I read this post on SlashDot and thought it might be indicating an article about the coming personal digital device revolution where we all carry around a phone-PDA-iPod-GPS-hard drive. Then I skimmed the indicated article which seems to be more about a disagreement between RealNetworks and Apple over the rights to interact with iPods.
In a hacker's ideal world (and by "hacker" I mean "programmer"), we all use interoperable standards. The iPod wouldn't be the issue at stake, as such, because it would use the one universal managed music format that is freely available to everyone. RealNetworks and Apple would both be providing a service of downloadable music for a fee, and the disagreement would likely be over content theft or the rights to a certain label's music. See the difference? You can do what you like with your content, but the protocol must be open. That's how we create better competition and serve our users properly, because what they want is the music, not the method.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I acknowledge that it is often difficult to create a standard that fits everyone's needs.
PPS - Most of the time, though, we don't even try.
2 comments:
"Then I skimmed the indicated article which seems to be more about a disagreement between RealNetworks and Apple over the rights to interact with iPods."
If you find the time, it might be worth not skimming... you might be suprised as to what it was really about, although I doubt you'll be happier with what's said.
~ drunkenbatman
Okay, I took your advice and read your entire article. It's a hard slog, to be sure, but I think I get the point now about Apple working towards being the DRM content gatekeeper. Their future smells like money to them. It'll be an interesting trick if they can pull it off.
Do you think they can? Keeping a stranglehold on one aspect of an industry can be tricky, especially when others are able to create competition, even on a small scale. Innovators start to eat away at the fringes and more energy gets devoted to maintaining the status quo, which keeps your service stagnant and allows more nimble competitors to get the drop. It's complicated, it's slower than I've depicted, and quite often it doesn't happen at all, but it can happen.
Mokalus of Borg
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