I think I am one of the few people that did not jump on the iTunes band wagon. The main reason was, I didn’t like the fact that the music you buy on iTunes can only be played on an iPod and you have to logon to iTunes to play it on another computer. That can be tricky if you plan on playing your music on a machine that doesn’t have network access.
I understand what they were trying to make the major labels happy by over protecting there music. But it limited the consumer and the people that were going to steal away are unaffected. That’s why I went to eMusic to get my music. They allow you to download unprotected mp3’s that you can play on just about anything. The only drawback is that most major labels would not support them because they are afraid of losing control of the music if it had no copyright protection. This may soon change.
Apple has heard the cries of people like me and they are now trying to push the major labels in allowing them to sale unprotected tracks. In this article on CNN you can find out how Jobs is using the popularity of the iPod and iTunes to pressure the Labels in to giving in. And it’s working! One label has already agreed to allow Apple to start selling unprotected tracks.
This is why a free-market is great. You have the consumers demanding change and a business backing them up. Because it’s in the business’s best interest to make us happy even if that means standing up to a giant. Consumers have the power to change the market and we need to understand that.
