It’s all about the consumers, baby

I own an iPod but I’m not an Apple freak – I don’t own a Mac, for example. And I don’t like the concept of iTunes somehow. Something about the way Apple sort of forces you to to things their way sometimes gets to me. 

Apparently, a group of entertainment studios including NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Sony and Warner Bros. have teamed up to develop a ‘buy once, play anywhere’ standard for music and video sales. This Wired article mentions the first thought that will strike anyone who hears about it: Apple is conspicuously missing, and Disney as well – the two have legal obligations to iTunes. The group is called the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem. The president of the group, Mitch Singer, quite rightly said that it’s about giving the consumer the right to play legally acquired music on an instrument of their choice. I’m wondering if and how iTunes and Apple will respond now.