Cory Doctorow (whose DRM talk is known far and wide) says that this Wired article is "a little soft on DRM." This post responds with the "DRM on the market is better than nothing on the market" argument that I argued against in another thread by saying that this means "lousy products on the market are better than nothing on the market." Later, I also said that when a monopolist puts a lousy product into the market that sells well, that can't be considered a "success" for the market the same way a well-sold product with competition is a success. Cory's response is longer and more thorough, but there's something that still bothers me.
The iTunes Music Store has been successful. As I say, this is not the same kind of success as a market with competition, and if you've read the links above, you know what's bad about what they're selling. Still, I fear The Market may really believe that bad products are good enough. If that's true, it's a sad day for the masses who've consigned themselves to suffer with DRM, but it's also a sad day for me. Since I'm already trying to be patent-free, I already see a limited market before me to support my ideals. If DRM becomes the standard, Cory and I might find ourselves without the same toys as the unenlightened kids down the block.
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