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Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music

By | May 21, 2008, 10:44am PDT

Summary: Does Apple have a Kick Me sign on their back or something? First Netflix fires a major shot over the bow of the Apple TV with their new Netflix Player set-top box, now Napster is going after iTunes with a new DRM-free music service. “We’re now moving from under the DRM cloud,” Chris Gorog, Napster chief [...]

Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free musicDoes Apple have a Kick Me sign on their back or something?

First Netflix fires a major shot over the bow of the Apple TV with their new Netflix Player set-top box, now Napster is going after iTunes with a new DRM-free music service.

“We’re now moving from under the DRM cloud,” Chris Gorog, Napster chief executive.

Napster yesterday launched “the world’s largest and most comprehensive MP3 store” with a catalog of more than six million songs. Most songs are available at 256kbps bit rate with high resolution album art for $0.99 each, with most albums selling for $9.95. Apple can still claim to be the world’s largest digital music store, Napster just has more MP3s.

The main advantage of DRM-free music is the ability to play it on any device or platform that you want. Many songs currently being sold from the iTunes Music Store are encoded with Apple’s FairPlay DRM system and can only be played back on an iPod or iPhone authorized by the purchaser to do so. Of course, DRM can be stripped by burning FairPlay-encoded tracks to CD-ROM then re-ripping them in iTunes as unprotected MP3s but most people can’t be bothered with the hassle.

Subscribers to Napster’s monthly subscription service will still be bound by DRM that requires them to be a paying member to continue to listen to their tracks.

Amazon MP3 became the first store to carry DRM-free music from all four major labels in January 2008. But Napster now beats #2 Amazon by a hair. Napster offers 6 million tracks and Amazon lists 5.2 million downloads in its offering.

Is should only be a matter of time before Zune, Real and Yahoo to announce deals with the major labels to sell MP3s. Will Apple be the last one to go DRM-free?

Oh, the irony.

Poll

Who will you buy your music from?

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Topics

Digital-rights Management, Apple Inc., MP3, Apple iTunes, Music, Napster Inc., Digital Rights Management (DRM), Digital Media, Digital Music, Security, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O\'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve

    • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
xiaoming3 15th Dec 2009
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0 Votes
+ -
iTMS already sells DRM free songs
winski 21st May 2008
They cost no more than the DRM version either. The problem
is the labels, not Apple.

BTW, Napster is about 5 dollars from bankruptcy. This is a
pore squirming animal in the last throws of death. Watch it
wiggle as it does anything to stay alive.
0 Votes
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Yes
tikigawd 22nd May 2008
That's why so many other companies have a larger DRM-free library than Apple...
Apple had nothing to do with that at all.
0 Votes
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Non-story
frgough 21st May 2008
iTunes has every drm-free track that Napster does. This is a
marketing gimmick, nothing more.

The only good thing about it is that it will push harder for all
tracks to be drm-free. This battle is pretty much won. Now it's
time to go after video.
0 Votes
+ -
Contributr
Ahh, but you missed an important aspect of this story ...
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes 21st May 2008
... Napster's keeping their license servers going for the time being, but I really doubt that they'll continue to do that indefinitely. What that means is that anything that users have bought previously is living on borrowed time. Once Napster pulls the plug on the license servers existing customers will get a big slap to the face.
0 Votes
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And when Apple does it?
mdemuth 21st May 2008
What happens when Apple stops authorizing systems and most of what people bought on iTunes goes poof?

DRM sucks. Eventually, everyone that bought into it gets the same slap on the face.
0 Votes
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Just buy CDs and rip them
tikigawd 22nd May 2008
I can't understand why anyone would willingly shackle him or herself to download restricted music from any company.

Oh yeah, I know why... laziness.
0 Votes
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I think I'll stick to buying CDs thank you
labarker 21st May 2008
That way I can play my music on my iPod and also on
anything capable of playing a CD. Well, that's how it's
been so far. happy
0 Votes
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Owning a real CD
snordha1@... 21st May 2008
For 50% more, I'll continue to buy my CDs from the bands - I like mostly independent artists so I buy their music at their concerts. They get more money, I own a signed CD and DRM is just a bunch of letters in my next Scrabble game.

I don't mind paying for my music, but I will not put up with someone attaching a DRM leash around my neck. I've ripped my whole purchased CD collection (maybe 1400 CDs) so I have easy access on any computer in my house and can move them when I want to my Zune or make MP3 disks for my car.

