>From the 2003 memo by Majidimehr to Bill Gates et al:
"There is no question that we are behind Apple on iPod. We have being
trying in
the fast few months to see if Apple would support WMA on iPed They
said yes,
but under terms that we could not live with (perpetual no-cost source/
object
license, support only in iTunes and NOT media player or service,
etc.). We are
still working this but
the outlook is not bright. "
This caught my attention because of a recent article by Dan Dilger, on
why Apple is killing the Pre via iTunes:
<Quote>
I don’t think Palm is even on Apple’s radar as a threat. Instead,
Apple’s efforts to block the Pre are really aimed at a larger target.
Here’s why.....
Apple wasn’t afraid that Real’s DRM would win against its own FairPlay
DRM when exposed to competition in a fair market; it was primarily
concerned that this nonsense of “competition” in licensing the same
commodity music from the same labels using different DRM would take
hold and allow Microsoft to turn back the clock for a few more years
of trying to stuff Pandora’s DRM-free music back into the Windows
Media Audio DRM box. (And I mean Pandora the mythical allegory, not
Pandora the radio service).
After all, if Apple were forced to support Real’s DRM on the iPod, it
would also be forced to support Microsoft’s. Windows Enthusiasts have
long complained that iPods contained the latent capability to play
back WMA DRM, if only Apple could be forced to pay Microsoft to
license its use. This would effectively allow Microsoft to leverage
the popularity and goodwill of the iPod to force adoption of its WMA
DRM.
Rather than comprehending how terrible it would be to have some fake
competition in DRM, where one of the competitors was an 800lb gorilla
that was exempt from obeying US law and court-ordered consent decrees
throughout the last two decades, rather than real competition in
selling inherently interoperable music without DRM, idiot pundits
tried to make Apple out as bad while championing the largely
irrelevant Real. Wittingly or not, they were actually rooting for
Microsoft to prevail with its draconian form of DRM.
</Quote>
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2009/07/27/why-apple-is-killing-the-pre-via-itunes/#more-3638
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