It appears Blue Beard has a few words to say about Apple’s new music store. Before I got further it should be mentioned BB and I don’t see eye to eye on DRM. What everyone seems to overlook is that when you buy a CD you don’t *own* the content.

What?!? I’ve spent phat l00+ on my CD collection! You mean I don’t own it?!? Nope. What you own are the rights to listen to the CD. Those rights are further restricted by not allowing you to redistribute, alter, or rebroadcast the CD in any way. You may be asking: Why do they let me buy blank CD’s? Well, under fair use, you are allowed to keep a backup copy of what you purchased.

BB states that he should have unrestricted use of his CD’s because he *owns* them, which, since that isn’t the case, he’d have to purchase a record label to do so. Apple lets you listen to the music on *three* different computers (or a gazillion if you burn it as a music CD). How is this horrific? The reality is he thinks stealing other people’s music is OK. I look at it this way: if I went into work each day and didn’t get a pay check I’d be pretty pissed.

I program all sorts of stuff for clients each day and I can honestly say that I empathize with the musicians. If I found out a client had breeched one of my licenses by reselling my software I’d be able to sue them into next week. What BB overlooks is that he would to.