Warner Rejects Jobs' DRM Position

massivefoot writes "Warner Music has rejected the suggestion from Steve Jobs that DRM should be removed from music downloads. In an open letter this week, Jobs said that removing the software would also allow greater usability for customers, as any online music store would be able to sell songs that would work on all players. Warner Music, the world's fourth largest record company, seems far from convinced. "

The RIAA's response

[KingSkippus]

Here's an MSNBC article [msn.com] with just a few more details. It has the RIAA's response:

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs challenged major record labels to strip copying restrictions from music sold online, but their trade group fired back Wednesday, suggesting the company should open up its anti-piracy technology to rivals instead.

Doing so, argued Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, would eliminate technology hurdles that prevent music fans from buying songs at Apple's iTunes Music Store and playing them on devices other than the iPod.

"We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen," Bainwol said in a statement.

Re:"We can't," "They can..."

[blowdart]

Apple says it's not practical (or even possible) to adequately DRM music and license the technology to others, because that necessarily means sharing "secrets," and the more people that you share the secret with, the harder it is to keep the secret.

Except Microsoft managed it with WMDRM; that was cracked a couple of times (one outstanding right now); and it took a lot longer than FairPlay. If the labels were really going to pull their music when FairPlay got hacked and not fixed then how come iTunes has music when there are a bunch of outstanding cracks [wikipedia.org] out there? Don't forget that OSX has the biggest DRM of all, it can't be run on an non-Apple machine. I view Job's statement as playing to the crowd and passing the buck, instead of an honest intention to stop DRM if he could.

Re:One Last Blow

[tepples]

That's the kicker, isn't it? Their back catalog of artists that were not exactly barn-burners is huge. What does it profit them to sit on the music and not let it be heard? They could start an "emusic" like service that gave, for $10 a month, 40 downloads of old, crufty music that has been out of print for decades... (drm-free of course... why in the hell would they protect it? They're not making any money off it as it is...)

Because a lot of people get residuals off each copy sold, including the songwriter and his publisher.

Re:PR Stunt?

[tepples]

Steve Jobs knew no major music label would accept a proposition such as that.

You mean like EMI [slashdot.org]?