'iPod users are music thieves' says Ballmer - silicon.com

'iPod users are music thieves' says Ballmer - silicon.com

As the friendly neighborhood tech geek, I get asked my opinion on MP3 players frequently. My advice is to get a player that can use straight, normal MP3 files. Stay as far away as possible from so-called digital rights management, or DRM. These are an ultimately doomed attempt by record companies, film studios and monopolists to get around what they call "holes" in law, and what we call rights. They will fail. It's only a matter of time. And when they do fail, you don't want to be stuck with an obsolete piece of equipment. Apple's iTunes is also DRM crippled, but the iPod plays MP3s too. That's what Balmer is refering to when he talks about "stolen" music. Give me a break. At least on the Apple iPod/iTunes there are tools available to turn the songs you buy into regular MP3 files easily. Best bet is still to just buy your music on CD and record them yourself into plain MP3 files (which the iTunes software will do). You won't be sorry. You'll still be able to play the music five years from now, when you're on your third computer and portable music player.

And don't steal! It just gives the DRM crowd more amunition.