Le Pomme Stupide
March 22nd, 2006
You know…I used to hate the French. Not for any truly legitimate reason: it was just a typically-American gut reaction to their stereotypical self-righteousness. But even though France has been embarassing itself on the social front by becoming more racist every day, the country has displayed an uncanny understanding of digital rights issue by passing legislation that could force Apple’s iTunes store to open up its DRM scheme to support other, non-Apple-branded music players. As noted in the just-linked article, “At issue isn’t DRM itself but interoperability.”
Of course, Apple Computers immediately had a standard-issue DRM hissy fit, calling France’s actions tantamount to “state-sponsored piracy”, and that “[i]f this happens, legal music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers.”
So what will Apple do if this legislation remains upheld? Probably close its French incarnation of iTunes completely. Which is, of course, completely childish–the grown-up equivalent of grabbing all your toys and going home.
Now, let’s take a look at what’s at issue here. France wants Apple to open up its DRM scheme to allow folks who buy tracks via iTunes to load those tracks onto mp3 players other than the Apple iPod. The bill in question does not threaten the existence of Apple’s FairPlay DRM scheme in any way, it only asks that it be opened up to other manufacturers so that consumers have the option of loading the music they have legally purchased through the ITMS onto any portable mp3 device, not just Apple’s over-priced, buggy iPods. Nothing in this bill in any way threatens Apple’s DRM scheme, and does not contribute to or even remotely suggest piracy. If anything, the bill would lead to a reduction in piracy!
Think about it: Monsieur X has a Creative mp3 player because he can’t afford an iPod, or he just switched over to Creative when his iPod’s hard-drive burnt up for the seventh time in under a year. He has a LOT of music purchased from iTunes…but he can’t load it onto his Creative player because Apple’s FairPlay DRM scheme is not compatible with said player. He has paid for the music he owns, but Apple computer will only allow him to sync it onto one of their own devices…which does not happen to own. So what can he do? One perfectly viable option is that he could go out to the local record shop, buy all the CDs or songs he has already purchased from iTunes again, rip those CDs, and then load them onto his Creative mp3 player. But who wants to spend more money? Instead, Monsieur X will probably just fire up BitTorrent, track down the music he wants to put on his Creative device, and download it for free. Now that is obviously piracy! If Apple Computers would simply abide by French law and release its DRM scheme to other manufacturers, then Monsieur X would just be able to hook up his Creative mp3 player to his computer and sync it with iTunes–and would, no doubt, continue to purchase music legally from the ITMS simply because there would be no hassle involved.
But, of course, that’s not how Apple sees it. They’d rather keep their iTunes/iPod monopoly going strong even if it means: A) closing an entire regional branch of iTunes and thereby losing a gigantic market (the entire country of France) and B) actually CONTRIBUTING to piracy by maintaining their DRM scheme as it exists.
Apple Computers is stupid. That’s as simple as it gets. There’s no need for me to even go into how ridiculous DRM schemes are to begin with–that’s an entirely separate issue that I have bitched about many times before. The present situation is nothing more than an example of a company being put on the spot to open itself up to greater interoperability and/or competition, and patently refusing to do so even when said refusal will most likely harm the company in the formers of a lot of lost profits. But Apple Computers has traditionally been a company so wrapped up in its own incestuous corporate ideology that it will always choose to support its own ridiculous party line even at its own expense. That’s just not good business.
L’Update: Wow. Looks like even the US government itself is getting involved by backing Apple now. Said US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, “But any time something like this happens, any time that we believe that intellectual property rights are being violated, we need to speak up and in this case, the company is taking the initiative.” Au contraire, Don Carlos: this is manifestly not an issue of intellectual property theft or, as one positively brilliant respondant to the original Wired writes, an “pathetic socialistic move, stifling business creativity” aimed at undermining capitalism by stripping away a corporation’s right to its own business secrets.
This is a ridiculously SIMPLE issue of competition. Apple Computers basically wants a monopoly on its own services: you can only sync DRM’ed up songs purchased from Apple Computers’ iTunes Music Store on Apple Computer iPods. At present, the iTunes Music Store is the leading online supplier of legal music downloads, and the iPod is the bestselling portable mp3 gizmo on the market. No doubt, if Apple were to open up its FairPlay DRM scheme to other manufacturers of portable mp3 players, then iPod sales would almost certainly see a slump. Apple just doesn’t want to give up a certain edge it has in the mp3 player market to competition. That reason, and only that reason, is why Apple is fighting this.
Releasing the DRM standard to other manufacturers would not in ANY endanger Apple’s intellectual property claim to their FairPlay code: it would still be their property, and no doubt they would require any other company wishing to license the FairPlay code to naturally pay a premium to Apple for the license. That’s just basic business. Quite frankly, if Apple were to do so, I’m sure the money they’d earn for licensing out the FairPlay DRM scheme would make up for a large portion of profits they might lose on sales of iPods. But, of course, that would mean Steve Jobs’ Apple hardware/software monopoly would be weaked and, ohhhh, we just can’t have that!
Add New Comment
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment