(via BoingBoing)
Recently the French government, in an unusually intelligent display of government doing the right thing, proposed a law which would require all companies which restrict music portability to license their DRM technologies to any company that wants to build a music player. In response to this, Apple, via Steve Jobs, has criticised the French government, saying this would result in customers filling their iPods with “pirate” music and videos. Of course, Apple does not want to license their DRM, as that would make it possible for other companies to get iTunes protected tunes to play on non-iPod devices. The funny thing is, in 2002 Steve Jobs said consumers needed the right to play any licensed music on whatever device they chose.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs offered a critical view of the recording industry in an interview, following Apple’s acceptance of a technical Grammy award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences last week. As reported by Don Clark of The Wall Street Journal, Jobs suggested that recording labels need to make it easier for consumers to use their own music however they want.
“If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own,” said Jobs.
So back when iTunes/iPod technologies were starting and not the dominant force, Apple was a consumer advocate saying music legally acquired should be playable on the device of the customers’ choosing. Now, music should be restricted to the device permitted by the music download provider?  Hmmmmm.
[tags]Apple, Steve Jobs, DRM[/tags]