Sony Makes Smart Move, Dumb Decision
In a move that would mark the end of a digital music era, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is finalizing plans to sell songs without the copyright protection software that has long restricted the use of music downloaded from the Internet, BusinessWeek.com has learned. Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony and Bertelsmann, will make at least part of its collection available without so-called digital rights management, or DRM, software some time in the first quarter, according to people familiar with the matter.
It’ll only be through the Amazon store. I love Amazon’s MP3 store. Don’t get me wrong. But to try to screw Apple by denying them DRM-free music when they started this whole thing is just like leaving bags of money on the side of the road. As great as Amazon’s system is, there are lots of people who won’t look past iTunes. Sony is deciding to put its own stupid corporate ego ahead of sound business practice here. They could sell twice as many DRM-free tracks if they let Apple sell them, too.
And I have to wonder if all those people who wanted to sue Apple for being a music monopoly will now sue the companies that sell DRM-free music on Amazon, but not iTunes.
Yeah, I didn’t think so, either.