cynic, just an ass. Finally, one of the world’s leaders in technology publicly stands up on an issue you agree with, someone who can actually get some action on this possibly, and all you can do is attack him?

    Weak.

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  12. You’re not a cynic, just an ass. Finally, one of the world’s leaders in technology publicly stands up on an issue you agree with, someone who can actually get some action on this possibly, and all you can do is attack him?

    Weak.

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  13. Paul: actually every iPod has DRM-decoding software in it. Without it you wouldn’t be able to play songs you purchase from iTunes.

    Matt: I think you missed EVERYTHING I wrote. I appreciate what Steve is saying very much. I wanted a world without DRM a long time ago (even called Microsoft’s DRM team “the most evil” at Microsoft).

    But to wait until after we all had purchased an iPod seems a bit funky, to say the least.

    Here’s my video of “most evil team at Microsoft:” http://scobleizer.com/2006/09/01/the-most-evil-team-at-microsoft-the-wave-team/

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  14. Paul: actually every iPod has DRM-decoding software in it. Without it you wouldn’t be able to play songs you purchase from iTunes.

    Matt: I think you missed EVERYTHING I wrote. I appreciate what Steve is saying very much. I wanted a world without DRM a long time ago (even called Microsoft’s DRM team “the most evil” at Microsoft).

    But to wait until after we all had purchased an iPod seems a bit funky, to say the least.

    Here’s my video of “most evil team at Microsoft:” http://scobleizer.com/2006/09/01/the-most-evil-team-at-microsoft-the-wave-team/

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  15. Oh, and BC, what is it about Apple fans that gets them to pull out the ad hominems for people who don’t see the world they do? Why call me an ass? Does that help your point of view? Does it make you feel better? Are you being paid by Apple to say that?

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  16. Oh, and BC, what is it about Apple fans that gets them to pull out the ad hominems for people who don’t see the world they do? Why call me an ass? Does that help your point of view? Does it make you feel better? Are you being paid by Apple to say that?

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  17. Robert..lemme see if I understand.. you would have preferred Apple not make the iPod until Jobs was successful in lobbying for no DRM? Granted the timing is interesting,given what is threatening to happen in the EU market. But, short of just complaining about the timing, I’m not sure what you think they should have done. .

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  18. Robert..lemme see if I understand.. you would have preferred Apple not make the iPod until Jobs was successful in lobbying for no DRM? Granted the timing is interesting,given what is threatening to happen in the EU market. But, short of just complaining about the timing, I’m not sure what you think they should have done. .

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  19. You are an idiot.

    1.) Apple doesn’t make money selling the music. That $1 – it pretty much goes entirely to the record companies and to bandwidth costs. So why would Apple dump the lock-in they benefit from to sell more songs WHEN THEY DON’T MAKE MONEY SELLING SONGS!?

    2.) iTunes sales are not slowing. You know this isn’t true because you saw the Macworld keynote. So I can only conclude that you are spreading FUD. iTunes sales are in fact accelerating! Again, this has nothing to do with bolstering Apple’s own music sales.

    3.) Funny how you love to throw the word monpoly around when it comes to Apple but never utter it when discussing Microsoft. Do you even understand what a monopoly is? A monpolist WOULD NEVER open FairPlay. It is the equivalent of Microsoft opensourcing the Win32 API.

    4.) Nice attempt at subtly trying to suggest that older iPods wouldn’t work in a non-DRM world. In fact, they would work just fine.

    Your analysis is both shallow and weak. It’s clear you don’t understand the economics of this business or economics in general. I’m quite sure there are self-serving motives driving Steve to do this now, but trying to drive volume to iTunes is not one of them.

    I can’t believe you are arguing for DRM. Is there anything to your argument besides despising Apple? Grow up tard.

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  20. You are an idiot.

    1.) Apple doesn’t make money selling the music. That $1 – it pretty much goes entirely to the record companies and to bandwidth costs. So why would Apple dump the lock-in they benefit from to sell more songs WHEN THEY DON’T MAKE MONEY SELLING SONGS!?

    2.) iTunes sales are not slowing. You know this isn’t true because you saw the Macworld keynote. So I can only conclude that you are spreading FUD. iTunes sales are in fact accelerating! Again, this has nothing to do with bolstering Apple’s own music sales.

    3.) Funny how you love to throw the word monpoly around when it comes to Apple but never utter it when discussing Microsoft. Do you even understand what a monopoly is? A monpolist WOULD NEVER open FairPlay. It is the equivalent of Microsoft opensourcing the Win32 API.

    4.) Nice attempt at subtly trying to suggest that older iPods wouldn’t work in a non-DRM world. In fact, they would work just fine.

    Your analysis is both shallow and weak. It’s clear you don’t understand the economics of this business or economics in general. I’m quite sure there are self-serving motives driving Steve to do this now, but trying to drive volume to iTunes is not one of them.

    I can’t believe you are arguing for DRM. Is there anything to your argument besides despising Apple? Grow up tard.

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  21. Finally… an industry leader who thinks DRM is idiotic and evil. Finally.

    Let’s see…

    Buy CDs > Rip into Ogg Vorbis > share and share alike πŸ™‚

    Anyhoo… it’s about time Steve is thinking like this. Can we also pray he sees the light and releases OS X under the GPL?

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  22. Finally… an industry leader who thinks DRM is idiotic and evil. Finally.

    Let’s see…

    Buy CDs > Rip into Ogg Vorbis > share and share alike πŸ™‚

    Anyhoo… it’s about time Steve is thinking like this. Can we also pray he sees the light and releases OS X under the GPL?

    Like

  23. Actually, Apple could release music with no DRM. Buy a record company. Who cares what their deal was with Apple music. They have the money to defeat the overly-rich litigators with their own overly-rich litigators.

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  24. Actually, Apple could release music with no DRM. Buy a record company. Who cares what their deal was with Apple music. They have the money to defeat the overly-rich litigators with their own overly-rich litigators.

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  25. God Robert, when it comes to Apple or Steve Jobs you really have negative passion. It’s kind of creepy actually…

    You have to admit you don’t have this same passion re your old employer, at the most you hit them with a shadow of the negativity that you do Apple.

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  26. God Robert, when it comes to Apple or Steve Jobs you really have negative passion. It’s kind of creepy actually…

    You have to admit you don’t have this same passion re your old employer, at the most you hit them with a shadow of the negativity that you do Apple.

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  27. Well, I linked to the letter, even though II AM a cynic. But there was basically no new info in the letter. Apple didn’t invent DRM, and I believe them when they said it was a condition imposed by the music companies. I run iTunes, own an Apple computer and have a couple of iPods, but I also run Linux and have investigated what how much trouble it would be to replace the iPod software (both on the computer and the iPod itself) with something more open. I’m prepared to do that at some point if Apple viers off into some direction I don’t like.

    Apple plays a lot of lock-in tricks just like Microsoft does so I don’t trust either one of them all that much.

    That said, Job’s letter was an excellent statement of the anti-DRM position. It covered all the salient points without delving into so much detail as to put you to sleep. I have no idea whether he actually wrote it or commissioned its writing, but the craftsmanship of the piece alone was worth a link, and if BillG’s name had been at the bottom I would have linked it just as quickly.

    As I said there was really nothing new in the letter, and I won’t be holding my breath while waiting for anything to change. But all the attention it got (including being reproduced in the morning WSJ) may move the conversation along a little bit, as did the Sony fiasco a while back.

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  28. Well, I linked to the letter, even though II AM a cynic. But there was basically no new info in the letter. Apple didn’t invent DRM, and I believe them when they said it was a condition imposed by the music companies. I run iTunes, own an Apple computer and have a couple of iPods, but I also run Linux and have investigated what how much trouble it would be to replace the iPod software (both on the computer and the iPod itself) with something more open. I’m prepared to do that at some point if Apple viers off into some direction I don’t like.

    Apple plays a lot of lock-in tricks just like Microsoft does so I don’t trust either one of them all that much.

