I applauded Sony BMG when they announced they would be offering DRM-free music for download. After all, the idea of DRM is fundamentally broken - when there is an abundant supply of free music that will play on any device at high quality, why would people realistically pay for an inferior product?
It’s worth noting that iTunes got around this point, to an extent, for a long time by providing a seamless user experience. And because iPods are far and away the best selling digital audio players, iPod owners didn’t really care that their iTunes-purchased music would only play on an iPod. Nonetheless, even Apple now offers DRM-free tracks from several labels, as do several other retailers.
Sony BMG appears to be missing the point of downloaded music entirely with their latest initiative, however. Yes, they are offering DRM-free tracks. But you have to go to a retail store to buy a card which will then let you go home and download your chosen album. Frankly, I’m baffled. It requires all of the trouble of going to a store to buy a CD, but without the satisfaction of owning a physical object.
And the music industry has the gall to complain about bleeding money.
UPDATE (1/11/07): I’m glad to learn that this isn’t the *only* way Sony BMG will be selling DRM-free music. They are also making their “entire catalog available” on Amazon’s MP3 digital music store.
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