Rivals fear spread of piracy after EMI - Apple deal

Last week's decision by EMI and Apple to announce a big deal for selling music online with the protection of Digital Rights Management (DRM) has led to 2 different reactions from other competing groups. Since the DRM removal can lead to potential piracy since the music albums / songs can be moved to other players as well as potentially transferred to other people. The rollout of this new version is planned for May 2007, with the expectation that this will appeal to a music enthusiasts who are currently turned off from buying off iTunes due to its DRM restrictions. Competitors are claiming that this move by EMI is a short-sighted move by EMI that will short-circuit the drive to make consumers aware of the need for DRM.
The other move by competitors is that they are going to be constantly tracking how this gambit of releasing DRM free versions of songs is going to work. If this seems like working, then one can be sure that they will immediately get into the act.
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Media industry executives and analysts have expressed surprise and alarm at last week's decision by EMI, the record label, to start selling music videos without the protection of anti-piracy software.
While labels have previously insisted on DRM to prevent illegal copying, many in the industry have come to believe that the restrictions are deterring people from buying songs and may be driving them on to peer-to-peer file-sharing networks such as LimeWire - where pirated music, free of constraints, can be downloaded without paying.
One media industry executive said that EMI's restriction-free video on the iTunes site was setting an unwelcome precedent. "We are perplexed as to why EMI has done this and surprised at their thoughtlessness," he said.