I rarely agree with the intentionally sloppy Andrew Orlowski, but he’s right about what’s happening to Apple’s iTunes. Any “upgrade” to the service likely means paying more (and more) for less (and less).
Jon Johansen (yes, that Jon Johansen) is doing something about it. He’s been working on what he calls PyMusique, the “fair” interface to the iTunes Music Store. Explains Jon (via email):
PyMusique is an interface to the iTunes Music Store that lets you preview songs, sign up for an account and buy songs. It is somewhat interesting from a DMCA/EUCD perspective. The iTunes Music Store actually sells songs without DRM. While iTunes adds DRM to your purchases, PyMusique does not. Another difference is that signing up for an account using PyMusique does not require you to sign/click away any of your rights.
But here’s the question: How “interesting” is it? Does it stay in the free and clear, or does it brush up against the DMCA or EUCD? This is a tough one.
To learn more, a tech-savvy friend of mine is examining how PyMusique works — you might want to do the same before this tool becomes yet another Endangered Gizmo.