    That said, Job’s letter was an excellent statement of the anti-DRM position. It covered all the salient points without delving into so much detail as to put you to sleep. I have no idea whether he actually wrote it or commissioned its writing, but the craftsmanship of the piece alone was worth a link, and if BillG’s name had been at the bottom I would have linked it just as quickly.

    As I said there was really nothing new in the letter, and I won’t be holding my breath while waiting for anything to change. But all the attention it got (including being reproduced in the morning WSJ) may move the conversation along a little bit, as did the Sony fiasco a while back.

    Like

  29. Robert why are you running around going “Boo Hoo” like a little Windows girl?

    So what if you bought 3 iPods? Did Jobs put a gun to your head and force you to buy them? Did Jobs force you to buy music form the iTunes Music Store? Why did’nt you just buy CD’s and rip them?

    Get you panties unbunched and wash the skid marks out of them. No need to be a little Windows girl.

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  30. Robert why are you running around going “Boo Hoo” like a little Windows girl?

    So what if you bought 3 iPods? Did Jobs put a gun to your head and force you to buy them? Did Jobs force you to buy music form the iTunes Music Store? Why did’nt you just buy CD’s and rip them?

    Get you panties unbunched and wash the skid marks out of them. No need to be a little Windows girl.

    Like

  31. Oh lord, it’s the evil Scoble. Jobs says something point blank that if the record companies agree, hurts the Zune FAR more than it would hurt the iPod, and Robert of course, pissed that he can’t be first, has to say a buncha stupid shit:

    Let me get this straight. He sells my family three iPods that have DRM on them, then he turns around and says β€œthat game is over.”

    Stop posting when you’re full of german hops, it makes you more full of shit than normal. The iPod has firmware that can deal with FairPlay. This is exactly like the Zune and plays for sure. However, unlike the Zune, the iPod doesn’t ADD DRM to songs, (coughsquirtingcough).

    However, saying that software that can handle DRM’d content is having DRM on it is…yes, that’s it, stupid. You can own your iPod forever, and not only never have a single iota of DRM’d content on it, but unlike Microsoft’s offerings, you can have EVERYTHING the iTunes store has to offer on your iPod and never have to reconnect it to your computer to “revalidate” that DRM’d content.

    Secondly, he didn’t say “that game is over”. Not even close. But then, you’re all whiny and shit that you’re the last one to read this, so better to post something stupid I suppose. He said that DRM doesn’t work, and really has never worked, and that if the majors would allow it, Apple would happily move the iTMS over to unDRM’d content.

    Reading Robert, it isn’t just for schoolkids anymore. But lets continue:

    Meanwhile we all forget that the iPhone isn’t open to third-party developers and that the iPod has near-monopoly-status marketshare already.

    Ah, the famous Scoble in whiny bitch mode “I have nothing useful to say, so let’s set up a straw man” trick. If only you didn’t suck at it.

    First, the iPhone is a strawman here. I know you’re unused to points that aren’t on your head, but DO try to stay on this one. You don’t know the iPhone is not open to third-party developers. You don’t know that it is open to third party developers. Why? Because IT’S NOT RELEASED YET. Not only are you badly strawmanning, but you’re doing it over vapor. Jesus, a retarded monkey could do this better.

    Jobs did NOT say “All the software on the iPhone must come only from Apple”. He said “We are going to carefully control this process.”

    As well, considering that unlike Palm or Microsoft, Apple isn’t going to put a crippled – assed browser in this, there is indeed a way for third parties to get software onto the iPhone: Ajax. And before you start whining that doesn’t count, well, if it doesn’t, then Microsoft is spending a shit-ton of money on stuff “that doesn’t count” and your precious “Web 2.0” doesn’t count either.

    The numbers for the iPod’s marketshare have no bearing on this, unless it’s to give MORE weight to Jobs’ comments. I don’t recall BillyG ever wanting to make Windows more open until he was, literally, forced to.

    Not only do you suck at strawman, but one of your examples disproves the point you were trying to make. Are you sure you didn’t write this in an Amsterdam whorehouse’s coffee shop, because it’s kinda close to stoner logic.

    So, why is he doing this? Maybe he noticed that most iPod users don’t buy many songs from iTunes. Why? We’d rather get a CD from Amazon, rip it ourselves so it doesn’t have DRM, thus denying Steve Jobs his rightful $.99 a song.

    Gee, you mean like he said in the memo? Come on Snap-On, stop being a tool just because you’re late to the party. Here’s one…maybe lockin isn’t the only reason people use iTunes. Maybe there’s other reasons. Oh wait, that would require more thought than “DUDE! MORE BEER!”

    But, like I said, I’m not a cynic. And, in case you’re already sick of Steve’s DRM memo, I only put three things onto my link blog about it with dozens of other things that aren’t on TechMeme or Digg.

    Only you are. Quite a few people are glad someone with the kind of pull Jobs has said it the way he did.

    If you’d have not been all whiny and flamebaiting about it, you might have had a better post.

    Oh yeah, you were trolling for it this time dude, so suck it up princess, and eat that shit sandwich you so smugly ordered.

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  32. Oh lord, it’s the evil Scoble. Jobs says something point blank that if the record companies agree, hurts the Zune FAR more than it would hurt the iPod, and Robert of course, pissed that he can’t be first, has to say a buncha stupid shit:

    Let me get this straight. He sells my family three iPods that have DRM on them, then he turns around and says β€œthat game is over.”

    Stop posting when you’re full of german hops, it makes you more full of shit than normal. The iPod has firmware that can deal with FairPlay. This is exactly like the Zune and plays for sure. However, unlike the Zune, the iPod doesn’t ADD DRM to songs, (coughsquirtingcough).

    However, saying that software that can handle DRM’d content is having DRM on it is…yes, that’s it, stupid. You can own your iPod forever, and not only never have a single iota of DRM’d content on it, but unlike Microsoft’s offerings, you can have EVERYTHING the iTunes store has to offer on your iPod and never have to reconnect it to your computer to “revalidate” that DRM’d content.

    Secondly, he didn’t say “that game is over”. Not even close. But then, you’re all whiny and shit that you’re the last one to read this, so better to post something stupid I suppose. He said that DRM doesn’t work, and really has never worked, and that if the majors would allow it, Apple would happily move the iTMS over to unDRM’d content.

    Reading Robert, it isn’t just for schoolkids anymore. But lets continue:

    Meanwhile we all forget that the iPhone isn’t open to third-party developers and that the iPod has near-monopoly-status marketshare already.

    Ah, the famous Scoble in whiny bitch mode “I have nothing useful to say, so let’s set up a straw man” trick. If only you didn’t suck at it.

    First, the iPhone is a strawman here. I know you’re unused to points that aren’t on your head, but DO try to stay on this one. You don’t know the iPhone is not open to third-party developers. You don’t know that it is open to third party developers. Why? Because IT’S NOT RELEASED YET. Not only are you badly strawmanning, but you’re doing it over vapor. Jesus, a retarded monkey could do this better.

    Jobs did NOT say “All the software on the iPhone must come only from Apple”. He said “We are going to carefully control this process.”

    As well, considering that unlike Palm or Microsoft, Apple isn’t going to put a crippled – assed browser in this, there is indeed a way for third parties to get software onto the iPhone: Ajax. And before you start whining that doesn’t count, well, if it doesn’t, then Microsoft is spending a shit-ton of money on stuff “that doesn’t count” and your precious “Web 2.0” doesn’t count either.

    The numbers for the iPod’s marketshare have no bearing on this, unless it’s to give MORE weight to Jobs’ comments. I don’t recall BillyG ever wanting to make Windows more open until he was, literally, forced to.

    Not only do you suck at strawman, but one of your examples disproves the point you were trying to make. Are you sure you didn’t write this in an Amsterdam whorehouse’s coffee shop, because it’s kinda close to stoner logic.

