DRM + iPhone = eeEEEeee-vil says NYT

I ent some of my lazy holiday Monday pondering an a ropriate re o e to Randall Stro 's article (not clearly billed as either news or opinion) in Sunday's New York Times entitled Want an iPhone? Beware the iHandcuffs, a fairly... odd interweaving of gripes about the 'lock-in' factor of the iTunes Store, starting with his contention that FairPlay is 'cri leware.' He's taking that term from the delightful Tucker vs. A le lawsuit, which should give you a hint where he's coming from on this one.

Stro (who also wrote a fine item in 2005 about why Sony didn't build the iPod) has some basic points: DRM bad; iTunes Store has DRM; look at Plays for Sure and all the Microsoft customers that got rogered; iPhone bad; eMusic and other unencumbered music sales online, good.

While I have no real love for FairPlay, and I do worry that my iTunes purchases might not survive future device changes, I couldn't quite put my finger on the core bogosity of his thesis. As is often the case in the Mac-blogo here, John Gruber got his opinion out of his brain with more eed and pith than I could muster:

You can "pledge a lifetime commitment to the iPod" and never once come into contact with a FairPlay-protected song or video. If you don't like FairPlay's restrictio - and there are plenty of good reaso not to - then don't buy any, and rip your music from regular CDs.
iTunes Store music and video locks you in. iPods and iPhones do not.

Gruber is right, but I would say (after the needed pondering) that he doe 't go far enough.

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