p2pnet - rss feed: France bows to Apple
p2p news / p2pnet: As expected, France voted yesterday to come close to neutralizing proposed copyright laws that would have forced Apple to be fair to its customers, allowing them to play paid-for iTunes downloads on any device, and not only iPods.
But it still wasn’t enough to make Steve Jobs happy.
One of the threats already levelled by Apple was it might pull out of the all-but non-existent mainstream download market.
iTunes, loaded with the seriously misnamed FairPlay digital restrictions software, is scarcely more than an iPod loading system users pay to maintain. But it’s virtually the only corporate game in town and, “the changes did not appear to go far enough to satisfy Apple, which dropped the strongest hint yet that it might withdraw from the French download market rather than comply,” says the Associated Press, continuing:
“While the compromise adopted yesterday still asserts that companies should share the technical data essential to such ‘interoperability,’ it tones down many of the tougher measures backed by the lower house”.
It, “also maintains a loophole introduced last month by senators, which could allow Apple and others to dodge data-sharing demands by striking new deals with record labels and artists.
Apple, “hinted the new draft law could affect its presence in France,” says AP, quoting a spokeswoman as saying. “We are awaiting the final result of France’s legislative process, and hope they let the extremely competitive marketplace driven by customer choice” and had, “nothing further to add”.
The corporate market is in fact driven by the Big Four Organized Music cartel, who wholesale digital ‘product,’ worth only pennies, at between about 60 and 85 cents per download.
This leaves little room for profit, forcing Apple and the tiny handful of other corporate services such as RealNetworks, now backed by Microsoft, to charge $1 and more for downloads.
Meanwhile, Norway’s Consumer Council of Norway says iTunes breaches fundamental consumer rights, and a couple of days later, “Apple Computer’s iTunes online music store could be shut down across Scandinavia,” said the Financial Times..
And, “As the outcry in Europe is spreading, there is some opposition to Apple’s business practices in the U.S,” said BusinessWeek Online, alluding to “Defective by Design” protests.
Also See:
fair to its customers - New French copyright law, June 22, 2006
fundamental consumer rights - Apple DRM problems grow, June 12, 2006
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June 23rd, 2006 at 5:12 pm
This attitude is so completely misguided. iTunes is free. Period. End of story.
IF you wish to take advantage of the convenience of purchasing music from the iTunes Music Store (which is a seperate entity to which you have no obligation to use), then you may do so. Negotiating the deal with recording companies to allow for this convenience was the innovation that Apple introduced, but the price for this was restrictions upon the distribution and use of those downloaded files. Hence, FairPlay. It is not only possible, but likely, that the closed ecosystem of the iPod and its associated family of devices was viewed as an advantage by the recording companies and Apple may in fact be contractually precluded from opening it up. But more to the point, the arrangement that Apple has forged represents a significant investment in their buisiness model and they have every right to reap any rewards that the marketplace may or may not choose to supply them, and it would not only be foolish for them to not exploit their exclusive position for as long as possible, but potentially negligent to not from a standpoint of shareholder value. To claim anything other than this is pure masturbatory speculation by individuals with no training or understanding of business.
I have zero tolerance for anyone who enters into a contract without reading or understanding it, only to later whine when they are held accountable to the terms of the agreement. What you are paying for when you purchase a track from iTMS is a specifically limited license for use. If you don’t like or don’t philosophically agree with this concept, then DON’T FUCKING BUY YOUR MUSIC FROM iTMS. If it bothers you to the point that you just can’t bear to look at an iPod anymore, then DON’T FUCKING BUY AN iPOD! But you’ll find that you are held to similar usage restrictions on every other device and service that offers legal downloads. Just because their ecosystem may have more fish in it, doesnt’ mean that its any less restrictive. Do what you want, but please stop posturing that there is somehow a moral issue involved here, stop dreaming that companies have any obligation other than to make money in an ethically sound fashion, and mostly just SHUT THE FUCK UP with your dorm-room socialist drivle!
As a final thought, its just not that hard to get around FairPlay. If de-atomizing isn’t in your bag of tricks, then simply rip it to CD and re-encode? Doesn’t that degrade sound quality? Yeah, a bit, but not enough to notice it for casual listening, which is all that iTMS tracks are good for in the first place. I mean let’s face it - if sound quality were really important to you, you wouldn’t be downloading compressed audio in the first place.
June 23rd, 2006 at 7:18 pm
well said!
June 23rd, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Uhh, I use iTunes to buy music and much of it I don’t even put on my ipod. So, no, ITUNES IS NOT AN IPOD LOADING MECHANISM. Much of the time I play the music on my computer, hooked to some great JBL speakers, and the other half of the time I play it in my car, or my friend’s car, on CD. That’s right, iTunes music plays ON VIRTUALLY ANY DEVICE. Try that with a Napster subscription. I back up my music to CD, the smart thing to do, and then I play it whenever and wherever I want. Office. Friend’s house. Friend’s MP3 player. Wherever. Whenever.
And most of the music on my iPod is older music that is ripped from CDs. So keep in mind that iTunes music can be made playable anywhere via a CD and tha iPods play music from anywhere. Except music from Microsoft and its evil cronies. But who would buy, oops, I mean rent, music where Microsoft controls your rights?
June 24th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
This is a very misleading and inaccurate statement. “iTunes, loaded with the seriously misnamed FairPlay digital restrictions software, is scarcely more than an iPod loading system users pay to maintain.”
Users do not pay to maintain anything. This is not a prescription service that once the user stops paying the music will no longer work.
The music bought from iTunes will work forever as long as there is a playback device. Also, as many people have mentioned the music can be burned to DVD or CDs as MP3s, archived and re-imported into any medium that plays MP3.
This is the same constraints as purchased music from any era. You need a playback device for the medium that you purchased the on. If you bought music on 8 track you need to have an 8 track for playback. If you don’t have an 8 track, you can’t go back to the record company and request the same music on CD.
June 24th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
First, thanks to Apple, we only pay $.99 a track versus $1.99 or $2.49 OR MORE as the record labels want because with margins at 60-85% for the record labels, that’s just not enough for a digital format with no returns, no manufacturing encased in a self replenishing vending machine.
Fairplay is aptly named because again, thanks to Apple - ONLY with digital music are you allowed to legally convert to a DRM free format with one click and a CD-R. Before Apple started, most WMA tracks were that one PC only.
And even though Apple has 80% of the marketplace, they don’t believe in predatory pricing OR the fact the ipod allows you to listen to 7 other formats including THREE lossless choices …
With the FREE ITUNES. Again, you have to thank Apple for creating a FREE jukebox to use - whether or not you have an ipod and again, since Apple included CD burning FREE with itunes for Mac & Pc - MS had to update their music player to do the same instead of charging you $19.95 extra.
So, thanks to Apple, you have a choice of buying a CD and ripping with their free software or click to buy one track from a CD without having to buy the other 17 tracks.
But instead of thanks for all the great things they brought to Mac & PC users - all they get is grief by mis-informed people who know how to download a torrent but can’t seem to grasp that clicking will burn them a DRM free track (or that the legislation was sponsored by a record label - think - are they trying to help you? Really?).