Of course that argument falls flat when considering Apple already allows mp3’s and DRM-free aac’s to play on the device. Also since Steve is all for DRM-free music this is how he can put his money where his mouth is.

You do highlight the reasons why DRM-Free would have a leg up in a free market however.

Why? Consistency. Apple seems to constantly push for a *consistent* user experience, and providing both DRM and DRM-free songs from the same place will be very *in*consistent.

In particular, the user can attach any iTMS song to an email and send it to a friend. However, a DRM song won’t play for the friend, while a DRM-free song will. Then there’s the 5 device limitation: DRM songs have it, while DRM-free songs won’t.

This leads to inconsistency and confusion for the user: why can some files be sent usably to friends, while others can’t? Why do some files have device limitations, while others don’t? Sure, we can explain “DRM” to them, but that doesn’t make them feel any better, especially since there’s nothing they can actually *do* about it (they don’t care about the publisher, they care about the song, JUST MAKE THE DAMN SONG PLAY!).

Consequently, we’ll have better luck lobbying Europe to lobby the RIAA to make their portfolios available DRM-free. Then *all* iTMS songs can be DRM-free, thus resulting in a consistent user experience.

It’s either all DRM, or all DRM-free. Anything else will lead to confusion for at least some group of users, as far as Apple is concerned.

(Note: I don’t work for Apple, have no friends in Apple, and in fact work on the other side of the country, so this is all just rampant speculation, but it Makes Sense.)

– Jon