For single songs, I would consider buying them from a DRM-free service but Apple will never see a dime (or $0.99) from me.
-Steve
0 Votes
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Not a bad idea
puffaroo 21st May 2008
Especially since the DL option has seemed to drive down the prices of CDs. I am selling some of them now, but there are certain CDs I'll never part with.
0 Votes
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Amen!
Nuckels 22nd May 2008
Greedy record label executives may be profitting from legally paid downloading, but they are not the only ones. A lot of people forget that MUSICIANS also make money from that piece of art you are buying - which they are responsible for.

Personally, I am with you. Owning a real CD cannot be replaced by digital media, because it's just not as cool (to me) to only have this virtual piece of "intellectual property" as it is to own the album in physical form as well. Not to mention the fact that when your hard drive crashes you aren't out hundreds (or in my case thousands) of dollars. I say if you like the band enough to want their music, do the right thing. Support the band. Drive your rear-end to the store and buy the album like an honest person. Then rip it and play it on whatever MP3 player you want.

And for all you illegal downloaders out there that justify it with the excuse of couter-acting corporate greed... Who is more greedy? The bands and music business gooroos who are creating and marketing a product, or the people who STEAL that product?
0 Votes
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I'm with you on buying CDs, but...
tikigawd 22nd May 2008
You should back up your hard drive regularly.
Re-ripping those 1400 CDs in case your computer dies would be a royal pain in the @ss!
0 Votes
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Create at least two backups
hasta la Vista, bah-bie 22nd May 2008
One on an external HD, the other on burned DVD-Rs or DVD+Rs.

I generally store FLAC files and rip them down to mp3 for playback. Yeah there are better codecs out there but mp3 will play on just about anything.
0 Votes
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Absolutely
snordha1@... 22nd May 2008
You are right about that! Hard drives are cheap enough that I keep the main library on one hard drive, the backup on a different machine and the third on a portable drive. It is too difficult to keep the incremental changes backed up if I use DVDs. If I really wanted to be thorough, the removable drive would not be in my house, but I work out of my home so that is more difficult.

There are only two types of people regarding backup - those that have learned the lesson the hard way and those that are about to.
-Steve
0 Votes
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I never do incremental backups on DVD
hasta la Vista, bah-bie 22nd May 2008
Once my playlist is created for a particular artist, it's set in stone on the DVD. I can always copy it back to my HD and make changes later, but the master copy stays the same.

I've never experienced a massive data loss (knock on wood) but I know other people who have so I don't want to be in their shoes.
0 Votes
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Amen to that (nt)
tikigawd 22nd May 2008
nt
0 Votes
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Be Careful
Cardhu 4th Jun 2008
The aluminum backing on CDs starts to oxidize after five years.

In 7000 years of human information storage technology, we have gained immense benefits in capacity, fidelity, and transfer speed at the expense of very poor durability.

Be careful also about "watermarking," which overlays a copy protection scheme onto the actual signal. The result actually degrades the product being purchased.
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
Dr_Bill 21st May 2008
I'd say the it's time for anyone who has DRM encoded files to burn and rip them while they still can. ITunes will almost certainly need to go DRM free to stay in the game and I wouldn't bet that the encrypted songs will always be playable, no matter who you bought them from.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
lonnie_west@... 21st May 2008
I've been watching this for a while, having been a
professional musician in my younger years. I think we are
going back to the music-business model that was in place
before there were recordings: artists will make the bulk of
their income from live performances.

In that mode, you can think of a copy of a song as nothing
more than an advertisement: the more people listening,
the more that will turn up at the show.

Here's a more detailed analysis at:
http://zippybackflash.com/blog/?p=73
0 Votes
+ -
but what about....
mrdt 21st May 2008
the executives at the big record labels? How will they maintain there six figure salaries? It seems to me that DRM is the product of GREED.
0 Votes
+ -
er..
evilkillerwhale@... 21st May 2008
6 figures? try phone numbers. 4 million a year is a cake walk. Yet, you know what the executive did? he managed everyone else, so he took a relatively tiny portion of their pie, and at the end, had himself a huge pie. Well played mr. executive... well played...
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
mwagner@... 21st May 2008
Obviously, if Apple CAN (under the terms of their contracts with their labels) sell DRM-free music, they should. That said, Music quality also plays a role. Apple's AAC encoding is said to be of higher quality than standard MP3 quality.

Napster.com is still promoting their monthly fee model with no mention of this new model on their web site so it sounds kind of like 'smoke and mirrors' to me.

