"Steve Jobs believes in his heart (or should I say admits) that all of your music should be kept somewhere on an Apple device," writes David Berlind in ZDNet, quoting Jobs from a San Jose Mercury News item.
The quote goes: "It's really the home stereo reinvented. Music is not on CDs in your cabinet. It's on your iPod,'' and Berlind continues, "So, what else is in your iPod?" - answering, "Well, for starters, it's full of Apple's proprietary CRAP. C.R.A.P., in case you missed some of my previous blogs on the topic, stands for "Cancellation, Restriction, and Punishment." I've even made a video about it. CRAP is my personal acronym for DRM (Digital Rights Management technology).
"Originally, I wanted CRAP to stand for Content Restriction, Annulment, and Protection. But Richard Stallman at the Free Software Foundation convinced me to change its meaning to "Cancellation, Restriction, and Punishment" and ZDNet's readers sided with him."
To digress, as we've posted many a time, iTunes is NOT a corporate music download site. It's a (now) self-funding promo/delivery vehicle for iPod.
And given that iTunes is the ONLY successful corporate download site out there, even if it isn't a corporate download site, ergo, there's as yet no such thing as a "booming" corporate online music market, contrary to claims emanating solely from the Big Four record labels and lamescream media.
Back to Berlind, "First of all, if you want to by music by most major artists one song at a time (the way you should be able to by music) and you want it to be able to play on an iPod, then the only place you can buy that music is from Apple's iTunes Music Store (IMS)," he says. "Music sold through IMS is stuffed in an wrapper that's made out of Apple's proprietary CRAP. Currently, there are only three things that can legally cut through Apple's CRAP to playback the music: the iTunes software, an iPod, or an iTunes phone from Motorola.
"In other words, Apple is solely in charge of when and where music that's purchased through IMS can be played back. It has also refused to license its CRAP to other hi-fi companies. For the last year, I've been arguing that much the same way Apple is using its CRAP to dominate digital music and video playback in the technology market, that it will soon start to nudge the traditional hi-fi manufacturers out of the hi-fi market."
So, "it gets to decide whether or not CRAP-wrapped content will work on the gear that's sold by the traditional home entertainment companies," continues Berlind.
But, "since the home entertainment market is a growth opportunity for Apple, especially if it can kick all the traditional players out of the game, why would Apple ever let those companies play? It doesn't. And to the extent that Apple allows some iPod accessory companies (ones that aren't a threat to its master plan) to participate in the iPod ecosystem, Apple charges them an exorbitant tax. Now that Apple is competing against some of those very same companies, it gets to operate in a tax-free environment while the competitors must pay to play. The real name of Apple's CRAP is FairPlay. But how fair is that? Now that IMS has a virtual lock on the online a la carte digital music sales market, does Apple's refusal to license its technology on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (a practice that could foreclose on competition) constitute a tying violation that trust-busters should be paying attention to?"
Berlind adds that when he first wrote Apple would use CRAP to, "lock home entertainment players out of their own business," a few people wrote to him to say Apple would never do that".
David, a company that's capable of using teenaged RIAA victims in a sick iPod/iTunes advertising campaign, and which'll sue its own supporters, is easily capable of this.
Now, "Apple is going after the home entertainment market and it will use its CRAP to keep the competition at bay. This time, you didn't hear it from me. You heard it straight from the horse's mouth.
"So, HorseCRAP anyone?"
(Thanks again, Julie ; )
Also See: ZDNet - Jobs iPod Hi-Fi: Home stereo reinvented?, March 1, 2006 CRAP? - DRM - a load of CRAP, February 25, 2006 advertising campaign - New Apple Intel ad, January 17, 2006 sue its own supporters - New Apple Asteroid trouble, September 13, 2006
