iPod Owners in the UK Prefer CDs, File Sharing to iTMS
The BBC reported on a Juniper research study that really goes to bolster a point Jon Gruber made in his Why 2004 Won’t Be Like 1984 post from two years ago. Namely that a usage that almost everyone has discounted for portable media players in general, and more specifically iPods, and that all too often goes overlooked in the arguments over legitimate downloads, DRM and piracy is that of legitimately purchasing and ripping CDs.
After my decision to stop purchasing media from the iTunes Music Store this past six month, that is absolutely what I had in mind. Ripping of audio CDs is trivial and at most a one time hassle. On the upside, I can rip at whatever quality I choose and can play the compressed media files on any device I own. Video DVDs are slightly less trivial to rip and I have fewer devices to play the further compressed media back on, but I believe the argument still holds, even though the act of ripping is technically illegal in many jurisdictions, thanks to laws like the DMCA.