    So, why is he doing this? Maybe he noticed that most iPod users don’t buy many songs from iTunes. Why? We’d rather get a CD from Amazon, rip it ourselves so it doesn’t have DRM, thus denying Steve Jobs his rightful $.99 a song.

    Gee, you mean like he said in the memo? Come on Snap-On, stop being a tool just because you’re late to the party. Here’s one…maybe lockin isn’t the only reason people use iTunes. Maybe there’s other reasons. Oh wait, that would require more thought than “DUDE! MORE BEER!”

    But, like I said, I’m not a cynic. And, in case you’re already sick of Steve’s DRM memo, I only put three things onto my link blog about it with dozens of other things that aren’t on TechMeme or Digg.

    Only you are. Quite a few people are glad someone with the kind of pull Jobs has said it the way he did.

    If you’d have not been all whiny and flamebaiting about it, you might have had a better post.

    Oh yeah, you were trolling for it this time dude, so suck it up princess, and eat that shit sandwich you so smugly ordered.

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  33. Scoble has finally gone over the deep end.

    Man, if you honestly think that DRM is why Apple owns this entire fucking market, you need to give up your Nerd Cred card and start blogging about wiener schnitzel or something…

    …oh wait.

    Like

  34. Scoble has finally gone over the deep end.

    Man, if you honestly think that DRM is why Apple owns this entire fucking market, you need to give up your Nerd Cred card and start blogging about wiener schnitzel or something…

    …oh wait.

    Like

  35. Mr. Scoble, no, the iPod has no DRM in it. None. Not a bit. You should at least understand the technology before you criticize it. Neither does the iTS. No DRM there, either.

    The DRM layer is all managed within iTunes itself, and the song is validated and “decoded” (your term, not mine) before it is placed on the iPod. The iPod needs no DRM capability because music that is placed there has already been authorized. It’s a brilliant design that clearly allowed for easy removal of DRM when the time came (only change necessary will be to iTunes).

    As for Jobs, he has publicly decried DRM before, and is attempting to use his clout to get some help in this regard. Instead, what he gets are bloggers who do nothing but look for reasons to criticize his actions because, well, I guess that’s what they do best. Heaven forbid they should contribute anything significant to the debate.

    Meanwhile, Gates talks down DRM while building a much more restrictive one into Zune and also embedding one within Vista itself.

    Whatever. Have a nice day.

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  36. Mr. Scoble, no, the iPod has no DRM in it. None. Not a bit. You should at least understand the technology before you criticize it. Neither does the iTS. No DRM there, either.

    The DRM layer is all managed within iTunes itself, and the song is validated and “decoded” (your term, not mine) before it is placed on the iPod. The iPod needs no DRM capability because music that is placed there has already been authorized. It’s a brilliant design that clearly allowed for easy removal of DRM when the time came (only change necessary will be to iTunes).

    As for Jobs, he has publicly decried DRM before, and is attempting to use his clout to get some help in this regard. Instead, what he gets are bloggers who do nothing but look for reasons to criticize his actions because, well, I guess that’s what they do best. Heaven forbid they should contribute anything significant to the debate.

    Meanwhile, Gates talks down DRM while building a much more restrictive one into Zune and also embedding one within Vista itself.

    Whatever. Have a nice day.

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  37. That’s just the way the world is. You just have to learn to accept it. As we were reminded this week, and as Bill Gates finally realized and admitted, Steve Jobs invented the world. πŸ™‚

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  38. That’s just the way the world is. You just have to learn to accept it. As we were reminded this week, and as Bill Gates finally realized and admitted, Steve Jobs invented the world. πŸ™‚

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  39. Robert, you are trying just to hard devil’s advocate here. You’re acting like that annoying dorky kid in high school who has to challenge everything a teacher says in class, preventing the whole class from moving forward. There are times to express criticism and dissent, but this is one time where the snarkiness and cynicism is just plain tiring.

    Come on, be honest – do you really think Steve Jobs could have proposed a DRM-free solution before he sold 100 million iPods and 2 billion songs? You really think even Bill Gates could have talked the record industry into releasing DRM-free music 5 years ago? And if so, why has Microsoft been spending more and more resources developing ever convoluted DRM schemes that allow things like 3 day/3 play timebombs, download-to-device-but-no-burn-to-CD, or exploding music rentals?

    Thankfully, Steve Jobs is a better businessman than you. I’m trying not to be too harsh on you, but please, is it so hard to see that when dealing with the record companies, he has always played from a position of strength? Even flat pricing for songs is something that burns up music company CEOs to no end, but guess what? When that initial iTunes licensing contract was up, iTunes was still the only successful online music store out there, which allowed Jobs to force the labels to re-up on $0.99 per song.

    The point is, Jobs could not be advocating DRM-free music until today. iTunes is clearly too important for the music industry to ignore or resist, because if they pulled their catalog, the music business would be in a freefall because the only thing that kept it healthy was iTunes’ growth.

    So instead of trying to cut Jobs down just because you apparently don’t like his modus operandi, why don’t you recognize that this is an opportunity to direct the pressure where it deserves to be aimed – right at the heart of the big 4 labels.

    Otherwise, you only look a member of the witless Germanic tribes who basically kept on stealing defeat from the jaws of victory every time Spartacus had conquered a vast Roman army on the field. Stop arguing for the sake of arguing because when arguing is mere squablling, it does not make you sound more intelligent.

    Gawd, if only some bloggers dedicated as much time and energy to rail against the music label CEOs as they’ve spent trying to bring Jobs down because of the options backdating….

    Like

  40. Robert, you are trying just to hard devil’s advocate here. You’re acting like that annoying dorky kid in high school who has to challenge everything a teacher says in class, preventing the whole class from moving forward. There are times to express criticism and dissent, but this is one time where the snarkiness and cynicism is just plain tiring.

    Come on, be honest – do you really think Steve Jobs could have proposed a DRM-free solution before he sold 100 million iPods and 2 billion songs? You really think even Bill Gates could have talked the record industry into releasing DRM-free music 5 years ago? And if so, why has Microsoft been spending more and more resources developing ever convoluted DRM schemes that allow things like 3 day/3 play timebombs, download-to-device-but-no-burn-to-CD, or exploding music rentals?

    Thankfully, Steve Jobs is a better businessman than you. I’m trying not to be too harsh on you, but please, is it so hard to see that when dealing with the record companies, he has always played from a position of strength? Even flat pricing for songs is something that burns up music company CEOs to no end, but guess what? When that initial iTunes licensing contract was up, iTunes was still the only successful online music store out there, which allowed Jobs to force the labels to re-up on $0.99 per song.

    The point is, Jobs could not be advocating DRM-free music until today. iTunes is clearly too important for the music industry to ignore or resist, because if they pulled their catalog, the music business would be in a freefall because the only thing that kept it healthy was iTunes’ growth.

    So instead of trying to cut Jobs down just because you apparently don’t like his modus operandi, why don’t you recognize that this is an opportunity to direct the pressure where it deserves to be aimed – right at the heart of the big 4 labels.

    Otherwise, you only look a member of the witless Germanic tribes who basically kept on stealing defeat from the jaws of victory every time Spartacus had conquered a vast Roman army on the field. Stop arguing for the sake of arguing because when arguing is mere squablling, it does not make you sound more intelligent.

    Gawd, if only some bloggers dedicated as much time and energy to rail against the music label CEOs as they’ve spent trying to bring Jobs down because of the options backdating….

    Like

  41. Jobs is leading. Get it?

    First, he gets the Industry to allow people to download music and gets the industry to allow use on several machines as well as unlimited iPods. Nothing like it at the time. And first, it only happened with Mac users (since there are so few of them….uhhhh). Then it opens up to Windows users and bam, all goes nuts.

    Now, after selling craploads of iPods and music from the store, it is pretty easy to see that DRM does absolutely nothing to stop people from pirating or downloading their own CD’s onto MP3 players. Plus, Europe is having a COW over DRM.

