The recording industry should thank Apple | Digital Noise: Music & Tech – CNET Blogs
This post over at C-Net reminded me of a thought I had the other day:
From a computer-conscious music fans perspective, it appears that the labels purposely crippled their early digital efforts in hopes that their lawsuits would succeed, the genie would be put back into the bottle, and they could forget about this annoying Interwebs thing and go back to selling plastic discs with ridiculously high margins.
Now, Universal is going after Apple, complaining that its success with iTunes has given it too much power.
Compare this to the statement of the head of the head of litigation at Sony BMG during the Thomas trial:
Gabriel asked if it was wrong for consumers to make copies of music which they have purchased, even just one copy. Pariser replied, “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” Making “a copy” of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ‘steals just one copy’,” she said.
I wouldn’t expect everyone in the industry to share the same perspectives on the issue, but it sounds to me as though they would prefer that mp3 players go away so we would all go back to carrying bulky CD players. The mp3 format and players are clearly here to stay–what will it take for the industry to come up with a response that acknowledges this fact?