Comments on: Please give Fairplay to the RIAA http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/ TheAppleBlog, published by and for the day-to-day Apple user, is a prominent source for news, reviews, walkthroughs, and real life application of all Apple products. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:36:23 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: swissreplica5 http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10726 swissreplica5 Mon, 15 Jan 2007 11:58:14 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10726 <strong>very best idea make rules time!...</strong> ... very best idea make rules time!…

…

]]> By: Mantiz http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10725 Mantiz Sun, 10 Dec 2006 16:33:08 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10725 My problem with all of this is that the music industry is the only one who treats customers with the "you are a thief and you are costing us money" attitude. The same scenario with a different product would be having to pay to enter the store for the stealing you WILL do and getting frisked on the way out. I understand the need to protect copyright. But treating every customer as a thief is not the solution. I loved this quote: “It’s not particularly healthy for any one company to have such a dominant share.” But it's ok for an organization created by the industry to make all the rules and control all of the big stores? Nice! My problem with all of this is that the music industry is the only one who treats customers with the “you are a thief and you are costing us money” attitude.
The same scenario with a different product would be having to pay to enter the store for the stealing you WILL do and getting frisked on the way out.

I understand the need to protect copyright. But treating every customer as a thief is not the solution.

I loved this quote:
“It’s not particularly healthy for any one company to have such a dominant share.”
But it’s ok for an organization created by the industry to make all the rules and control all of the big stores? Nice!

]]> By: Vincent Tavera http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10724 Vincent Tavera Sun, 10 Dec 2006 05:50:52 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10724 I agree with a lot of this, DRM can protect the industry, but also leave a bad taste in the mouth of users. of course there are ways around the DRM, but that isn't something that I would do unless in a case like Richard's where he reformatted his macs. I agree with a lot of this, DRM can protect the industry, but also leave a bad taste in the mouth of users. of course there are ways around the DRM, but that isn’t something that I would do unless in a case like Richard’s where he reformatted his macs.

]]> By: Myles http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10723 Myles Sun, 10 Dec 2006 02:09:37 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10723 "Fairplay gives Apple the historical control they thrive for in their products" What a crock! There is no fairplay or other control on Mac OS X - now or historically. “Fairplay gives Apple the historical control they thrive for in their products”

What a crock! There is no fairplay or other control on Mac OS X – now or historically.

]]> By: Doug Petrosky http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10722 Doug Petrosky Sat, 09 Dec 2006 12:31:00 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10722 There is a time and a place for everything. Ultimately, it would be very bad if Apple or any company held 80-90% dominance in the distribution of music. But that is not the case today. Even of legal downloads, Apple has about 75% market share and that represents some 10% of legal music purchases (most coming from CD sales). So Apples total market share in this industry is actually quite small. But on the other hand it has been large enough to allow them some say in fair pricing of downloaded music. So, lets say that having more than 40% market share is when things start to get bad (which would indicate that MS is already double bad in the OS market but that is another story). So if Apple has 80% of the online music market, and that market accounts for 50% of total sales, then it would be worth while to start to restrict things. One other thing people should think about with DRM. I know many people think Apple should support WMA and or license FairPlay. Well, remember that to add WMA to the iPod would require Apple to license WMA. No big deal you say! Creative Labs is willing to pay the extra $1/player tax to Microsoft so why not Apple???? Well, because not only would apple have to pay for all of the players already out there and all future players, It would have to license WMA for every copy of OS X or songs that you could play on your iPod would not be supported in iTunes. This is not an issue for Creative because Microsoft provides WMA DRM in windows and Creative Labs does not support the Mac. It seems more likely that Apple would license FairPlay than support WMA. At least that way they would be making revenue, not loosing it and they could maintain some level of control. But how much should a company pay to license FairPlay? Would Microsoft be willing to license FairPlay for Windows and pay per install? It is more complicated than you think and not as bad as you make out. Let this play out for a few more years and see where good competition takes it. There is a time and a place for everything. Ultimately, it would be very bad if Apple or any company held 80-90% dominance in the distribution of music. But that is not the case today. Even of legal downloads, Apple has about 75% market share and that represents some 10% of legal music purchases (most coming from CD sales). So Apples total market share in this industry is actually quite small. But on the other hand it has been large enough to allow them some say in fair pricing of downloaded music.

