Re: The problem with Apple Music Store

Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 04:28:33 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy,ba.broadcast
Size: 2,506 bytes

"Seeker1" <email-address-deleted> wrote in message
news:email-address-deleted...
> Plus, the potential "market" for video piracy seems to be even huger
> than music piracy. So the dangers may be greater too.
Downloading video is still a very time-consuming process,
even with DSL or a cable modem, even if you only want VCD
quality. A peer to peer video equivalent of Kaaza is not
practical, and the entertainment industry could easily shut
down a server based video download service (as they did
with Napster).
The potential for video piracy is already here, even without
ubiquitous high speed Internet. I can rent a DVD or
Videocassette for $2 ($1 for old releases). Or I can borrow
videos from the library for free. I can easily make a copies of the
DVD or videocassette, there are plenty of Macrovision
eliminators on the market, but why bother since a) I don't want
to watch the same movie over and over, and b) I don't want my
house filling up with more junk. Music is inherently different.
People do want to listen to the same music often, they want it
available in their car, on their PC, on their home stereo, and on
their portable CD or MP3 player, without carrying the media
from one place to another.
Blockbuster probably does have a limited lifetime due to their
high prices and high overhead; video rental will end up being a
counter inside a supermarket or drugstore. Hollywood Video
opened a store near me, and closed it after one year; it could
not compete with the drugstore in the same shopping center that
rents new releases for $2. The much hated DIVX concept might
have worked had they had ubiquitous distribution at $2 per movie,
rather than extremely limited distribution at $4 per movie.
I hope that Apple does well with this service, but too many people
now believe that it's okay to steal music. There's a radio talk
show host on KGO in San Francisco, Ronn Owens, that constantly
brags about how he hasn't paid for music in years, and that it's okay
because the record labels charge too much (guess I can go steal
a Lexus because I want one and I think that Lexus is charging too
much).
Microsoft is off doing a deal with Macrovision to add DRM to
audio CDs. Adding copy protection to audio CDs is a sure way
to drive more people to Kaaza. To be fair though, Microsoft
is trying to find a way around the inability to play copy
protected CDs on PCs, but they are making matters worse by
trying to enable copy protected CDs to become legitimate.