Moving iTunes Music Store To Windows Faces Obstacles & Challenges

by , 3:30 PM EDT, May 12th, 2003

As a nice follow up to the AP saying that it's too bad that Windows users have to wait for the iTunes Music Store, the Toronto Star has published a piece today that says there are many obstacles and challenges facing Apple in making that move. The article quotes record execs from several companies who expressed various levels of concerns about electronic distribution on Windows. These concerns include security issues with Windows, the desire to see stricter DRM controls over the files, and the attitude that the Mac version is just a test to begin with. From the article:

Major labels, for example, are expressing concern that iTunes isn't secure enough for PC distribution.

Consumers purchasing music through the iTunes Music Store for the Mac can play their music on up to three computers, synch their collections with every iPod they own, burn unlimited CDs of individual songs, and burn unchanged playlists up to 10 times each.

Some executives want to see greater control over how many times a copy can be made or synched to another computer before making iTunes available for Windows.

While two majors have signed wholesale agreements with Apple for a Windows product, according to sources, others are reserving judgment, terming the Mac version of iTunes "an experiment."

"We wouldn't have rolled this out wide to the PC market," a leading new-media executive at one major label says. "We would have been a lot more judicious about it."

There's more information in the full article at the Toronto Star.

The Mac Observer Spin:

The labels will be foolish to seek greater control over AAC files on the Windows market. Of course, most of the labels have been nothing but foolish in their entire approach to online distribution to begin with, so perhaps that's nothing new. The iMS has been successful, in part, because of the fairly liberal controls put on the media. While Mac users may have flocked to the iMS, it wasn't just because it was Apple branded, it's because the iMS makes sense, and matches what people want in their music. It may take the coming of the Four Horsemen for the labels to get that, but considering they are an endangered species (the labels, not the Horsemen), that probably shouldn't surprise us so much.

All that said, it's very interesting that Windows is seen as a security threat by those involved. More specifically, it sometimes surprises us to see such issues acknowledged when the world is full of lemmings who seem intent on ignoring the security issues that plague Windows. It's certainly a nice sub-text for those reading the article to get.