More About EMI
Well now I feel bad I didn’t say nicer things about EMI yesterday – Gizmodo says that according to an EMI spokesperson, “The iTunes premium price and AAC 256 kbps format are Apple’s Marketing decision.” I suppose that might mean that EMI would have been into offering full quality files without an increase in price, but Apple made them do it this way. Maybe. I still think it’s kind of an irritating way to do things – taking away the right to play your music on any device, and then charging you money to get it back – but maybe the blame doesn’t lie with EMI.
I used to work for EMI you know, back when I was first a grownup here in NYC. I’m still pretty sure I can blame them for how much that job sucked.
Comments
Glenn says
Alternatively, it could mean that offering the files at all was Apple's decision, and they're using some deft phrasing to imply that they're not responsible for the price bump as well. Just speculating.
Scarybug says
What this does is set a good precedent that hopefully other companies will follow at competitive prices. I'm pretty cynical about "free-market-as-panacea" but maybe in this case it will work?
At least it looks like DRM is slowly dying.
Spiff says
"At least it looks like DRM is slowly dying. "
It's waaay too early to be saying that yet. ;)
Scarybug says
You're right. That was probably over optimistic. But it IS a blow. That's still good right?
Spiff says
Yes, getting blown is good...
awryone says
Amen, Brother Spiff
js says
Ordinary tracks are 128kbps, right? Maybe the extra $0.30 helps cover the added bandwidth. Or maybe that's their excuse, since I doubt it costs them nearly that much to serve 5 megabytes.
Sarah says
I have to do copyright licensing negotiations with EMI at work, and based on that experience, I'm more than willing to blame them for virtually anything. They have a big ol' rubber stamp that says "if you even want us to read this fax at all, it'll cost you a minimum of $1500." Nice folks.