| Apple starts selling music without piracy protection |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Wednesday, 06 June 2007 | |
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These Songs cost US$1.29 each, 30 cents more than standard iTunes offerings, but are "virtually indistinguishable from original recordings" and are not fettered by Digital Rights Management software that blocks copying. Apple feels, the customers are very excited about the freedom and amazing sound quality of iTunes Plus. It expects to offer more than half of the songs of iTunes in iTunes Plus versions by the end of 2007. Apple in February 2007, denounced digital rights management software in an open letter calling on the music recording industry to abandon the practice of insisting it be incorporated into digital music sold online. Major recording studios fired back that the safeguard is needed to prevent pirates from making myriad unauthorised copies and denying owners their due payments for music. On a counter move, California-based Apple and EMI, based in Britain, formed an alliance to sell DRM-free music. This was a tremendous milestone for digital music as consumers are listening to higher quality iTunes Plus tracks from their favorite EMI artists with no usage restrictions. The removal of DRM software means that for the first time, music bought at iTunes can be played on rival MP3 players, including Microsoft's Zune. Apple however is confronting debate from another end; several privacy advocates are voicing concern over personal information attached to the music files. Privacy advocates say, while Apple may not be violating any laws, users may have reason to worry. Music downloaded from iTunes is free of copy-restriction technology, thereby allowing users to play the tracks on other devices, and people may be more willing to share the purchased music with other users over peer-to-peer networks. This move theoretically could allow the music industry to track down copyright infringers because the tracks would contain unencrypted details – names and email addresses of the buyers. Apple feels the big music companies now agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems because DRMs did not work, and may never work, to halt music piracy! Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 08 June 2007 ) |
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