Steve Jobs Back To Being A Fan Of DRM In iPhone 'Bundle'?
from the let's-pretend-we're-bundling-music... dept
This has been rumored for some time, but the Financial Times is reporting that Apple is trying to negotiate with the record labels for a new offering that would provide access to music as a bundle with an iPhone. The idea is that you could buy the iPhone and get "unlimited" access to music, either in a lump sum or with a subscription fee. Of course, there are some rather important caveats. While this would get a lot of attention, you only get access to the music for the lifetime of the device or subscription (if you didn't pay a lump sum). While there's a small concession that you'd get to keep 40 to 50 songs after the device died or the subscription ended, you'd lose the rest of the songs. In other words, despite Steve Jobs' supposed dislike for DRM, this music would be quite DRM'd. Limited subscription plans have been around for ages and they've never gone very far because of those limitations. People know better by now, and so should Steve Jobs.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: business models, drm, iphone, itunes, music, steve jobs, subscriptions
Companies: apple
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
reason364
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
reason365??
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: reason365??
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Get the facts straight!
Journalism sure isn't what it used to be.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Get the facts straight!
What difference does it make? This isn't about the device, it's about the offering. And I don't hate the iPhone. This has nothing to do with whether it's the iPhone or not.
Journalism sure isn't what it used to be.
And for that we should be thankful. But we've never claimed to be journalists, and I'd appreciate you not lumping us in as journalists.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
iPhone derision
I'm sure Mr. Jobs is a great guy, and he's clearly a great salesperson and has great idea - but like all great guys, 90% of his ideas are simply rubbish. Fortunately, the 10% that are great, tend to be fantastic.
Me, I'm waiting for Nokia/Sony Ericsson/Samsung etc. to get their touch-screen phones out. I use quite a lot of little java applets on my current SE phone that I'd quite like to port over.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Why other subscriptions failed
a. Most streamed the music which limits where/when you can play it.
b. Most didn't offer music downloads to own in conjunction with the subscription, and when they did offer downloads the music library was pathetic.
Apple will likely offer a subscription service in conjunction with the a la carte purchase option currently in place. This is a response to Zune's offering I am guessing.
The only real downside I could see from Apple's standpoint is a subscription service could cannibalize a la carte music sales.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hate subscriptions
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Poor Steve
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Poor Steve
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tasting device placed firmly into fleshy part of f
Seriously though...I use rhapsody and I don't mind paying for the convenience of having "most" songs I want at my disposal.
Does anyone know if the Ipod touches can use safari to play songs from rhapsody?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Free Music
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Free Music
You may have a talent that his highly specialized - neurologist - which may put you in a better bargaining position. If you have skills that are common to many people, then you won't be getting much in return.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ala Zune
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ala Zune
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How exactly is this bad?
One last thing: I really do not like Apple at all, and recommend that if you are going to buy digital music that you do it from Amazon.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
reason 364 for not buying a Iphone I wont bore you with the other 363
See yea! Don't ket the future hit you on the ass on your way out.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If iTunes is a monopoly in the music-downloading business (a big if, for sure), then surely giving preferential deals to iPod owners constitutes 'yoking' a monopoly in one area of your business to another of your products, thus unfairly skewing the market against your competitors?
Wouldn't this have to be open to all iTunes users, not just iPod owners?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Actions speak louder than words.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]