Because They’re Spiteful Small-Minded Idiots Who Hate Their Own Customers

The number two item in PC World’s “11 Things We Hate About iTunes” list is “DRM (Boo!)”:

iTunes gave us the 99-cent song download, thus paving the way for honest people to buy music at a fair price. So why does the iTunes Store still employ digital rights management (DRM) for the majority of songs in its library? Blaming the record labels no longer holds water: AmazonMP3 and Rhapsody are among a growing number of services selling DRM-free MP3s from all the major labels, not just EMI. At least iTunes no longer charges extra for the latter’s “iTunes Plus” selections, but why hasn’t Apple given DRM the heave-ho once and for all?

Because the music labels (other than EMI) won’t let them.

★ Tuesday, 12 August 2008