Amazonmp3, on the other hand, charges different amounts for different songs and albums. Apple fought long and hard with labels to prevent this strategy to get more money from customers for songs in higher demand, even though the cost of delivering songs does not change based upon demand for them.
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
shane_z 21st May 2008
lets see, should they go DRM free? why lets think, i believe
they were the first store to try that weren't they! shockgasp!

and is it up to them? why no it isn't, they have been pushing
for it since day one but the music groups don't want it!

do you guys ever actually do those *reporter* things like
gathering facts? or is there someone who gets paid to stand
bent over all day so you can just pull stuff outta his @$$
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
Al_nyc 21st May 2008
They should all go DRM free. I can't see paying for lousy music, compressed, that is crippled, DRM.
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
AnimeGirls 21st May 2008
You also forgot to mention amazon's drm free download
service. I now use them over iTunes mp3 downloads
0 Votes
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You People Still Buy Music?
bmore_bro69@... 21st May 2008
Too funny
0 Votes
+ -
not everyone's a pirate.
Hogleg 21st May 2008
how would you feel if someone came to your work and started doing your job for free? Big labels suck, but so does stealing, and two wrongs don't make a right.
0 Votes
+ -
I pay for music.
puffaroo 21st May 2008
But I've paid all my life. Now at least I can pay only for the songs I want to hear, and not have to buy a whole CD for the 1 song I want.. Whenever I've used 'free' music sharing programs I've always gotten viruses and worms - ALWAYS. I'm not a child. I have a job and I pay my bills. If people didn't psa, there would be no iTunes, and that would be a shame. It's a really good service.

The bad thing, though is that iTunes keeps giving me the option of "upgrading" my songs, whatever that means. The total cost is now up to over $400. If Apple think's I'm going to give them that kind of money if I don't have to, they're crazy.
0 Votes
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Two wrongs don't make a right (nt)
CobraA1 21st May 2008
nt = no text
0 Votes
+ -
Precisely the attitude that got us into this mess...
BitTwiddler 22nd May 2008
NT
0 Votes
+ -
The same attitude...
tikigawd 22nd May 2008
that's destroying PC gaming...

pirates should be shot
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
Hoodgrown_Magazine 21st May 2008
Are you kidding me.. have you actually tried to purchase
something from this store?

I couldn't even view it using Safari... and before anyone
starts talking browser share... there's no reason why any
site shouldn't be view in any standards compliant browser,
except for lazy programming. It was worth Amazon's time
to do so.. so Napster has no excuse.

Then there are the usability issues better outlined in this
article.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080520-hands-
on-napsters-new-mp3-store-stumbles-out-of-the-
gate.html

Yes Napster is nowhere near to being a serious competitor
for itunes... or even Amazon!
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
mwhitted 21st May 2008
SHOULD they go DRM-free? YES! Of course they should. And I believe that Apple WANTS to. But it's not up to APPLE. It's up to the music labels.
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
bulanpe 21st May 2008
um... you do know the only reason apple carries DRM is because the ugly labels require it. and the only reason amazon and others don't carry drm is because the labels are trying to force the hand of apple to succumb to variable pricing.

so don't buy from the other guys -

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/

steve jobs has long been a fan of drm free music. its stupid to make someone who is willing to pay for music feel like a criminal buy getting a "locked" version.
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
cherry1979 21st May 2008
Itunes doesnt offere enough DRM. Also itunes should work and detect any MP3 player not just apple. They should make this mandatory for any music service
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
jboard@... 21st May 2008
It is about time the attempt to create a monopoly takes a hit!
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
jboard@... 21st May 2008
Itunes needs to be taken down a notch, they tried to create a Monopoly and it has backfired!
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
daveayerst 21st May 2008
I would never buy an evil-eye pod nor would I download a track from i-tunes. I am very pleased that Napster and Amazon are keeping Apple honest. What a terrible world it would be if i-tunes was the only game in town.

Steve Jobs would have us believe that Apple are at the cutting edge. The fact is that Apple never 'invented' anything. They are just good at repackaging existing technology with a funky new name and a marketing campaign. The Mac, the i-Pod, the i-Phone in fact any Apple gadget you care to mention were all adaptations not inventions. The only thing that was ever close to cutting-edge was the 'Newton' and we all know what a roaring success that was (too expensive and failed to live up to the hype)... leaving the likes of Palm and Psion to actually get it right.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
scottwarren 21st May 2008
They should ALL be drm free!
0 Votes
+ -
This is what I think.
krismartin56 Updated - 21st May 2008
This is what I think. If your paying for DRM-Anything your just throwing your money away. For as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow the XYZ-free music downloads will become the de-facto standard.

