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January 27, 2004
The Real Lock-In
More so I don't forget these links than for you, dear readers:
Yesterday, Robert Scoble, who works for Microsoft, wrote a long entry (choosing a media player. Scoble's basic point is if you plan to buy DRM-protected music online, you should buy a media player powered by Windows Media software instead of an Apple iPod because it's likely there will be more Windows Media powered devices (e.g. moving the DRM-protected song from your media player to a car stereo) than there will be Apple devices.
Scoble's logic -- or lack thereof -- was so brain-spinningly ass-backwards that when I began to write about it yesterday, I got so frustrated I gave up. Glad I did, because today Cory Doctorow managed to explain the flaws in Scoble's argument better than I could have:
In this world where we have consumer choices to make, Scoble argues that our best buy is to pick the lock-in company that will have the largest number of licensees.Bravo.That's just about the worst choice you can make.
If I'm going to protect my investment in digital music, my best choice is clearly to invest in buying music in a format that anyone can make a player for.
Posted January 27, 2004 06:00 PM