John Gruber offers a “Translation from PR-Speak to English of Selected Portions of Macrovision CEO Fred Amoroso’s Response to Steve Jobs’s ‘Thoughts on Music’” on Daring FireBall which we wouldn’t want you to miss.
It’s here.
Related articles:
Macrovision posts pro-DRM open letter to Steve Jobs and digital entertainment industry – February 16, 2007
62% of music industry execs think eliminating DRM would increase music download sales – February 14, 2007
Warner’s DRM-loving Middlebronfman warns wireless industry it may lose music market to Apple iPhone – February 14, 2007
Windows Vista’s DRM is bad news – February 14, 2007
Monster Cable announces full support of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ call for DRM-free music – February 13, 2007
Microsoft’s Bach talks Apple iPhone, DRM, Zune, and more – February 09, 2007
Recording Industry Association of America wants their DRM, calls for Apple to license FairPlay – February 08, 2007
Warner’s Middlebronfman: Jobs’ DRM-free music call ‘without logic and merit, we’ll not abandon DRM’ – February 08, 2007
Dvorak: Apple CEO Steve Jobs is dead right about DRM – February 07, 2007
Apple’s Jobs jolts music industry; Zune exec calls Jobs’ call for DRM-free music ‘irresponsible’ – February 07, 2007
Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ posts rare open letter: ‘Thoughts on Music’ – calls for DRM-free music – February 06, 2007
Good move MDN.
very funny
Bravo to John Gruber for posting that outstanding translation!!
Now that is funny…
Briliant!
Haha too funny.
Too accurate!
The digg article for anyone who wants to help get it on the front page:
http://www.digg.com/apple/Translation_of_Macrovision_s_Response_to_Steve_Jobs_s_Open_Letter
This was classic analysis! A complete tear down of this type of crap is all too appropriate.
Love It!
lol… nice one.
I am feeling the need to write an open letter. It’s all the rage I hear.
My favorite parts:
“Magic interoperable DRM would give people all the features and capabilities they get with DRM-free media.”
and:
“I realize Apple is never going to work with Macrovision, so I have decided to insult you and your company by insinuating that your “Thoughts on Music” open letter was an expression of frustration at technical hurdles Apple just can’t figure out on their own.
It would be very funny if it weren’t so accurate.
We’re not worthy John Gruber…
Absolutely Hysterical
Similarly, consumers who want to consume content on only a single device can pay less than those who want to use it across all of their entertainment areas — vacation homes, cars, different devices and remotely.
I love this. See: paying for media every time you press play is a feature because it allows you to pay less if you just want to play it once.
Ha ha ha ha ha. Genius at work. Delightful,
Twenty+ years ago when I was using a Commodore 64, software companies used to put “copy protection” on software that you bought. You had to use tools such as Fast Hack ‘Em, ICEPICK, and Copy ][ Plus to make archive copies.
All I can say is that I HATED “copy protection” then, and I HATE DRM protection now!
Macrovision can go fsck itself.
“Similarly, consumers who want to consume content on only a single device can pay less than those who want to use it across all of their entertainment areas — vacation homes, cars, different devices and remotely.”
Even John Gruber can’t make up a quote THAT ridiculous!
@Old Fogey….
yeah, I remember those days. Or when we could defeat the copy protection MS put on a 5 1/4″ floppy with a piece of electrical tape. Those were the days.
The first bit of translation says it all. There’s no need to go on. Steve Jobs could conceivably taken either the pro- or con- side of this debate about DRM; Jobs brilliantly took the anti-DRM side, but Apple could “win” either way. So the Steve Jobs open letter was strategic and significant. However, it is obvious which side Macrovision would take. If DRM went away, Macrovision would be gone too. So there was no need for this rebuttal open letter and it is lame. It just sounds self-serving, and anyone who reads it can “translate” it for themselves (though probably not as humorously as John Gruber).
Good work John Gruber.
Comedy is a very powerful form of communication, and you executed it perfectly.
@Jim
Ah, 5 1/4″ floppies. I remember having boxes of those. Then, I discovered that you could transform a single-sided floppy into a double-sided floppy just by using a hole puncher to cut a new notch. J-A-C-K-P-O-T ! I cut my floppy disk expenses in half! Yes, those were the days …
@Jim
it wasn’t copy protection – it was merely to prevent you accidentally overwriting the disk. Rewritable ones had a little tab which you moved to make it read only…
I worked for Wang Labs in the 80’s when they still used 8″ floppies. When word processing operators used to call in to say that they needed help to recover a damaged document we would tell them to copy the disk and send it in to us so that we could rebuild the document pointers and recover the document.
I remember great excitement one day when one of the customer support reps showed us a copy of a floppy she had just received. It was a piece of A4 paper, neatly folded to fit into the envelope. On the paper was a photocopied image of the actual disk. The customer had neatly slit the diskette, removed the flexible disk and copied it on the copier.
We must always remember that, for many people, technology is no more accessible than magic…
Spot. On.
MW: Value. I think it’s a subliminal message.
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