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June 05, 2003
iTunes, Piracy and Apple
I'm a bit late coming to the "iTunes gets crippled" game, but I read two very good articles about why people are just out of their minds for going ballistic on Apple.
To a large extent, I agree that people are over reacting. Hugely so.
For those that don't know: Apple had introduced the ability to stream music from one instance of iTunes to another. This was a wickedly cool service, as I mentioned before. But then they went and released a new version which, while still allowing local network streaming of music, disabled the ability to stream across the whole Internet.
And it was like Apple had taken out a hot poker and shoved it down people's eye sockets.
Now, don't get me wrong, I think Apple blew this one. It just is not as serious or deadly as others make it.
Firstly, it is not so bad because there are a ton of tools you can use to stream your collection across the web. It just is not going to be using iTunes' very nice interface and it is not going to be integrated.
Secondly, Apple was (over-)reacting to a real problem. People had decided to publish their libraries and were allowing everyone to stream them. That's not so bad in and of itself (after all, libraries are meant for sharing -- books, videos, magazines; this is not all that different). But then some folks figured out a way to create local copies of the streamed music. Now that's just theft. Granted, RIAA blow donkeys, but answering their greed by being exceedingly greedy yourself is not going to make matters better.
The problem I have with this change is that the ability to stream over the net is a valuable one. To be able to listen to my music while 3000 miles away in London or at my neighbor's (who happen to be on another network) would be fantastic. Apple blew it by not considering a different way to make this work while plugging the hole.
I think the solution is a simple, two pronged approach. Instead of treating your customers like children, unable to make a reasonable decision, guide them toward a decent and right decision.
Here's how: make sharing a bit more complex. When someone checks off the preference for sharing music, there should be another tick box for streaming across the net. And once you select that, an admin password should be required.
This forces the user to think about the choice they are making. And a record of that choice can be made.
If further restrictions are warranted, then they could easily make it so that you have to authenticate as the user who is running iTunes on the remote machine. Do you want to share your music so much you are willing to give everyone your password?
The best part would be that people who want to listen to their music everywhere could, and everyone who wants to give their music away would have to use something other than iTunes.
Come on Apple: This has got to be a better solution than just saying no, particularly with your record of doing the right thing by your customers.
Posted by Samer at June 5, 2003 12:05 AM
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Comments
Hi, we noticed your entry about iTunes and the RIAA, because we're starting a new website about filesharing and the music industry. It's grown out of our dissatisfaction both with the whole "illegal downloads" debate in the newspapers and with the shrill "RIAA sucks! let's hack their website" tone of comments on some filesharing websites.
Today we put up our first pieces, which include photos of our flyering campaign, an article about filesharing as civil disobedience, and a really nice parody of iTunes and the Apple website that will probably get us sued.
The project's called Downhill Battle, the site is downhillbattle.org
We're trying to get the word out quick, because we don't know how long the iTunes page will stay up. We have a lot more planned in a couple weeks when we fully launch the site.
We'd love to hear what you think.
Thanks,
Nick and Holmes
Downhill Battle
>> more description/mini-release
Downhill Battle is about why major label domination of music needs to end. Filesharing and CD burning have given us some tools, but we need to defend our right to use them and at the same time develop new ways to support artists. DownhillBattle.org will have articles, music reviews, news, and free music propaganda. There will also be forums where we can drop the debate team bullshit and do some serious strategizing on how to get music back. Because no matter what kind of music you're into, it will be way more fun after the major labels are gone. The Downhill Battle site will launch for real in early September. In the meantime, there will be a pre-launch weblog and photos of our flyer campaign.
Posted by: Downhill Battle at August 26, 2003 08:26 AM