Robert Scoble: “I’m the last guy in the world to link to Steve Jobs’ memo about DRM.” Nope, I am closer to the last.
Whether it’s downloadable music, movies, or books, DRM has throttled adoption of much of this content. As Don Dodge points out, this is the choice of the publishers. Of course, there’s nothing holding back a new generation of content providers that see things differently. What I’d like to see is Apple (or Microsoft or Google) step up and help facilitate this next generation of publishers.
Update: Larry Lessig points out that some music publishers have asked to sell DRM-free music via the iTunes Store and Apple has refused. I’m not sure if the iTunes store is 100% DRM, but if it is and publishers have asked to sell non-DRM music, then there appears to be more to this story. If Apple doesn’t like DRM music, why not offer DRM-free music on its store? Is this a policy that’s about to change? Are the record labels requiring a “non-compete” when licensing their content?