Music Set To Go Free: Homer Can't Believe It Either

Talk about reaching around your shoulder to scratch your ass. Now after all these years, ridiculous restrictions and attempted "DRM" methods the music industry is finally coming to the realization of simple economics; make it cheap and readily available and people will buy it, period. They have tried this with online music stores but they weigh it down by trying to keep it from "getting out" -why?

I just had a discussion about this topic last night with Jess. I could never, EVER understand what the big deal was when (all too late) the music industry realized "Oh, shit, they can make these digital and portable? CRAP!" Why didn't they just start selling tracks online right then and there with no DRM?

Simple economics also dictates a second rule; get your product as close to "fast, free and now" as you can with whatever you're peddling and you'll make money and own the market. No one, in significant enough numbers to counteract profitability, steals what meets those two simple economic standards of consumption.

So here's to the future of digital music; they way it should have been all along. - JK

DRM-free MP3s starting to attract major players

Sunnyvale (CA) - As more MP3 players enter the market, with increasing confusion over digital security and copyright licenses, a couple major record labels are part of a new initiative to offer files that are stripped of all digital restrictions...

...The entire purpose of the DRM architecture is to prevent illegal copying and playback of purchased content. However, devoted music pirates don't even need to worry about this barrier because there are other illegal, peer-to-peer options that allow users to download MP3 files for free with no DRM restrictions attached to them....

...With Sony BMG and Disney's Hollywood Records both dabbling in the market of selling unrestricted MP3s, it could be a sign of a reversal back to more simplistic music downloading technology. "They're still looking at it as an experiment but the labels have really come a long way in terms of wanting to see how this works for them," said Yahoo spokesperson Carrie Davis. (credit Mark Raby, tomshardware.com; full story here)