    Jobs has the muscle and public opinion (popularity) to lead this issue. MS would never do something like this. Apple is about the consumer and trusting the consumer. That is how he struck the deal in the first place.

    Scoble, you really surprise me on this one.

    Like

  42. Jobs is leading. Get it?

    First, he gets the Industry to allow people to download music and gets the industry to allow use on several machines as well as unlimited iPods. Nothing like it at the time. And first, it only happened with Mac users (since there are so few of them….uhhhh). Then it opens up to Windows users and bam, all goes nuts.

    Now, after selling craploads of iPods and music from the store, it is pretty easy to see that DRM does absolutely nothing to stop people from pirating or downloading their own CD’s onto MP3 players. Plus, Europe is having a COW over DRM.

    Jobs has the muscle and public opinion (popularity) to lead this issue. MS would never do something like this. Apple is about the consumer and trusting the consumer. That is how he struck the deal in the first place.

    Scoble, you really surprise me on this one.

    Like

  43. If there is anything Machavellian in the open letter is that a DRM-free iTunes Store would effectively kill the whole music subscription business.

    I mean, if you’re paying $15 to subscribe to Zune music or Napster or whatever, that’s $180 a year. That’s 180 songs you can buy DRM-free on the iTunes Store, songs that you could freely move around and even play on your Zune (if you’re using Windows). After 10 years, that’s at least 1800 songs that you can keep for the rest of your life or pass on to your kin. Suddenly, the music subscription makes even less sense.

    And guess what, Robert? People will still keep buying iPods even if the iTunes Store goes completely DRM-free, which would crush this silly idea that “iTunes lock-in” is what is responsible for the iPod’s success.

    Like

  44. If there is anything Machavellian in the open letter is that a DRM-free iTunes Store would effectively kill the whole music subscription business.

    I mean, if you’re paying $15 to subscribe to Zune music or Napster or whatever, that’s $180 a year. That’s 180 songs you can buy DRM-free on the iTunes Store, songs that you could freely move around and even play on your Zune (if you’re using Windows). After 10 years, that’s at least 1800 songs that you can keep for the rest of your life or pass on to your kin. Suddenly, the music subscription makes even less sense.

    And guess what, Robert? People will still keep buying iPods even if the iTunes Store goes completely DRM-free, which would crush this silly idea that “iTunes lock-in” is what is responsible for the iPod’s success.

    Like

  45. >>Larry: You have to admit you don’t have this same passion re your old employer, at the most you hit them with a shadow of the negativity that you do Apple.

    In the past year my family has spent more than $10,000 on Apple products. How much in Microsoft products? Probably about $1,000.

    So, if you notice that there’s passion it’s cause that’s where the action is. Apple is building more interesting products for consumers lately.

    Excuse me for having an opinion on his Godliness.

    Like

  46. >>Larry: You have to admit you don’t have this same passion re your old employer, at the most you hit them with a shadow of the negativity that you do Apple.

    In the past year my family has spent more than $10,000 on Apple products. How much in Microsoft products? Probably about $1,000.

    So, if you notice that there’s passion it’s cause that’s where the action is. Apple is building more interesting products for consumers lately.

    Excuse me for having an opinion on his Godliness.

    Like

  47. Robert,

    IMHO, Your screed here is largely without merit. I won’t rehash the arguments well made above. (Though there would be some value to restating them without the ugly invective and personal insults that some readers enjoy throwing your way. Maybe incivility is an inevitable part of naked conversations.)

    You want to get to his Godliness? Don’t talk about his devices, his software, or his store. Talk about his movies. He’s placed the ball in the court of the music companies, asking them to step up and give him permission to drop DRM.

    OK, then let him set an example by selling Pixar films without DRM. Oh, wait. He sold Pixar to Disney. I guess he doesn’t control them anymore. Drat!

    Like

  48. Robert,

    IMHO, Your screed here is largely without merit. I won’t rehash the arguments well made above. (Though there would be some value to restating them without the ugly invective and personal insults that some readers enjoy throwing your way. Maybe incivility is an inevitable part of naked conversations.)

    You want to get to his Godliness? Don’t talk about his devices, his software, or his store. Talk about his movies. He’s placed the ball in the court of the music companies, asking them to step up and give him permission to drop DRM.

    OK, then let him set an example by selling Pixar films without DRM. Oh, wait. He sold Pixar to Disney. I guess he doesn’t control them anymore. Drat!

    Like

  49. A link blog? This is not a link blog. You republish full content of others.

    Sometimes, by making so much effort to redefine words, I wonder if you are still a Microsoft employee.

    Let me give a hint if you want to appear as a cool guy : open link blog.

    Sexy isn’t it? πŸ˜‰

    Like

  50. A link blog? This is not a link blog. You republish full content of others.

    Sometimes, by making so much effort to redefine words, I wonder if you are still a Microsoft employee.

    Let me give a hint if you want to appear as a cool guy : open link blog.

    Sexy isn’t it? πŸ˜‰

    Like

  51. Also, for the record, I have seen pointed out in places that Apple faces troubles in Europe for their “lock-in” strategy.

    That can’t be from France (controversial DADVSI law, transposition of the EUCD directive), where a Microsoft lobbyist “Michel Thiolliere”, member of the senate, made sure that Apple is not required to open up by adding amendments to said law.

    Those guys…

    Like

  52. Also, for the record, I have seen pointed out in places that Apple faces troubles in Europe for their “lock-in” strategy.

    That can’t be from France (controversial DADVSI law, transposition of the EUCD directive), where a Microsoft lobbyist “Michel Thiolliere”, member of the senate, made sure that Apple is not required to open up by adding amendments to said law.

    Those guys…

    Like

  53. Like Michael Markman – and thanks for raising this – I can’t believe some of the personal attacks aimed at Scoble. If you’ve got an argument, it will have more intellectual force if you leave out the bile, either that or be exposed as a feebleminded knee-jerk word jumble.

    I don’t agree with Robert on lots of things, but I’m prepared to bet that if we met, he’d be a perfectly civil, normal human. I won’t say anything here I’m not prepared to say to his face. Hmmm – I reckon there are one or two here who would and wouldn’t care. Tortured souls.

    Maybe I’m just farting in the wind, or is it compulsory now to go out of your way to insult anyone with whom you disagree, and thus expose yourself as the hapless victim of a brain cell time-share scam? Oh crap, did I just insult anyone?

    Like

  54. Like Michael Markman – and thanks for raising this – I can’t believe some of the personal attacks aimed at Scoble. If you’ve got an argument, it will have more intellectual force if you leave out the bile, either that or be exposed as a feebleminded knee-jerk word jumble.

    I don’t agree with Robert on lots of things, but I’m prepared to bet that if we met, he’d be a perfectly civil, normal human. I won’t say anything here I’m not prepared to say to his face. Hmmm – I reckon there are one or two here who would and wouldn’t care. Tortured souls.

    Maybe I’m just farting in the wind, or is it compulsory now to go out of your way to insult anyone with whom you disagree, and thus expose yourself as the hapless victim of a brain cell time-share scam? Oh crap, did I just insult anyone?

    Like

  55. Pingback: ..
  56. […]You want to get to his Godliness? Don’t talk about his devices, his software, or his store. Talk about his movies. He’s placed the ball in the court of the music companies, asking them to step up and give him permission to drop DRM.

    OK, then let him set an example by selling Pixar films without DRM. Oh, wait. He sold Pixar to Disney. I guess he doesn’t control them anymore. Drat![…]

    I agree, but Steve does not quite have the leverage required to bring this about, regardless of his shareholding in Disney. Yes he is “one of the club” now, but the movie industry is well aware of the situation regarding music and does not wish to be painted into the same corner, hence the reason why only 2 studios have signed up so far. Steve’s power (and the content producer’s quandry) comes from the fact that he is seen in business as someone who was able to propel the online music business model from fag-packet to ubiquity, albeit with the largest benefit inuring to Apple.

