http://news.techwhack.com/7927-rhapsody-itunes News from the Tech and IT World Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:03:06 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 http://news.techwhack.com/7927-rhapsody-itunes#comment-403460 dave Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:22:22 +0000 http://news.techwhack.com/?p=7927#comment-403460 They are only 'embracing' the iPod because the majors labels are colluding to let them, in an attempt to reduce the iTMS market share. This is not about growing the market, but selectively killing a specific distributor. They can't get together and stop selling through the iTMS, as that would definitely appear anti-competitive AND cost them lots of money in lost sales. Instead, they are going for keeping iTMS crippled as much as possible with DRM, while letting the competition go DRM-free, yet keep the same or lower prices than the iTMS. If this process works, and iTMS's market share is greatly reduced, you can then welcome DRM back, along with higher prices. They are only ‘embracing’ the iPod because the majors labels are colluding to let them, in an attempt to reduce the iTMS market share. This is not about growing the market, but selectively killing a specific distributor. They can’t get together and stop selling through the iTMS, as that would definitely appear anti-competitive AND cost them lots of money in lost sales. Instead, they are going for keeping iTMS crippled as much as possible with DRM, while letting the competition go DRM-free, yet keep the same or lower prices than the iTMS. If this process works, and iTMS’s market share is greatly reduced, you can then welcome DRM back, along with higher prices.

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