Apple CEO Jobs Calls on Labels to Abandon Digital Rights Management

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 6, 2007 - 10:35am.

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple CEO Steve Jobs fired a direct shot at the record industry on Tuesday, in the form of an open letter posted to the company's website that suggests that labels should abandon digital rights management (DRM) technology and release songs for sale in an unprotected format that can play on any device.

"Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats," Jobs wrote.

"In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat."

A number of consumer advocacy groups in Europe, from countries including France, Finland, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands, have complained that Apple has a digital music monopoly, as songs purchased from its iTunes Store will only play on its iPod.

They have called on Apple to license its FairPlay security technology so that iTunes songs can play on rival players.

In his letter, Jobs suggested that these complaints might be better directed at the record industry, which insisted on the addition of digital rights management to songs before licensing them to Apple for sale on iTunes.

"Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free," Jobs wrote.

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