What you have not heard of XYZ-standard? Just keep your eyes open a new standard just waiting around the next bend to snatch your $$$$'s and keep the money train rolling.

Don?t believe me? Just look at history. It?s story, is all to painful.
0 Votes
+ -
I'm afraid you're right.
puffaroo 21st May 2008
But in the meantime, I don't know what else to do. It's still better than the pre-Internet days.
0 Votes
+ -
well ...........
gmalarkey02@... 21st May 2008
the copyright police wasn't beating on my door when i was ripping friends cd's to blank cassette's and since mp3's are only 15% of the original in size I guess technology caught up with the money hungry recording industry! screw 'em!
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
hwgray 21st May 2008
_Subscribers_ to Napster???s _monthly subscription_ service will still be bound by DRM that requires them to be a _paying member_ to continue to listen to their tracks.

Don't the phrases,

"subscribers" "monthly subscription" "bound by DRM" "paying member"

mean anything to you?

They do to me. They mean that I'm going to be paying Napster "as low as $12.95 a month," whether I choose to download anything at $.99 a hit or not.
0 Votes
+ -
Yes, the music industry is punishing them.
CobraA1 21st May 2008
"Will Apple be the last one to go DRM-free?"

Yes, but through no fault of their own: The music industry is holding back the rights on Apple because Apple proved it had a lot of power. I doubt they will give Apple the full rights to make everything in a DRM free format until they are satisfied that they have more power over music prices than Apple does.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
mtomazic 21st May 2008
I hate DRM and, as a result, refuse to purchase from iTunes. I don't expect free music nor do I want to distribute my purchase to all my friends. However, when I upgrade machines, rebuild my existing machine with a new OS, etc. iTunes dings me. As a result, I can no longer play some iTunes songs that I purchased.

iTunes can go stuff themselves until they get this sorted. Bravo to Napster!
0 Votes
+ -
iTunes dings you?
Mr_Dave 21st May 2008
Are you having trouble with the iTunes website allowing you
to add another computer as authorized? There is a limit on
how many systems you can use at the same time. You just
have to deauthorize a system before authorizing a new one if
you've hit the limit.
0 Votes
+ -
Deauthorizing
tikigawd 22nd May 2008
I think once you reach the 5 "computer" limit an option to de-authorize all "computers" show up in iTunes. You can then re-authorize all the real computers you own.

I said "computers" because changing your main hard drive, or flashing your BIOS can be seen as having a new computer to stupid iTunes.

Why does the option to de-authorize all computers not show up until you've reached the max? I have no clue. But with all the bonehead moves that Apple does it doesn't surprise me...
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
cne@... 21st May 2008
Like you need to ask!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
0 Votes
+ -
Been buying CD's since day 1
rebelxhardcore 21st May 2008
I been buying CD's since I could remember. I keep them in their original jewel cases, and like what's say if my computer's hard drive goes bad, I'll insert the CD into the drive and use the CD Ripping feature in Windows Media Player. I rather buy the CD then download a song. It's something good to do and good practice.

People will debate that buying a CD is expensive, If you go to like a best buy or something, since this is what people been doing in the 90's, you can find your favorite artists CD'S for like $6.99-$14.99. I remember CD'S being $19.99. But times have changed, CD's got cheaper and I continue to buy all my music via CD.

Also when I "rip" them from the CD they are decoded as .Flac or mp3. I use .Flac alot then mp3, just because my ipod uses the ipod linux and i can synchronize between the ipod and windows.

If your wondering how I rip as .Flac in WMP, check around google, there's a way to.

In my opinion, .Flac is alot better then MP3 and WMA.

Any opinions?
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
chromeronin 21st May 2008
I just want allofmp3.com back please.
One site - nearly all music - DRM free in the bitrate and format I want.
I'd Pay iTunes prices for this.
0 Votes
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RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
skoch 21st May 2008
GO DRM FREE
We have gone so far with this copright crap that there is no room for the user (money spender) any more. Oh I know the artists has to make a buck, but the user needs to be able to use the product. At the rate we are going I can see them adding sniffers so that I cannot listen to my P3s in the bathroom because it violates the clean air act!
There I feel much better now.
Sam
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Napster gunning for iTunes with DRM-free music
xiaoming3 15th Dec 2009
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