Apple would prefer DRM-free music. There’s no doubt that DRM creates bad user experience… and that is simply not going to help the big music companies pull dollars.
Seems there is an industry shift towards publishing DRM-free content… its about time!
But I suspect that allowing tunes purchased on iTunes to run on other MP3 players is only the first step. Expecting users who have purchased DRM-free music to stop copying it onto their friend’s computers is expecting too much. People want to share music. Music is about listening, and sharing. Everyone gets pleasure from sharing a piece of music they like with someone else.
The big companies will have to eventually find an other business model that allows people to share the music they manage, and still pay their artists and get profit. Ofcourse, I dont believe that the big music publishers will do this …. I believe that some little site somewhere (or a dozen little sites somewhere) will work out how to do this, and then everyone will come running behind.
