The cost of Fairplay

A final point on the post about Steve Jobs’s letter to the music industry.

In episode 84 of TWiT, Hahn Choi points one important factor in Apple wanting to keep DRM (especially FairPlay) on the iTunes Music Store. DRM adds lock-in.

As Hahn points out – Since FairPlay is not compatible with any other device on the market; every song you purchase that has FairPlay increases the cost of switching away from that eco-system.

In other words, if you purchased a 100$ worth of music on iTunes and decided tomorrow that you wanted an MP3 player from another company; the real cost of purchasing that new Mp3 player just went up by a 100$.

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