    This is crucial for the DRM point and it makes the timing of his statement somewhat puzzling, regardless of its merits. How could he possibly convince the studios about stripping away DRM when there is effectively no meaningful sales data?

    As an aside, I agree that the one thing that needs to be stripped away right now is the abuse and invective being poured on Robert.

    Like

  57. […]You want to get to his Godliness? Don’t talk about his devices, his software, or his store. Talk about his movies. He’s placed the ball in the court of the music companies, asking them to step up and give him permission to drop DRM.

    OK, then let him set an example by selling Pixar films without DRM. Oh, wait. He sold Pixar to Disney. I guess he doesn’t control them anymore. Drat![…]

    I agree, but Steve does not quite have the leverage required to bring this about, regardless of his shareholding in Disney. Yes he is “one of the club” now, but the movie industry is well aware of the situation regarding music and does not wish to be painted into the same corner, hence the reason why only 2 studios have signed up so far. Steve’s power (and the content producer’s quandry) comes from the fact that he is seen in business as someone who was able to propel the online music business model from fag-packet to ubiquity, albeit with the largest benefit inuring to Apple.

    This is crucial for the DRM point and it makes the timing of his statement somewhat puzzling, regardless of its merits. How could he possibly convince the studios about stripping away DRM when there is effectively no meaningful sales data?

    As an aside, I agree that the one thing that needs to be stripped away right now is the abuse and invective being poured on Robert.

    Like

  58. On the DRM debate itself, since DRM is not meant to stop piracy by any stretch, I keep wondering about why there is so much “DRM vs piracy” rants out there.

    DRM was designed to create new business models which restrict what a consumer can do with a digital file or stream.

    In a world where everyone routinely copies files or streams over across devices, it’s just an artifical limitation. It’s anti-consumer by design.

    That’s why it’s flawed. Not because Steve Jobs says blablabla, or Microsoft says blablabla, or Hollywood says blablabla or the record labels say blablabla.

    And I am surprised to see that not so many people out there don’t seem to see that the Windows Genuine Advantage check is in fact DRM as much as WindowsMedia DRM. One of its goals is to limit virtual machine scenarios as much as possible, because as one starts seeing the benefit of it, less copies of Windows are sold.

    It’s no surprise that the Windows Genuine Advantage check is also anti-consumer by design.

    Like

  59. On the DRM debate itself, since DRM is not meant to stop piracy by any stretch, I keep wondering about why there is so much “DRM vs piracy” rants out there.

    DRM was designed to create new business models which restrict what a consumer can do with a digital file or stream.

    In a world where everyone routinely copies files or streams over across devices, it’s just an artifical limitation. It’s anti-consumer by design.

    That’s why it’s flawed. Not because Steve Jobs says blablabla, or Microsoft says blablabla, or Hollywood says blablabla or the record labels say blablabla.

    And I am surprised to see that not so many people out there don’t seem to see that the Windows Genuine Advantage check is in fact DRM as much as WindowsMedia DRM. One of its goals is to limit virtual machine scenarios as much as possible, because as one starts seeing the benefit of it, less copies of Windows are sold.

    It’s no surprise that the Windows Genuine Advantage check is also anti-consumer by design.

    Like

  60. Robert, with regard to the kind comments by Gerald Buckley, they could apply to your blog as well. Unfortunately we seem to be getting more poop and less gems these days.

    To echo what many readers have already said, jobs doesn’t care about .99 a song. He cares about itunes. iTunes is Apple’s killer app and their beachhead in the Windows world. You need itunes to do just about anything with the ipod and soon the iphone.

    Like

  61. Robert, with regard to the kind comments by Gerald Buckley, they could apply to your blog as well. Unfortunately we seem to be getting more poop and less gems these days.

    To echo what many readers have already said, jobs doesn’t care about .99 a song. He cares about itunes. iTunes is Apple’s killer app and their beachhead in the Windows world. You need itunes to do just about anything with the ipod and soon the iphone.

    Like

  62. Wow πŸ™‚ I was the first one to post πŸ™‚ Even tough Robert and I were both on CET, in the middle of the night πŸ˜‰ While I was doing ASP.NET with VS.NET on my Mac Pro (under Mac OS X…). Hey Robert NeXt time we meet what about a Scoble Show about Pomcast ? πŸ™‚ Or do I have to drop a mail @hotmail ? πŸ™‚

    Like

  63. Wow πŸ™‚ I was the first one to post πŸ™‚ Even tough Robert and I were both on CET, in the middle of the night πŸ˜‰ While I was doing ASP.NET with VS.NET on my Mac Pro (under Mac OS X…). Hey Robert NeXt time we meet what about a Scoble Show about Pomcast ? πŸ™‚ Or do I have to drop a mail @hotmail ? πŸ™‚

    Like

  64. BTW Robert: “MS could have done better than Apple”. When is the last time it happened ? πŸ˜‰ Don’t get me wrong : I respect MS and billg, but if you at the History (and at Vista), you realize MS is mostly copy pasting… Wow wow wow… Flames are coming πŸ˜‰

    ps to the one flaming me : Listen to my Podcast πŸ˜‰ I’m not an Apple Extremist πŸ˜‰ I get flamed by Apple fellows for being too nice with MS πŸ˜‰

    Like

  65. BTW Robert: “MS could have done better than Apple”. When is the last time it happened ? πŸ˜‰ Don’t get me wrong : I respect MS and billg, but if you at the History (and at Vista), you realize MS is mostly copy pasting… Wow wow wow… Flames are coming πŸ˜‰

    ps to the one flaming me : Listen to my Podcast πŸ˜‰ I’m not an Apple Extremist πŸ˜‰ I get flamed by Apple fellows for being too nice with MS πŸ˜‰

    Like

  66. OK, then let him set an example by selling Pixar films without DRM. Oh, wait. He sold Pixar to Disney. I guess he doesn’t control them anymore. Drat!

    Pixar never directly sold a film in its life. They made them. Disney was the distributor. Disney made that decision, not Pixar.

    Excuse me for having an opinion on his Godliness.

    Oh lord, Robert’s having Man-PMS. Someone get him a midol and some chocolate.

    Like Michael Markman – and thanks for raising this – I can’t believe some of the personal attacks aimed at Scoble. If you’ve got an argument, it will have more intellectual force if you leave out the bile, either that or be exposed as a feebleminded knee-jerk word jumble.

    I don’t agree with Robert on lots of things, but I’m prepared to bet that if we met, he’d be a perfectly civil, normal human. I won’t say anything here I’m not prepared to say to his face. Hmmm – I reckon there are one or two here who would and wouldn’t care. Tortured souls.

    You’re forgetting an important point: Robert wants this reaction. He is quite deliberate in his regular fomenting of extreme reaction. It gets him what his career is based on:

    attention

    He has to pull this PMSy crap so that other people write about it, and get his link counts up to where they need to be.

    What’s the easiest way to do this? Well, we already know, as does Robert. So, on a regular basis, he Dvoraks the readers of his blog with some outrageous bullshit post, and his hit counts and more importantly, link counts go up. He used the perfect word in the title of this post…he’s a linkbaiter. He just happens to do it in the most incendiary way possible.

    So, since he’s fishing for furor, I go with the advice a friend of mine gave me:

    It’s my job to feed people’s addictions for my own amusement.

    it’s fun too!

    Like

  67. OK, then let him set an example by selling Pixar films without DRM. Oh, wait. He sold Pixar to Disney. I guess he doesn’t control them anymore. Drat!

    Pixar never directly sold a film in its life. They made them. Disney was the distributor. Disney made that decision, not Pixar.

    Excuse me for having an opinion on his Godliness.

    Oh lord, Robert’s having Man-PMS. Someone get him a midol and some chocolate.

    Like Michael Markman – and thanks for raising this – I can’t believe some of the personal attacks aimed at Scoble. If you’ve got an argument, it will have more intellectual force if you leave out the bile, either that or be exposed as a feebleminded knee-jerk word jumble.

