Monopoly on Misunderstanding
I’ve read some bru-ha-ha about Apple having a monopoly in online music distribution and I would like to debunk some pretty strange ideas.
Locked In
If buying music through iTunes that has the DRM that only allows you to play your purchased music on an iPod or burn it to a CD is considered locking in, how is it OK for Microsoft to have a Zune Store and Zune that do exactly the same thing? From what I’ve read, it sounds like people are just trading one lock-in for another. If you truly believe this system is anti-consumer, and you aren’t just bashing the iPod because you hate Apple and hate it’s popularity, then how on Earth can you praise the Zune for doing the exact same thing?
DRM
Lest we forget that it was the Music Industry that wanted songs to be wrapped in DRM and not Apple. If the stories are true, Stevie J. tried in vain to get the labels to at least try to sell songs without any silly DRM on them. Had the music industry not forced Apple to wrap their music in DRM, this whole sordid tale would be completely different now. Think about it. If music from the iTunes Music Store (Now just iTunes Store) was without DRM then Apple would have no such lock-in worries that people have today. You could buy any device that could play AAC files, of which there are many, and play your music. And if Apple was so damn interested in keeping the so-called lock-in in place, why on Earth would they allow EMI or anyone else to sell DRM-free songs in the form of iTunes Plus? That goes against everyone’s assertion that they are trying to lock you to their iPod and their store. You can take the iTunes Plus tracks and play them on your Nokia phone, your Sony Ericsson phone or any other device that plays AAC. It’s your call. You. The consumer.
A True Monopoly
If this were 1998 and Microsoft hadn’t yet bent Netscape over the barrel, this is exactly what a true monopoly would do:
- Give manufactures like Dell, HP, and Gateway a heavy discount for putting the Zune Store on the Desktop and removing any other competition from the machine.
- If they don’t want the discount, threaten to not sell them Windows at all unless they put the Zune Store on the Desktop and remove any other competition from the machine.
- Give away a free Zune 4 with every PC purchased, losing money on each freebie given but ensuring that the world will then own a Zune and have used the Zune Store and thereby crushing all competition before there can even be any competition.
- Deny any music label the chance to sell anything DRM-free because you effectively have the lock-in you were after in the first place.
- Force everyone to purchase a subscription of which you get a monthly piece of the pie and stop selling songs outright. If you want to hear your music in the future, you must continue to pay for the subscription as long as you are alive.
Apple’s iTunes and iPod are not a monopoly. They have a large market-share but that is not what defines a monopoly. You can currently purchase an iPod, a Zune, a Sansa, a Creative device, a Nokia phone, a Sony Ericsson phone, a Motorola phone, an HTC device, or any number of devices to play MP3s on. You can also purchase music from eMusic, or AmazonMP3, or you can go to any store and buy a CD and rip the track into MP3 using any software and play it on your iPod or whatever device you so choose.
When you have that many choices and that many options, how is this a monopoly?
1 Comment to Monopoly on Misunderstanding
There’s even a 6th step on the Microsoft path:
When consumers start demanding DRM-free, sell tracks in Windows Media which can indeed be DRM-free, but still only playable where Microsoft sees fit to license the format (unlike AAC which is a true standard not owned and loosely specified by one single company).
Great piece anyway!
May 9, 2008