Rosen complains about Apple …
… at least in a hilarious, alas possibly fake, post at the Huffington Post …
Most agree [the iPod] is the best quality player on the market […] The problem is that the iPod only works with either songs that you buy from the on-line Apple iTunes store or songs that you rip from your own CD’s. But those other music sites have lots of music that you can’t get at the iTunes store. So, if you have an iPod, you are out of luck.
and
But keeping the iTunes system a proprietary technology to prevent anyone from using multiple (read Microsoft) music systems is […] anti-consumer and user unfriendly […]. Is this the same Jobs that railed for years about the Microsoft monopoly? Is taking a page out of their playbook the only way to have a successful business?
Fun aside, Apple is surely not above all criticism … e.g. have a look at this interview with Napster CTO Bill Pence where he talks about Apple … and complains too …
Do you feel that Apple is using its proprietary AAC-based DRM to build a digital music monopoly?
Pence: It’s just way too early in the market in my opinion to talk about that. This whole thing about proprietary and non-proprietary, all the arguments are just so hyperbolic now. What is proprietary? If there’s one ubiquitous codec right now, it’s still MP3 if you look at it just in terms of volume usage across the planet. Within the legitimate pay services, you can slice and dice it all the different ways you want in terms of whether WMA, AAC, or some other codec is in the lead.
Clearly, Apple’s use of AAC is very, very strong but is it a proprietary solution? Is it an open solution? None of these codecs are being used in a standard way. WMA is Microsoft proprietary, AAC was licensed from an outside organization and is used in a proprietary way. None of them are W3 standards codecs – there’s no such thing.
One must remember though that Apple’s core business model is selling digital music players, so these may be minor criticisms …