    I don’t agree with Robert on lots of things, but I’m prepared to bet that if we met, he’d be a perfectly civil, normal human. I won’t say anything here I’m not prepared to say to his face. Hmmm – I reckon there are one or two here who would and wouldn’t care. Tortured souls.

    You’re forgetting an important point: Robert wants this reaction. He is quite deliberate in his regular fomenting of extreme reaction. It gets him what his career is based on:

    attention

    He has to pull this PMSy crap so that other people write about it, and get his link counts up to where they need to be.

    What’s the easiest way to do this? Well, we already know, as does Robert. So, on a regular basis, he Dvoraks the readers of his blog with some outrageous bullshit post, and his hit counts and more importantly, link counts go up. He used the perfect word in the title of this post…he’s a linkbaiter. He just happens to do it in the most incendiary way possible.

    So, since he’s fishing for furor, I go with the advice a friend of mine gave me:

    It’s my job to feed people’s addictions for my own amusement.

    it’s fun too!

    Like

  68. “I can’t believe some of the personal attacks aimed at Scoble”

    Considering that 99% of his blogpost was a personal attack against Jobs, it seems rather fitting. I’ve never seen a grown man act like such a little bitch until now.

    Like

  69. “I can’t believe some of the personal attacks aimed at Scoble”

    Considering that 99% of his blogpost was a personal attack against Jobs, it seems rather fitting. I’ve never seen a grown man act like such a little bitch until now.

    Like

  70. “Buy a record company. Who cares what their deal was with Apple music. ”

    There is some speculation that, since this has now been settled (this week) that that is exactly what they will do.

    Like

  71. “Buy a record company. Who cares what their deal was with Apple music. ”

    There is some speculation that, since this has now been settled (this week) that that is exactly what they will do.

    Like

  72. Hmm. Pretty nasty stuff here. I’ll just mildly add that I don’t see what the complaints about SJ’s letter are about. Apple doesn’t control the rights to the music is sells, the record companies do. Same with the Zune music store, and it has even MORE restrictions. Furthermore, MS is paying a BRIBE to Universal for every Zune it sells in order to get the muisc at all! So, it is pretty clear that it is the “they still don’t get it” record companies that are the cause of the problem.

    The European complaints about ITMS are ridiculous, blaming Apple for a problem that they cannot control. Furthermore, the ITMS music is portable….burn it to a CD and do with it what you will.

    I think Apple just said that they are willing to compete the iPod against all other music players in the world once the record companies wake up to reality in the 21sth century. I’d like to see MS come out with a similar statement for Zune!

    Like

  73. Hmm. Pretty nasty stuff here. I’ll just mildly add that I don’t see what the complaints about SJ’s letter are about. Apple doesn’t control the rights to the music is sells, the record companies do. Same with the Zune music store, and it has even MORE restrictions. Furthermore, MS is paying a BRIBE to Universal for every Zune it sells in order to get the muisc at all! So, it is pretty clear that it is the “they still don’t get it” record companies that are the cause of the problem.

    The European complaints about ITMS are ridiculous, blaming Apple for a problem that they cannot control. Furthermore, the ITMS music is portable….burn it to a CD and do with it what you will.

    I think Apple just said that they are willing to compete the iPod against all other music players in the world once the record companies wake up to reality in the 21sth century. I’d like to see MS come out with a similar statement for Zune!

    Like

  74. Steve Jobs sells DRM even on music that music companies don’t require DRM on. This proves that Steve jobs is just trying to put himself in a position where he can tell himself that he had something to do with the end of DRM. It’s a well known fact that the record companies are all discussing removing DRM. Steve probably knows more about this, and he’s making a power play here just to make it seem like he had something to do with it.

    I can see Steve Jobs sitting with Al Gore in a few years. Al says, you know Steve, I did some critical research, which is responsible for the internet, without which your great safari browser, would just be browsing the local hard drive!! I know Al, Steve says, but I did put an end to that nasty DRM! Yeah, you are great Steve, Al says. Steve says, I know Al, we both are great people!.

    Like

  75. Steve Jobs sells DRM even on music that music companies don’t require DRM on. This proves that Steve jobs is just trying to put himself in a position where he can tell himself that he had something to do with the end of DRM. It’s a well known fact that the record companies are all discussing removing DRM. Steve probably knows more about this, and he’s making a power play here just to make it seem like he had something to do with it.

    I can see Steve Jobs sitting with Al Gore in a few years. Al says, you know Steve, I did some critical research, which is responsible for the internet, without which your great safari browser, would just be browsing the local hard drive!! I know Al, Steve says, but I did put an end to that nasty DRM! Yeah, you are great Steve, Al says. Steve says, I know Al, we both are great people!.

    Like

  76. “Apple doesn’t control the rights to the music is sells, the record companies do. Same with the Zune music store, and it has even MORE restrictions. Furthermore, MS is paying a BRIBE to Universal for every Zune it sells in order to get the muisc at all!”

    Yeah, I must’ve missed Scoble’s scathing retort to that DRM clusterfuck…

    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=robert+scoble+Zune

    Ah, the results speak for themselves. If that preening Mac vs. PC retard-o-fest video didn’t prove you’re still a technically incompetent Microsoft fanboy, this does.

    Scoble’s Modus Operandi:

    1. Damn [insert company he works for or used to work for] with some minor quibbles.

    2. Bask in an artificial impartiality.

    3. Shit all over the nearest competitor like a rabid dog with diarrhea.

    4. ???

    5. Profit!

    Like

  77. “Apple doesn’t control the rights to the music is sells, the record companies do. Same with the Zune music store, and it has even MORE restrictions. Furthermore, MS is paying a BRIBE to Universal for every Zune it sells in order to get the muisc at all!”

    Yeah, I must’ve missed Scoble’s scathing retort to that DRM clusterfuck…

    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=robert+scoble+Zune

    Ah, the results speak for themselves. If that preening Mac vs. PC retard-o-fest video didn’t prove you’re still a technically incompetent Microsoft fanboy, this does.

    Scoble’s Modus Operandi:

    1. Damn [insert company he works for or used to work for] with some minor quibbles.

    2. Bask in an artificial impartiality.

    3. Shit all over the nearest competitor like a rabid dog with diarrhea.

    4. ???

    5. Profit!

    Like

  78. I’m not attacking you by calling you an ass, I’m calling it like I see it. I have nothing against you. If I did, I wouldn’t read your blog. That’s simple.

    Here’s how I see it: Someone you don’t like to agree with (for whatever reasons) publicly speaks about something you agree with, benefitting your stance. All you can say is that he’s being an opportunist. But that defies logic.

    How is DRM beneficial to a technology company? It’s not if you’re Apple because it’s that much more work for you to support it. Also, it limits your market: if someone has a Zune, they can’t buy songs from iTunes, and if someone has a huge library of PlaysForSure, they might not buy an iPod (where the money is) because they’d have a bunch of useless music they couldn’t use on it. Of course they couldn’t buy a Zune either, but that’s for another time.

    Apple has never needed or liked DRM. The music industry required it. I address this on my own blog…

    But that doesn’t prevent everyone who doesn’t like Apple from spreading FUD about their stance on DRM. Steve clarifies, and it’s opportunism. But, wait, even if it were opportunism, isn’t that what a for-profit company is supposed to do? Find opportunities in the market? But what’s really being said here is “our product is best, the market is backing us up, and we don’t need artificial barriers to restrict competition. Bring it on.”

    My point to my first reply, and this reply is simply, “Don’t come from the John C. Dvorak and Rob Enderle school of FUD and yellow journalism. Don’t post stuff that’s blatantly wrong just to get hits on your blog and stir up commotion.”

    Like

  79. I’m not attacking you by calling you an ass, I’m calling it like I see it. I have nothing against you. If I did, I wouldn’t read your blog. That’s simple.

