Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• Is Apple about to launch a subscription service?

  Rumors of an iTunes subscription service have resurfaced . At first I thought that the DRM-free announcement meant a subscription service was less likely , but perhaps the opposite is true. First of all, album purchases will already be the DRM-free "premium" versions. As for individual tracks, the new "premium" tracks are competing directly with the DRM-protected tracks. That is, no one is going to buy both - and I fully expect the majority to choose DRM-free even with a 30% premium. Furthermore, if everything is encumbered with DRM, a subscription service undermines the very profitable individual track purchases. After all, if you're just renting your music anyway, you might as well get it from an all-you-can-eat service at, say, $10 a month instead of paying $1 for each song. On the other hand, a subscription service with DRM can in fact be complementary to purchasing DRM-free tracks. You rent it and, if you really like it, pay for it and keep it forever. No DRM, no activation, no limitation... Posted Apr 12 2007, 03:27 PM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Music, Business, Apple, Audio, DRM

• The Day DRM Died

  As Mike Arrington put it, April 2nd was "the day DRM died". The big news yesterday was that EMI will begin selling its entire catalog without DRM . Starting in May, EMI will start offering a new "premium" option - for $1.29 (30% more than the base $0.99), you get higher audio quality (encoded at 256kbps vs. 128 kbps) and no DRM. ($0.99 individual song downloads will still be available with DRM and lower bitrate). Perhaps more importantly, entire albums will still cost $9.99 but will be the higher quality, DRM-free versions, and users can "upgrade" their past purchases by paying the 30 cent differential. Perhaps Steve Jobs wasn't lying after all . It is unlikely (perhaps moreso) that we'll get a subscription-based service for the iPod, but this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. A high quality, DRM-free album for $10 is an enticing proposition for most people who otherwise turn to piracy . Apple is working on similar deals with other labels and Jobs expects that "50% of all their... Posted Apr 03 2007, 01:51 PM by Tim with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: Music, Apple, DRM