Who actually owns Fairplay?

[jocknerd]

Its driving me crazy. I keep hearing conflicting reports. Some say Apple won't license fairplay to other music sites or companies like Microsoft. Others say Apple only licenses fairplay. So which is it?

If Apple owns fairplay, they should license it to others. Why would Steve keep this from Microsoft and others? Is he really trying to make the iTMS a commercial success as well as the iPod? Is he afraid others would license fairplay to put in their own players? Yes, this could erode iPods marketshare. But preventing the licensing of it will only hurt Apple in the long run. Let the iPod have marketshare based on its merits, not on a licensing restriction. Yes, the iPod and iTMS have gotten a jump on the market. But nothing lasts forever. If Apple does license fairplay, here's what I see in the future: iPod loses some marketshare to cheaper players. iTMS becomes one of many to offer fairplay drm. Consumer wins out big because fairplay becomes defacto standard. If Apple doesn't license fairplay, WMA eventually overtakes it because of sheer volume. iPod becomes a niche along with iTMS. So Apple can make money off of the iPod or off of licensing. The player will be a commodity item one day. There is a lot more money to be made in licensing. Does Steve have a long range vision or is he obsessed by maximizing his short-term profit?

If Apple only licenses fairplay, why haven't others licensed it as well? The more music sites that support fairplay, the better it is for all of us as consumers. The more music players support fairplay, the better it is for all of us as consumers too.

After thinking about this, I'm worried that Apple actually does own fairplay themselves. And having not learned from mistakes of companies in the past (i.e. Apple with its OS, IBM with MicroChannel, and Sony with Betamax), I'm afraid that Apple's fairplay and iPod could go down the same road in the long run. Which will be a sad day. I hope I'm wrong about this and I hope that Apple doesn't own fairplay themselves.

[cfleck]

excuse my ignorance, but what is fairplay? off to google!

[jocknerd]

Originally Posted by cfleck

excuse my ignorance, but what is fairplay? off to google!

[symphonix]

This site: http://www.info-mech.com/drm_dictionary.html#fairplay

Says:
fairplay


The term Apple uses for the DRM technology in their iTunes Music Service launched in spring 2003. Fairplay does control what can be done with music files, and restricts them to a world of Apple formats and equipment... but other than that it is easily the most reasonable and flexible music DRM technology in widespread use. It supports play on several computers and an unlimited number of iPod portable players, as well as burning regular Red Book Audio CDs. Little has been made public about its internals. It is clear that security was (rightly) not the top priority in its design.

Not really that enlightening, is it?

[diablojota]

I don't think Apple is going down the wrong path by not licensing the DRM technology. However, they have preserved their technology, and instead licensed out the end-user technology: iTMS, iTunes, iPod -> HP (for the moment)
I would not be surprised to see some other companies purchase licensing for the iPod/iTMS distribution and sales rights. That, in my opinion, is a far better business model for Apple. Control the core, but license out the end-user prods. This will help ensure quality across the board.

[Arden]

Why should Apple license Fairplay to other companies? As it is, they have the best music player on the market, which uses the best jukebox software, which downloads songs with the best DRM. Hence, the iPod commands a staggering 31% of the digital music player market. If Apple licensed Fairplay, they would lose one of their reasons for using their product in the first place.

[diablojota]

Originally Posted by Arden

Why should Apple license Fairplay to other companies? As it is, they have the best music player on the market, which uses the best jukebox software, which downloads songs with the best DRM. Hence, the iPod commands a staggering 31% of the digital music player market. If Apple licensed Fairplay, they would lose one of their reasons for using their product in the first place.

Absolutely right. That's why I think Apple is making the right choice in just licensing the iPod/iTMS. They preserve their hold on the DRM, and core technology.

[Satcomer]

I can't remember where I read the Apple actually itself licenses the DRM from another company.

note: I think the company is at this site.