So, lets say that having more than 40% market share is when things start to get bad (which would indicate that MS is already double bad in the OS market but that is another story). So if Apple has 80% of the online music market, and that market accounts for 50% of total sales, then it would be worth while to start to restrict things.

One other thing people should think about with DRM. I know many people think Apple should support WMA and or license FairPlay. Well, remember that to add WMA to the iPod would require Apple to license WMA. No big deal you say! Creative Labs is willing to pay the extra $1/player tax to Microsoft so why not Apple???? Well, because not only would apple have to pay for all of the players already out there and all future players, It would have to license WMA for every copy of OS X or songs that you could play on your iPod would not be supported in iTunes. This is not an issue for Creative because Microsoft provides WMA DRM in windows and Creative Labs does not support the Mac.

It seems more likely that Apple would license FairPlay than support WMA. At least that way they would be making revenue, not loosing it and they could maintain some level of control. But how much should a company pay to license FairPlay? Would Microsoft be willing to license FairPlay for Windows and pay per install?

It is more complicated than you think and not as bad as you make out. Let this play out for a few more years and see where good competition takes it.

]]> By: Ed Murphy http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10721 Ed Murphy Sat, 09 Dec 2006 11:59:02 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10721 Clearly we're in a 'chicken and egg' situation here - the original 'rip, mix, burn' ethos of Apple had to give way to DRM because of the record labels. Let's be fair, if you buy a CD and rip it then you should be able to play it on your iPod (actually you can). If the record industry want to limit and control copying then that may be their call. The issue really is that Fairplay and other DRM's limit where and how you can playback YOUR copy of music. So what we need is a truly 'open' DRM system that allows YOU the owner to play on YOUR devices, regardless of who makes the player. I have no problem with paying for music, but I do have a problem with being forced to use particular players. As such, rather than give Fairplay to the RIAA, what Apple should do is give the world a GPL Fairplay (ie open source it). Then the RIAA couldn't insist on a heavy licence fee or control the end user costs of tracks. Clearly we’re in a ‘chicken and egg’ situation here – the original ‘rip, mix, burn’ ethos of Apple had to give way to DRM because of the record labels.

Let’s be fair, if you buy a CD and rip it then you should be able to play it on your iPod (actually you can). If the record industry want to limit and control copying then that may be their call.

The issue really is that Fairplay and other DRM’s limit where and how you can playback YOUR copy of music. So what we need is a truly ‘open’ DRM system that allows YOU the owner to play on YOUR devices, regardless of who makes the player.

I have no problem with paying for music, but I do have a problem with being forced to use particular players.

As such, rather than give Fairplay to the RIAA, what Apple should do is give the world a GPL Fairplay (ie open source it). Then the RIAA couldn’t insist on a heavy licence fee or control the end user costs of tracks.

]]> By: Jamie Steven http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10720 Jamie Steven Sat, 09 Dec 2006 00:55:40 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10720 I agree "it’s it’s not healthy for the record labels to ‘hand over’ control of their distribution to one company alone." However I would also argue it's not healthy for Apple to have this monopoly on DRM either; regardless if they wanted it or not. I would prefer no-DRM, but next to that I'd prefer a DRM model that worked with several players and not one that was locked to iTunes and my iPod only. My two cents. I agree “it’s it’s not healthy for the record labels to ‘hand over’ control of their distribution to one company alone.”

However I would also argue it’s not healthy for Apple to have this monopoly on DRM either; regardless if they wanted it or not.

