According to Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft), “The most common format of music on an iPod is ’stolen’.” Speaking to a group of press on the subject of DRM and security in the Windows OS, Ballmer decided to take a stab at Apple’s iPod, and the fact that it supports DRM-less mp3’s, amongst other formats. The CEO is basically trying to use scare tactics to convince members of the entertainment industry to support Microsoft’s Standard, rather than Apple’s. That is fine – that’s business. What annoys me is actually twofold: 1) Ballmer makes a totally unfounded, fact-less statement.
By making a blanket statement that all iPods are vehicles for pirated music, he shows how truly ignorant he is about the subject. I can only offer anecdotal evidence here, as there is no hard data on what percentage of music on an iPod is actually legally owned. However, I can speak for myself and others that I know.
Most people who own iPods LOVE music – people don’t pay 300, 400 dollars simply to have all of their music with them at all times. With that in mind, these are people who love the musicians who supply them with the music they are hearing. iPod owners are typically people who are more than willing and more than happy to either go to their local store and get the album of the artist they enjoy, or download them on iTunes, eMusic, etc.
I personally am that type of person. I budget X dollars a month towards music purchases, evenly split between iTunes and physical CDs (I’m not going to get into the RIAA v. Recording artist argument today). Of the 5000 mp3s/AAC Files I own, less than 50 are not legally mine. These are songs that I have had for years – from friend’s CD’s etc… and these are the first to be replaced when I buy new/used CDs each month – so that number shrinks by 10 or so every month, not grows. 2) Secondly, the fact that Ballmer isn’t trying to work on an OPEN DRM codec irks me. This is just another scare tactic by Microsoft to corner the market on rights management, and they are taking shots at the current leader (Apple) to scare the industry, rather than trying to create a superior product (has anyone seen the first version of the MS music store awful…). Customers don’t want DRM, they don’t want to be told how they can and cannot use what they own.
The more restrictive companies try to be, the less the product will sell. AAC is at least fair, and fairly flexible. Is it perfect Hardly.
But it’s a great balance of protection for the artists/labels, and flexibility for the consumer. Ballmer’s statements are only going to backfire on Microsoft, in my opinion. Trying to scare the industry into using their standard is what got us into this whole mess to begin with.
Music piracy has been around longer than the iPod, and it’s not going away any time soon. To try to claim all iPod users are pirates is laughable, and shows how little Microsoft “gets it” sometimes.