Steal This Disc! <small>(or at least don't send it to me)</small>

Endgadget whines about Jobs distancing Apple from DRM

This is not a home run by any means, but getting rid of the DRM protections and upping the bitrate to 256K bring me a lot closer to buying albums that I’d like to keep… currently I buy individual songs or sometimes albums that I don’t really have a lot of attachment to.

I’m much more likely already to buy MP3s from labels that don’t attach copy protection. Six Degrees Records offers downloadable versions of many of their artist’s albums, and some of those I’d like to keep around. I don’t hesitate to leave the plastic and packaging at the factory when I can have instant gratification.

I’m not anticipating Apple going away any time soon, but what happens when they do, or when they decide that the format they’re selling now is at «end of life» and no longer supported? Then I’ll be left running old versions of their software, cracking the encryption, or high and dry.

I’m pretty sure that any player I get in my lifetime will play MP3s. Although who knows?