GregHowley.com

Apple's Steve Jobs wrote an open letter a week or so ago in which he laid out his thoughts on DRM. Although I haven't yet read the entire letter, he states in it that the record labels through which iTunes gets the music do not allow him to sell the music unless it's encrypted. He is a smart man, and realizes that people want music with which they can do what they want. But as is, his hands are tied.

Tangent. Right now, iTunes is in first place. They sell something like 80% of all downloadable music. They've sold more than 2 billion songs. eMusic, the company in second place, has sold 100 million. Big gap.

Music downloaded from iTunes is encrypted with Apple's Fairplay technology, which can only be decrypted by Apple's iTunes or iPod players. This is why I don't own an iPod. I'm plenty happy with my ancient Creative player. Granted, this is Apple's (Jobs's) fault for using a proprietary DRM scheme, but for me any DRM is a turn-off. Give me mp3 all the way. I'll settle for ogg or aac if my player plays it, but keep those encrypted files away from me, baby.

But going back to Steve's letter, it would seem that after he wrote it, the RIAA responded, applauding him for agreeing to license FairPlay. Except he didn't. Here's what the RIAA said:

Apple's offer to license Fairplay to other technology companies is a welcome breakthrough and would be a real victory for fans, artists and labels. There have been many services seeking a license to the Apple DRM. This would enable the interoperability that we have been urging for a very long time.

Jobs was urging the RIAA to drop their requirement that their music must be encrypted. Now while I can't say that Steve Jobs, who's making millions on iTunes and DRM, is a selfless big-hearted guy, I do have to admit that his endorsement of eradicating DRM is good. He might just as easily have endorsed interoperability and held hands with the RIAA as a means to achieve the same goal.