5 ms·

How did they succeed?

• ricksplat 10y ago
  By demonstrating they could make money without it. When nobody else could.
• mcpherrinm 10y ago
  Rumour is, Amazon threatened to stop selling CDs for record companies who wouldn't let them sell DRM-free MP3 files. Certainly they used their massive sales presence to negotiate a deal with the record companies. I think that was the major tipping point for DRM on music. Apple followed after that.
  • criddell 10y ago
    I wish Amazon would take the same stand for ebooks.
    • mcpherrinm 10y ago
      My understanding, talking from a few folks who worked on that sort of thing, is that they tried. Of course this is all rumours and chit-chat, so I have no idea how true it is. But the book publishers would apparently be happy for ebooks to go away, Amazon to stop selling books, and their higher margin deals with Borders to come back. So they called Amazon's bluff.
      • BatFastard 10y ago
        No shit! The only DRM that should be on ebooks is there should only be one version of it at a time. Just like a printed book.
  • tzs 10y ago
    Jobs' open letter on DRM came out seven months before Amazon even started selling MP3 files.
    • mcpherrinm 10y ago
      Negotiations for this stuff happen long before features launch. I don't know much about Apple & Amazon's timelines, as such things would be secrets.
  • scarface74 10y ago
    That's not what happened. Around 2006 all of digital music services were failing because thier DRM was incompatible with the iPod. Once Jobs refused to license FairPlay and gave the record industry the alternative of licensing music DRM free they had no choice but to either allow DRM music or let Apple keep a stranglehold on the market.
• deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]