doemel
Mac addict since 1993
EMI makes the start! Looks like at least they finally decided to give the consumers what they want and not what their stock holders want. I hope this triggers the domino effect that many of us have been waiting for!
(Music) consumers' wishes are finally heard
- Thread starter doemel
- Start date
doemel
Mac addict since 1993
I bet most Beatles affecionados have their entire catalog on CD or - even better - on vinyl anyways. Would be nice though to see them finally arrive in the 21st century...
Thank The Cheese
Registered
the beatles reference during the macworld keynote address indicates they are most certainly coming to the store soon IMO.
very good news anyway, though i'm a little disappointed the 128kbps arent also DRM free, as $1.30 US will be over $2 AU after conversion + mystery australia tax -- a bit steep. i presume this was the only way apple could sell EMI on the idea --
EMI: "we will only allow you to sell DRM free music if we can charge a premium!"
Apple: "OK, but how about we up the bitrate. at least that way the customers won't feel so cheated by it"
EMI: "eeeexcellent"
very good news anyway, though i'm a little disappointed the 128kbps arent also DRM free, as $1.30 US will be over $2 AU after conversion + mystery australia tax -- a bit steep. i presume this was the only way apple could sell EMI on the idea --
EMI: "we will only allow you to sell DRM free music if we can charge a premium!"
Apple: "OK, but how about we up the bitrate. at least that way the customers won't feel so cheated by it"
EMI: "eeeexcellent"
doemel
Mac addict since 1993
The point is, it's a huge step into the right direction. Plus, you only pay the premium if you buy single tracks. You'll be able to get the whole album DRM free at AAC 256 for the same price as the AAC 128 DRM crippled version now.
About that price for premium: The start is done. Couple of years from now, when the big ones all sell 256 kbps DRM-free music, competition will set the price rather than Apple. Remember: This is not only about all those people complaining about how iTunes music only works on iPod! It's also about those other stores who - right now - are locked into Windows DRM'd stuff! Windows Vista is all (well not all, but y'know what I mean) about DRM - and suddenly Apple, along with EMI, starts to tear the wall down! I'm sure we'll soon buy .99 USD (or cheaper) MP3 or AAC files DRM free wherever. And iTunes might have to follow in order to stay competitive. It might mean searching for best price again - unless you simply choose one store because of its great catalogue and other features. But for those who really think 1.29 is too much, I'm sure there'll be alternatives abound.
I give Stevo credit. He really put his money where his mouth is on this one. I thought his DRM post was just a political game to make Apple look like the good guys and blame the record companies for DRM. I figured there was no realistic way Apple would truly want to give up DRM given how critical it seems to their dominance with iTunes/iPods.
I will gladly be wrong once again it seems. Apple really seems to know what they're doing these days.
I will gladly be wrong once again it seems. Apple really seems to know what they're doing these days.
Mikuro
Crotchety UI Nitpicker
That'd be nice, but considering how many times the labels have been caught in price fixing and other anticompetitive behavior, I won't hold my breath!
Regardless, this is good news. It took long enough, but someone in a suit finally got a clue, and it's good to see that Jobs was serious in his open letter that Apple would be happy to sell DRM-free tracks.
I can't actually FIND any of this on the store, though. Can any of you?
On a semi-related note, has Apple removed the country lockout? I did a search for Utada Hikaru (who they list among their international artists), and I got results, and I could play them. I browsed through their Japanese, French, German and "World" sections and didn't run into any problems, either. I didn't try to actually buy any, but I'm sure that in the past I couldn't even preview them. (Oh, and I'm in the U.S. if that matters.)
Ferdinand
V. Tech
They said: Starting in May, which might be the reason! 
This is directly from apple.com:
Apple® today announced that EMI Music’s entire digital catalog of music will be available for purchase DRM-free (without digital rights management) from the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com) worldwide in May. DRM-free tracks from EMI will be offered at higher quality 256 kbps AAC encoding, resulting in audio quality indistinguishable from the original recording, for just $1.29 per song. In addition, iTunes customers will be able to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions for just 30 cents a song. iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today—128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM—at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside DRM-free higher quality versions when available.
This is directly from apple.com:
Apple® today announced that EMI Music’s entire digital catalog of music will be available for purchase DRM-free (without digital rights management) from the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com) worldwide in May. DRM-free tracks from EMI will be offered at higher quality 256 kbps AAC encoding, resulting in audio quality indistinguishable from the original recording, for just $1.29 per song. In addition, iTunes customers will be able to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions for just 30 cents a song. iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today—128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM—at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside DRM-free higher quality versions when available.
