Hopeless Geek

If you haven’t read Steve Jobs’ recent essay on DRM and the music industry then you really should read that before this. Needless to say, having the head of the largest purveyor of DRM-encoded music files speak out about the technology and instruct users as to how to effect change in the industry is quite landmark.

In short, Jobs makes the following key points:

• The music companies required and require Apple to use DRM.
• If that DRM is broken and remains broken, Apple loses the ability to sell their music.
• DRM-encoded music occupies approximately 3% of any given iPod, with the other 97% being from CDs, other stores, or other sources.
• The largest source of sold music is the CD, which has no DRM.
• Thus, DRM can’t solve the problem of piracy when a user can take a CD, encode it, and share it.
• As such, DRM serves no purpose and Apple would immediately cease using DRM if the music companies would let them.

For the most part, I believe him. There is, however, something fishy with the statement and reality.

Gates said that no one is satisfied with the current state of DRM, which “causes too much pain for legitmate buyers” while trying to distinguish between legal and illegal uses. He says no one has done it right, yet. There are “huge problems” with DRM, he says, and “we need more flexible models, such as the ability to “buy an artist out for life” (not sure what he means). He also criticized DRM schemes that try to install intelligence in each copy so that it is device specific.
“Bill Gates on DRM”:http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/14/bill-gates-on-the-future-of-drm/

When Bill Gates said that he thought DRM was all wrong, people mocked him. Frankly, he deserved it. Why? Because Windows XP — and moreso Vista — are the largest bastions of integrated DRM in the world. Gates literally said one thing and did another. As he lambasted DRM in words, he authorized more and more DRM controls in Windows because, Microsoft claims, content authors wanted it. Given this, no one believes poor Bill.

Why should we believe Steve? He decries DRM in public, even using Apple’s company site to push his opinion out to the world on the topic, but where is Apple’s good faith effort? Apple has integrated DRM into the iPod, into iTunes, and into the iTunes Music Store, and shows no sign of relenting even the slightest bit even for people that do not want it.

A fair number of indie labels would go DRM-free with Apple without thinking about it longer than it would take to reply “Yes!” and hit the send button. More would come in time after realizing the numbers are against DRM (and Jobs presents that same data soundly). Yet, where is Apple’s solution for them? If Apple were really open to selling music without DRM, why aren’t they letting the publishers choose what they want to do when they upload? Why can’t some labels publish DRM-free media on the iTS and let the big labels do their own thing?

Why should we trust Steve more than Bill when both are presenting the same face? They side with the customer, claim it’s interfering with their lives and talk about how the whole world would be better without it, but neither is willing to move even a little bit to actually show that they’re serious. The iTS could easily sell media without DRM today. We know iTunes supports it because it does it for iTunesU and other third-party stores. Why not flip the switch?

I agree with Steve Jobs’ essay completely. I want to believe him. I just don’t see any evidence that says he really believes what he said.

Instead, what I see is a positioning statement against the anti-iTunes movements of France and Germany and Norway. I see Apple going “It’s not us, it’s them!” Rightfully so, I should add. It really was entirely on the shoulders of the RIAA members as to how DRM became so integrated into the iTunes product line. Today, however, there’s no excuse for not having a way to opt out of it in the music section of the store. While RIAA members’ objections may have started Apple’s use of DRM, there’s nothing preventing them from letting other people open up their music and show the RIAA members how it’s really done. Nothing, that is, except Apple.