    Here’s how I see it: Someone you don’t like to agree with (for whatever reasons) publicly speaks about something you agree with, benefitting your stance. All you can say is that he’s being an opportunist. But that defies logic.

    How is DRM beneficial to a technology company? It’s not if you’re Apple because it’s that much more work for you to support it. Also, it limits your market: if someone has a Zune, they can’t buy songs from iTunes, and if someone has a huge library of PlaysForSure, they might not buy an iPod (where the money is) because they’d have a bunch of useless music they couldn’t use on it. Of course they couldn’t buy a Zune either, but that’s for another time.

    Apple has never needed or liked DRM. The music industry required it. I address this on my own blog…

    But that doesn’t prevent everyone who doesn’t like Apple from spreading FUD about their stance on DRM. Steve clarifies, and it’s opportunism. But, wait, even if it were opportunism, isn’t that what a for-profit company is supposed to do? Find opportunities in the market? But what’s really being said here is “our product is best, the market is backing us up, and we don’t need artificial barriers to restrict competition. Bring it on.”

    My point to my first reply, and this reply is simply, “Don’t come from the John C. Dvorak and Rob Enderle school of FUD and yellow journalism. Don’t post stuff that’s blatantly wrong just to get hits on your blog and stir up commotion.”

    Like

  80. I’m right there with you– what you mean when you say you “bought iPods with DRM” is that you bought the iPods so that they could all play all the crap you downloaded from iTunes.

    It was only a matter of time until Apple was forced to make this move. We’re all about sharing.

    Like

  81. I’m right there with you– what you mean when you say you “bought iPods with DRM” is that you bought the iPods so that they could all play all the crap you downloaded from iTunes.

    It was only a matter of time until Apple was forced to make this move. We’re all about sharing.

    Like

  82. “It was only a matter of time until Apple was forced to make this move.”

    Yeah, losing the money pile that is Norway would really kill the momentum that the undisputed market dominator has with its culturally-defining device.

    I guess those 2 billion iTunes downloads and the dominant market share among players really backed Jobs into the corner.

    Thanks for proving the old addage: “Girls are dumb.”

    Like

  83. “It was only a matter of time until Apple was forced to make this move.”

    Yeah, losing the money pile that is Norway would really kill the momentum that the undisputed market dominator has with its culturally-defining device.

    I guess those 2 billion iTunes downloads and the dominant market share among players really backed Jobs into the corner.

    Thanks for proving the old addage: “Girls are dumb.”

    Like

  84. […]Yeah, losing the money pile that is Norway would really kill the momentum that the undisputed market dominator has with its culturally-defining device.[…]

    How about France, Germany, Denmark and Norway? These aren’t some fly-over states inhabited by people who’ve only just discovered the combustion engine…

    And spare us the sexist rubbish.

    Like

  85. […]Yeah, losing the money pile that is Norway would really kill the momentum that the undisputed market dominator has with its culturally-defining device.[…]

    How about France, Germany, Denmark and Norway? These aren’t some fly-over states inhabited by people who’ve only just discovered the combustion engine…

    And spare us the sexist rubbish.

    Like

  86. “How about France, Germany, Denmark and Norway?”

    I think the UK sells twice as many ‘tunes as all those countries combined.

    Yawn.

    “And spare us the sexist rubbish.”

    Spare me the tech chicks saying unbelievably stupid things.

    Like

  87. “How about France, Germany, Denmark and Norway?”

    I think the UK sells twice as many ‘tunes as all those countries combined.

    Yawn.

    “And spare us the sexist rubbish.”

    Spare me the tech chicks saying unbelievably stupid things.

    Like

  88. Steve Jobs sells DRM even on music that music companies don’t require DRM on. This proves that Steve jobs is just trying to put himself in a position where he can tell himself that he had something to do with the end of DRM. It’s a well known fact that the record companies are all discussing removing DRM. Steve probably knows more about this, and he’s making a power play here just to make it seem like he had something to do with it.

    What the music companies sell elsewhere has no bearing on what they license to Apple for iTunes.

    Hell, you can’t even get ONE license from Sony or Universal for all countries. You have to do them separately. Lame.

    Like

  89. Steve Jobs sells DRM even on music that music companies don’t require DRM on. This proves that Steve jobs is just trying to put himself in a position where he can tell himself that he had something to do with the end of DRM. It’s a well known fact that the record companies are all discussing removing DRM. Steve probably knows more about this, and he’s making a power play here just to make it seem like he had something to do with it.

    What the music companies sell elsewhere has no bearing on what they license to Apple for iTunes.

    Hell, you can’t even get ONE license from Sony or Universal for all countries. You have to do them separately. Lame.

    Like

  90. Mike, you know why i hate it when people get all emotional about something and then back down?

    because at that point, it’s like they lost their passion, they were afraid of raising a stink, and they get boring.

    When Mike Bartosh died, I used a quote from Mel Brooks in the post I did on it, because it described him:

    ”Look, I don’t want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive you’ve got to flap your arms and legs, you’ve got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at [the] very least think noisy and colorfully, or you’re not alive.”

    if you think something’s stupid say so. Don’t tiptoe around it, afraid to hurt a feeling. Speak boldly and bluntly. If you find out you’re wrong, accept that gracefully, but never give into the people who counsel passivity.

    If someone can’t handle that, then instead of you apologizing and shoring up their self-esteem, maybe they need to question why they need others to feel good about themselves. So someone calls you an asshole.

    So what?

    I mean it.

    So

    What.

    Maybe you were. Maybe you didn’t mean to be, but you were. What, you’re supposed to run and hide, or stop being who you are because someone didn’t like it? You’re supposed to judge yourself on what random people you don’t know think? [waves dismissively] pfeh. Doesn’t make you a bad person, it just makes you human. Everyone’s an asshole throughout the day. It’s unavoidable.

    In many ways, being an asshole is how you stand up for yourself. Disagreeing is an inherently offensive thing to do. You’re telling someone “I think you’re wrong.” It’s your inner asshole that gives you the strength to do that, to ford your own course when everyone else says “No, do it OUR way or you suck”.

    Bah. If you cannot say what you feel, if you cannot say what you mean, then why bother speaking at all.

    Like

  91. Mike, you know why i hate it when people get all emotional about something and then back down?

    because at that point, it’s like they lost their passion, they were afraid of raising a stink, and they get boring.

    When Mike Bartosh died, I used a quote from Mel Brooks in the post I did on it, because it described him:

    ”Look, I don’t want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive you’ve got to flap your arms and legs, you’ve got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at [the] very least think noisy and colorfully, or you’re not alive.”

    if you think something’s stupid say so. Don’t tiptoe around it, afraid to hurt a feeling. Speak boldly and bluntly. If you find out you’re wrong, accept that gracefully, but never give into the people who counsel passivity.

    If someone can’t handle that, then instead of you apologizing and shoring up their self-esteem, maybe they need to question why they need others to feel good about themselves. So someone calls you an asshole.

    So what?

    I mean it.

    So

    What.

    Maybe you were. Maybe you didn’t mean to be, but you were. What, you’re supposed to run and hide, or stop being who you are because someone didn’t like it? You’re supposed to judge yourself on what random people you don’t know think? [waves dismissively] pfeh. Doesn’t make you a bad person, it just makes you human. Everyone’s an asshole throughout the day. It’s unavoidable.

    In many ways, being an asshole is how you stand up for yourself. Disagreeing is an inherently offensive thing to do. You’re telling someone “I think you’re wrong.” It’s your inner asshole that gives you the strength to do that, to ford your own course when everyone else says “No, do it OUR way or you suck”.

    Bah. If you cannot say what you feel, if you cannot say what you mean, then why bother speaking at all.

    Like

  92. Schlammschlacht – that is the german word for this sort of legal battle.

    http://www.out-law.com/page-7689

    They say their products are declared illegal in Norway. The concept they are dicussing is “contract law”. They violate the basics of contract law. Just for the record, I listen to no musik anymore. This is much better to watch and relax πŸ™‚

    Just a joke – what is a stock market bubble?