I would prefer no-DRM, but next to that I’d prefer a DRM model that worked with several players and not one that was locked to iTunes and my iPod only.

My two cents.

]]> By: Andrew http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10719 Andrew Fri, 08 Dec 2006 22:13:49 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10719 Nice post Todd. My new beef with DRM now is that people seem to accept it, as if the next version will somehow be better than the current version. "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." -Albert Einstein Fritz Attaway of the MPAA was recently on an episode of "Buzz Out Loud" discussing DRM. Both the hosts and Fritz agreed that a DRM system that let you retain some of your Fair Use rights as a consumer would be good. Problem is, such a system is essentially impossible. Cory Doctorow has said, "Unless your software can simulate a fully empaneled on-bank body of Supreme Court justices it probably can't determine whether a use is fair or unfair." The other problem is that we're seemingly caught in an infinite loop. If you say "screw the labels and their DRM" and just go to BitTorrent from now on, that just makes the labels push harder with DRM. So I buy CDs, which are slightly more expensive and less convenient than going to iTunes, but I don't get any DRM, I have a higher quality digital copy, and I have a physical backup already. And I don't think it's a good idea to give the iPod to the RIAA. The device would cost $500, and you wouldn't be buying a device at all, only a license, which you would have to renew. Tracks would cost $3 and you would be forced to download the latest singles from the top 40, and the fast forward and skip-to-next functionality would be disabled. Nice post Todd. My new beef with DRM now is that people seem to accept it, as if the next version will somehow be better than the current version.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
-Albert Einstein

Fritz Attaway of the MPAA was recently on an episode of “Buzz Out Loud” discussing DRM. Both the hosts and Fritz agreed that a DRM system that let you retain some of your Fair Use rights as a consumer would be good. Problem is, such a system is essentially impossible. Cory Doctorow has said, “Unless your software can simulate a fully empaneled on-bank body of Supreme Court justices it probably can’t determine whether a use is fair or unfair.”

The other problem is that we’re seemingly caught in an infinite loop. If you say “screw the labels and their DRM” and just go to BitTorrent from now on, that just makes the labels push harder with DRM.

So I buy CDs, which are slightly more expensive and less convenient than going to iTunes, but I don’t get any DRM, I have a higher quality digital copy, and I have a physical backup already.

And I don’t think it’s a good idea to give the iPod to the RIAA. The device would cost $500, and you wouldn’t be buying a device at all, only a license, which you would have to renew. Tracks would cost $3 and you would be forced to download the latest singles from the top 40, and the fast forward and skip-to-next functionality would be disabled.

]]> By: Wythrol http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10718 Wythrol Fri, 08 Dec 2006 21:55:18 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/08/please-give-fairplay-to-the-riaa/#comment-10718 When the music industry starts to think about their users and their artists and not their profit margin, and when digital music player manufacturers are allowed to support multi-formats then I will give a shit. I have a CD collection of somewhere between 1000 and 1200 bought and paid for CD's, collected over the last 15 years. Technically I am not allowed to transfer them to a digital format withought paying a royalty. When the "entire industry" agree's a format, and even a DRM for that format I will buy CD's and rip them, and I will continue to download rip'd tracks. And I suggest you do the same. I've paid my dues to this industry and all they have done is treat me like crap and call me a theif. So be it. When the music industry starts to think about their users and their artists and not their profit margin, and when digital music player manufacturers are allowed to support multi-formats then I will give a shit.

I have a CD collection of somewhere between 1000 and 1200 bought and paid for CD’s, collected over the last 15 years. Technically I am not allowed to transfer them to a digital format withought paying a royalty.

When the “entire industry” agree’s a format, and even a DRM for that format I will buy CD’s and rip them, and I will continue to download rip’d tracks. And I suggest you do the same.

I’ve paid my dues to this industry and all they have done is treat me like crap and call me a theif. So be it.

]]>