Way back in Vol #48, Issue 75 I wrote:<br><br>>The whole fight over DRM on music just ended this last month. The fact that<br>>iTunes is now going to offer DRM-free versions of almost all of its music<br>>signals that the end of DRM is on the way. M$ followed suit within days for
<br>>it's Zune service. Over the next year or so competition will drive prices<br>>down yet again, and fewer and fewer consumers will buy the DRM'd version<br>>until the providers see no point in carrying it any more. Sure, the DMCA
<br>>will still exist, but it will molder in a folder somewhere because the<br>>content providers themselves will see no point in enforcing it. Within a few<br>>years the MPAA will be forced into the same position the
<span id="st" name="st" class="st">RIAA</span> now finds<br>>itself in.<br><br>Note the part where I said " fewer and fewer consumers will buy the DRM'd version until the providers see no point in carrying it any more".
<br><br>I also postulated that the music providers hate DRM more than us because it costs them a lot in time, effort and money and does nothing but p*ss their customers off. <br><br>Well, looks like I was accurate on the prediction, but wrong on the time line. Instead of it happening 18 months from now - it's NOW.
<br><br><a href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_Amazoncom_Music_Store.html">http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_Amazoncom_Music_Store.html</a><br><br>Watch - in a matter of weeks or months M$, Apple and Wal-Mart will follow suit, maybe faster. Moore's law seems to be affecting the technology world in ways more than anticipated.
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