Thank The Cheese
Registered
Do people think this will happen with TV and movies too anytime soon?
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
Most likely not -- at least not anytime soon. Steve himself even said that video has always been sold/delivered differently than music -- music (CDs, vinyl, tapes) have ALWAYS been DRM-free, whereas video has ALWAYS been sold with some sort of DRM attached (Macrovision on DVDs, scrambling on VHS cassettes, protected broadcasts on cable TV, etc.).
Steve apparently doesn't see music and video in the same category.
Mikuro
Crotchety UI Nitpicker
This is ironic, since music is much easier to pirate casually. It's one thing to swap 4MB mp3s that you personally use all the time; it's a whole other matter to spend a couple hours re-encoding a DVD into something that's 700MB or more or and then swapping that.
Obviously a lot of people DO pirate movies, in spite of all this copy protection. I really doubt it stops any "casual" pirates, because it's just too much of a hassle to do casually in the first place, DRM or no. If I want to share some music with a friend, I probably will just email them some mp3s. If I want to share a movie, I'll lend them my DVD.
If anything, I'd say there's less reason for movies to have DRM than music. I think it's only a matter of time until the movie bigwigs realize this. I don't expect it in the next year or two, though. After people start ripping Blu-ray/HD-DVD movies and spreading them all over file-sharing networks, the corporations might realize that they've invested a lot of time, money and energy into something that offers very little return (and if they consider consumer reaction/satisfaction into the equation, that might even be a negative return).
Thank The Cheese
Registered
yes I agree. I think a lot of it hinges on how EMI songs are received. If we see a record number of tracks sold over the next 6-12 months because of this announcement, I'm sure it won't be long for record, tv, and movie companies to jump on the band wagon.
I don't think the songs being without DRM will sell a lot more of the songs, though - regardless of piracy/no piracy. Instead, there being no _decline_ in online sales and there being no unexpected _rise_ in piracy (because people simply ripped the non-DRMd CDs before and pirated those) will show that it simply doesn't make a difference.
Like I said tons of times before: It only takes _ONE_ source for the piracy to start. And even *if* DRM would work completely, people would try to make very, very good analog copies. DRM has no influence whatsoever on those who pirate movies, TV shows or MP3s, because they don't care where it comes from and if the source was DRM'd or not: They simply want the DRM-less copy for free.
Like I said tons of times before: It only takes _ONE_ source for the piracy to start. And even *if* DRM would work completely, people would try to make very, very good analog copies. DRM has no influence whatsoever on those who pirate movies, TV shows or MP3s, because they don't care where it comes from and if the source was DRM'd or not: They simply want the DRM-less copy for free.
doemel
Mac addict since 1993
I totally agree with you reasoning concerning piracy. I do not, however agree with your prediction that the sale of non-DRMed music will continue to rise within normal limits. I for one have been reluctant to buying from the iTMS mostly because of the DRM it imposes. Of course the increase in bitrate sealed the deal for me, too, but the DRM was the primary show stopper for me. Why, you ask? I'd like to be able to use the tracks outside the iTunes/iPod ecosystem, in Traktor DJ Studio for example. Now I am finally allowed to to so!
I'm sure I'm not the only one who was so far reluctant to buying through the iTMS because of DRM restrictions. I think these people are now given enough reasons and thus Apple has gained more customers for their iTMS.
Sure there's a bunch of online music stores that would have allowed for use of their tracks in Traktor but I'd like to stick to Apple with this one. This means I have so far stuck to purchasing CDs and vinyl. I'm glad I can skip CDs now. As for vinyl: It's not going to be replaced in my setup anyways
Even the DVS (Digital Vinyl System) I got last year is not a replacement of actually owning this and that particular original 12inch...
I see that there are _some_ people who stayed off iTunes because of the DRM. However, I think _most_ people who said they stayed off of it coz of DRM actually were pirates in the first place. The loudest crowd ain't always the one most willing to pay. But that's just an assumption on my part, and I'd love to be wrong on this one.
But that's just an assumption on my part, and I'd love to be wrong on this one.Thank The Cheese
Registered
come on, we all know the record companies will spin the piracy numbers whichever way they want to justify their decisions.