waffle

In a response issued after the law won initial approval, Apple said: “If this happens, legal music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers.”

But, it added, the law could prove a boon for Apple and its popular iPod music players.

Said Apple: “iPod sales will likely increase as users freely load their iPods with “interoperable” music which cannot be adequately protected. Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy.” [My emphasis.]

Yes, Apple, please protect me from my own music.

Surely, a state-run company offering a broadband line is much more likely to actually ’sponsor’ piracy, and these exist in lots of civilized countries today. Liberating people from DRM is likely to *encourage* sales rather than slow them down, as people who wouldn’t want to buy out of principle would run out and buy en masse. And people who download music (or movies, for that matter) freely will continue to do that, just as they always have.

That said, read this.