Rob, why doesn't Real drop all the pretense of desiring to have an interoperable solution with the Ipod and actually use one for their downloads site? The Ipod supports a few standard file formats and one DRM encumbered one. If Real were really about customer choice, they'd sell non DRM encumbered files and then be able to shout from a mountain that their music works with the Ipod as well as almost every other digital media player.
This is an excellent question, but if I may take a shot at the answer -- major labels simply aren't going to license their music in straight MP3 (or Ogg Vorbis or whathaveyou) format. Opting for DRM-free tracks basically limits you to being MP3.com II.
I agree that the major labels certainly won't go for straight MP3, at least not for time time being, but there are some encouraging trends going on with some labels/bands who seem to "get it."
interoperability (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:interoperability (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:interoperability (Score:3, Informative)
- bleep.com [bleep.com] (Warp Records)
- They Might be Giants [theymightbegiants.com] (and Back Office Music [backofficemusic.com], the place which created their store)
- Even though their subscription levels kind of suck now, emusic.com [emusic.com].
So, certainly no BMI groups in there, or anything, but here's hoping that it'll trickle up a bit...