The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

23 January 2007

The beat of a different DRM

I grumbled a bit about the Digital Rights Management system built into iTunes a few days ago, but I noted that this was the first time that I'd even actually noticed the darn stuff.

Which seems to mesh with this:

Apple is selling DRM content because it provides a superior experience at a reasonable premium. People are cheap, but not infinitely cheap. Yes, Apple will lose the hard core misers, but those sort of people will never spend much money on anything, no matter how compelling. The key insight of Apple is that it doesn't make sense to compromise your overall product experience to chase after that sort, as you'll never get serious cash flow out of them. Instead, Apple seems to have optimized for the average person, who will pay a decent premium for content if that premium guarantees ease of use and quality. This is the root of iTunes' success. Everything is the same affordable price, the system as a whole (iTunes + iPod) just works, and the quality is top notch. Most people would rather spend the 99¢ and be done with it than spend a hour or two searching, downloading, and testing for quality.

Needless to say, this particular approach isn't being considered over in Zunetown:

In contrast, Microsoft and its backing content providers are acting more like misers, valuing the prevention of theft more than the increasing of sales. Better to prevent one act of piracy than sell a dozen tracks. That's just not a model that will provide long term success in an information society.

This may reflect the thinking of Bill Gates, who was griping about software piracy pretty much from Day One. (Can you say "Windows Genuine Advantage"? Without laughing, I mean.)

Posted at 6:28 AM to Fileophile , PEBKAC


those sort of people will never spend much money on anything, no matter how compelling.

Nope. I was filling out my collection to the tune of 3-4 albums per month. I dropped Brother Jobs' Auxilary Music Emporium when I couldn't burn my ITMS songs for the truck MP3 player. Now I use eMusic, or I buy the CD and rip it. So it's compelled me NOT to use it, and I probably won't buy another iPod when this one breaks.

Posted by: Scott Chaffin at 8:21 AM on 23 January 2007

Mr. Chaffin:

If you're willing to buy CDs and rip them, you're not a hard core miser.

Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at 9:33 AM on 23 January 2007

If you're willing to buy CDs and rip them, you're not a hard core miser.

My wife is planning to buy me a bunch of CDs from BMG containing a whole bunch of the tunes I want -- at $1.99 a disc.

If I want three or more tracks from a given artist at 99¢ a pop from one of the download stores I'm still willing to do business with, and I can find those three or more tracks all on one CD, it's actually cheaper to take this deal.

But that's not altogether common...

Anyway, I find it a hassle to download a .WMA file, have to burn it onto a CD as an audio track, and then rip it as an .mp3, to be able to do with it as I please. That might make a ten-song CD at a regular price of, say, $9.99 a bargain by comparison.

Posted by: McGehee at 3:44 PM on 23 January 2007