Pity the media conglomerate that tries to enforce copyright by demanding the modification of an extremely popular and user-friendly piece of hardware. NBC’s Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff says they’re wary of releasing its TV shows on iTunes due to the large amount of pirated content on iPods. And since people use iTunes to put stuff on their iPod, maybe pretty please could Apple place some antipiracy measures?
Imagine putting a band-aid on something, and stuck to the band-aid is a shotgun pointed at your foot. That’s what NBC is suggesting be done. I’ve already dabbled in alternatives to iTunes – they’re mostly limited or inadequate on OSX, unfortunately, but it’s as easy as YamiPod, Songbird or several other options if someone did in fact decide that iTunes was getting a little too restrictive. If it were to be reported that Apple was instituting anti-piracy features in addition to the iTunes DRM so many people chafe under, people might start jumping ship real quick. Especially if it was clear that they had capitulated under pressure from NBC and might make further compromises.
He also had this little gem to say regarding iTunes sales:
The music industry guys would have something to say about how the pricing has affected their product over the last few years.
Wow. The customers would have something to say too, George, about how the music industry has affected the product over the last few years.