more on The so-called Apple music monopoly

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: David Pakman <david () dimensionalassociates com>
Date: May 23, 2006 7:43:58 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: RE: [IP] The so-called Apple music monopoly

Hi Dave,

In response to Ole Jacobsen's comments...

The fact that the major record labels, responsible for more than 70% of
the US music market, only sell their catalogs digitally in DRM-protected
formats rendering them compatible only with certain players is NOT a
myth. The legal digital music market is the only iteration of a music
format without universal compatibility. This lack of universal
compatibility is not only terribly confusing to consumers but
unquestionably has slowed the growth of the legitimate digital music
market.

Ole's comments seem to accept the notion that it is the consumer who
must bear the effort to convert music from a CD into a digital format
compatible with their iPod, unless they accept that the only source of
major label digital music is from Apple. This lack of choice is not only
bad for the market, but is silly and helps Apple build a closed and
monopolistic ecosystem more than anyone else.

David

........................................................................
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david pakman / president & ceo
managing director, dimensional associates, Inc.
david () dimensionalassociates com

emusic / Number 1 site for independent music
http://www.emusic.com/browse/new.html

t (+1) 212.201.9210 / f (+1) 212.201.9202 / m (+1) 917.597.1855
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-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 2:07 AM
To: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: [IP] The so-called Apple music monopoly



Begin forwarded message:

From: Ole Jacobsen <ole () cisco com>
Date: May 22, 2006 8:26:25 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: The so-called Apple music monopoly
Reply-To: Ole Jacobsen <ole () cisco com>


A lot has been written about how you can "only" buy music for the iPod
from Apple's iTunes Music Store, see for example:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/22/technology/business2_launchpad0522/
index.htm

This, and most stories of its kind, completely misses the fact that you
can put ANY MP3 file from ANY source on your iPod, and it also misses
the
fact that you can convert any CD to MP3 using the iTunes (player, not
Music Store) software.

It is true that Apple has special DRM attached to the files you do buy
from their music store (they use a non-MP3 encoding also), but nobody is
forcing you to spend money in this way. It is also true that you need
iTunes in order to copy the music from your computer to the iPod
(third-party hacks nothwithstanding). But iTunes is a free download
which
runs on both the Mac and the PC.

The net is full of (legally) free MP3 files, MP3 files for a fee
(such as
audio books from audible.com), and of course there are millions of
CDs to
buy that can be converted and put on your iPod.

Why does the press insist on propagating this myth?

Ole


Ole J. Jacobsen
Editor and Publisher,  The Internet Protocol Journal
Cisco Systems
Tel: +1 408-527-8972   GSM: +1 415-370-4628
E-mail: ole () cisco com  URL: http://www.cisco.com/ipj



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