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August 31, 2006
Napster CTO: Closed Music Platforms Will
Dr. William Pence, Chief Technology Officer at Napster, is unfazed by rumors that Microsoft may orphan its digital rights management technology when it releases the Zune media player and web services. According to Pence, market pressures will eventually lead to open, interoperable media formats. "Pundits have concluded that Microsoft will abandon PlaysforSure, leaving online music services like Napster, MTV, Yahoo Music, Rhapsody, and presumably even emerging video services like Vongo and CinemaNow, without an underlying platform on which to offer content protection," notes Pence. "I believe strongly that the market in the end must and will be based on interoperable digital formats," he adds. "If DRM is used to erect barriers to that goal, then there is no question it will be swept aside, and the industry may end up with what many have believed was the obvious choice from the beginning: open MP3 files."
From Napster CTO: Closed Music Platforms Will
Posted by Alex at August 31, 2006 03:09 PM
