iTunes DRM probably won’t be dropped today, but let’s look ahead, with e-books in mind
I tried out Random House’s free e-book deal for Stanza users last night. What a pleasure it was to be able to see full-length books from well-known authors without DRM and the rest getting into the way. I might as well have been cruising down I-395 in rush hour without any other cars to slow me down.
Let’s hope that even with e-commerce features enabled, such arrangements can make book-buying seamless beyond the Kindle level. Remember, we want to be able to enjoy e-books on a variety of devices, and DRM is a major obstacle.
So you can imagine my excitement—with e-books in mind—when I saw reports that iTunes may go DRM-free today in regard to music from the three giants of the trade, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Group. Most likely the the rumors are not true for now, but it’s good to hear of continued talks with Apple on the removal of DRM. EMI, the fourth biggest company, already sells DRM-less music via iTunes.
The direction of the music industry, away from DRM, is clear. May book publishers and the IPDF listen. Meanwhlie Venture Beat offers a few more details on iTunes and DRM:
…there are some other odd things going on — indicating to me that changes are coming — just not yet. First of all, the link for “iTunes Plus†that resides on the right side upper column of the main iTunes page is back. We noted that this link disappeared a couple weeks ago without any indication as to why. This, along with reports of random previously protected tracks showing up on iTunes DRM-free, made it seem like that a change was coming soon.
But now it’s back without any new tracks or information. It seems to me that Apple is clearly working on this area, but it doesn’t appear to be set for a new launch yet. Perhaps this is because when Apple does unveil the remaining studios selling DRM-free music, basically the whole of iTunes will be an iTunes Plus store.
And I say “when†because it’s pretty clear the change is coming, it’s just a matter of Apple and the labels finalizing the details. We know they’ve been talking for months and evidently quite seriously for several weeks.
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