    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=DJI&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

    Like

  93. Schlammschlacht – that is the german word for this sort of legal battle.

    http://www.out-law.com/page-7689

    They say their products are declared illegal in Norway. The concept they are dicussing is “contract law”. They violate the basics of contract law. Just for the record, I listen to no musik anymore. This is much better to watch and relax πŸ™‚

    Just a joke – what is a stock market bubble?

    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=DJI&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

    Like

  94. Stefane is absolutely right, and it’s a point almost all of you are missing: DRM isn’t about piracy, it’s about restricting fair use. It’s about limiting customers, revoking rights guaranteed by law in order to create new “revenue streams.” It’s about enforcing the bullshit end-user licenses we agree to whenever purchasing a copy of an album, movie, software, etc. It’s about being anti-consumer. And to succeed, it will have to balance the annoyance with benefits so it can achieve wide adoption.

    The DVD is a good example. How annoying is it that you can’t make a backup of a tiny plastic disc prone to scratches without violating the DMCA? Or in a non-trivial manner? How many dead DVDs do you own, scratched to oblivion–or just enough that the movie stops halfway through? I own VHS cassettes from the 80s that still play perfectly today; a good number of the DVDs I purchased in the 90s are gone, and can’t be copied on new VHS VCRs.

    The Zune is also classic. An hypothetical unrestricted MP3 that you squirt–maybe you own it, maybe you wrote and recorded the song yourself–gets a bullshit DRM layer that causes it to explode. DRM restricting your legitimate rights.

    The record companies know exactly what they’re doing. And Steve Jobs is trying to change the conversation and make it about the customer again. That’s something Apple is very good at.

    Like

  95. Stefane is absolutely right, and it’s a point almost all of you are missing: DRM isn’t about piracy, it’s about restricting fair use. It’s about limiting customers, revoking rights guaranteed by law in order to create new “revenue streams.” It’s about enforcing the bullshit end-user licenses we agree to whenever purchasing a copy of an album, movie, software, etc. It’s about being anti-consumer. And to succeed, it will have to balance the annoyance with benefits so it can achieve wide adoption.

    The DVD is a good example. How annoying is it that you can’t make a backup of a tiny plastic disc prone to scratches without violating the DMCA? Or in a non-trivial manner? How many dead DVDs do you own, scratched to oblivion–or just enough that the movie stops halfway through? I own VHS cassettes from the 80s that still play perfectly today; a good number of the DVDs I purchased in the 90s are gone, and can’t be copied on new VHS VCRs.

    The Zune is also classic. An hypothetical unrestricted MP3 that you squirt–maybe you own it, maybe you wrote and recorded the song yourself–gets a bullshit DRM layer that causes it to explode. DRM restricting your legitimate rights.

    The record companies know exactly what they’re doing. And Steve Jobs is trying to change the conversation and make it about the customer again. That’s something Apple is very good at.

    Like

  96. Hmm. You’ve spent too much time in Europe. With the wrong people, obviously. How else can you take such a stance against common sense?

    Two weeks before Vista was launched, most people would have said that DRM was bad; two days after Vista launched and we have Vista inspired DRM scandals left right and centre – FAR worse than anything Apple has had anything to do with.

    Yet when someone comes along and rocks the Microsoft boat by saying “The Emperor has no clothes” and castigates the content providers for their DRM restrictions, you suddenly change position.

    Are you now saying that “DRM is good, after all, Microsoft has it, so it must be, right? I used to work there!”

    Like

  97. Hmm. You’ve spent too much time in Europe. With the wrong people, obviously. How else can you take such a stance against common sense?

    Two weeks before Vista was launched, most people would have said that DRM was bad; two days after Vista launched and we have Vista inspired DRM scandals left right and centre – FAR worse than anything Apple has had anything to do with.

    Yet when someone comes along and rocks the Microsoft boat by saying “The Emperor has no clothes” and castigates the content providers for their DRM restrictions, you suddenly change position.

    Are you now saying that “DRM is good, after all, Microsoft has it, so it must be, right? I used to work there!”

    Like

  98. fifthdecade: where have I said above that DRM is good? I think it’s pretty clear that I agree with Steve Jobs but just am questioning his motivation for doing this now.

    Like

  99. fifthdecade: where have I said above that DRM is good? I think it’s pretty clear that I agree with Steve Jobs but just am questioning his motivation for doing this now.

    Like

  100. Robert — do you and Thurrott call each other and collectively decide when to say stupid BS about Apple? Is that part of keeping your MS/Windows street cred intact? What gives?

    You’re better than this Robert. Way better. I expect this sort of shit from Thurrott, but not you.

    Like

  101. Robert — do you and Thurrott call each other and collectively decide when to say stupid BS about Apple? Is that part of keeping your MS/Windows street cred intact? What gives?

    You’re better than this Robert. Way better. I expect this sort of shit from Thurrott, but not you.

    Like

  102. No Jeff, he really isn’t.

    Note how, while he’s all over everything Apple, he avoids tons of MS silliness. Why?

    Not because he’s a shill, but because Apple gets him hits and links in FAR greater numbers than MS.

    Scoble: He’s the new Dvorak

    At least he’s not Enderle, that would require lithium and a straightjacket, ’cause that man is KAH-RAAAYYY-ZEE!

    Like

  103. No Jeff, he really isn’t.

    Note how, while he’s all over everything Apple, he avoids tons of MS silliness. Why?

    Not because he’s a shill, but because Apple gets him hits and links in FAR greater numbers than MS.

    Scoble: He’s the new Dvorak

    At least he’s not Enderle, that would require lithium and a straightjacket, ’cause that man is KAH-RAAAYYY-ZEE!

    Like

  104. I haven’t posted because Scoble was late to the party, and I knew John C. would take care of it, but here are two points:

    1. Scoble bitches about Apple and Jobs not blogging for more than 2 years, and when Steve does a direct communication with the web audience, he is labeled a “linkbaiter.”

    (This alone, on multiple levels, disqualifies Scoble and anyone who agrees with him from using anything close to a hypocrisy argument.)

    2. The iTS has surpassed Amazon on the list of the largest music distributors. People do not prefer to buy non-DRMed CDs from Amazon over the iTS anymore. Please check for facts if you want to make such silly arguments. WalMart, yes. Target, yes. Amazon, no.

    Like

  105. I haven’t posted because Scoble was late to the party, and I knew John C. would take care of it, but here are two points:

    1. Scoble bitches about Apple and Jobs not blogging for more than 2 years, and when Steve does a direct communication with the web audience, he is labeled a “linkbaiter.”

    (This alone, on multiple levels, disqualifies Scoble and anyone who agrees with him from using anything close to a hypocrisy argument.)

    2. The iTS has surpassed Amazon on the list of the largest music distributors. People do not prefer to buy non-DRMed CDs from Amazon over the iTS anymore. Please check for facts if you want to make such silly arguments. WalMart, yes. Target, yes. Amazon, no.

    Like

  106. He camps out here firing cheap shots in someone else’s blog. It’s always easy to find a glass half full in anyone’s arguments, but it would be better done on their own blog.

    Like

  107. He camps out here firing cheap shots in someone else’s blog. It’s always easy to find a glass half full in anyone’s arguments, but it would be better done on their own blog.

    Like

  108. Pingback: Ralston Ventures
  109. Well,

    thanx for nice post πŸ˜€ made me laugh a bit

    the answer to that is quite simple and most of us know it prefectly well – no one wants to pay extra buck if he has a chance to save some πŸ˜‰

    Hope you know what I mean..

    Best of luck to all!

    Like

  110. Well,

    thanx for nice post πŸ˜€ made me laugh a bit

    the answer to that is quite simple and most of us know it prefectly well – no one wants to pay extra buck if he has a chance to save some πŸ˜‰

    Hope you know what I mean..

    Best of luck to all!

    Like

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