Carmen & Camille News: IDGAF Now on iTunes

[Shlomi Fish]

Hi Nadav,

On Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:56:07 +0200
Nadav Har'El <nyh at math.technion.ac.il> wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 22, 2012, Shlomi Fish wrote about "Re: Fwd: Carmen &
> Camille News: IDGAF Now on iTunes":
> > > Are you sure it's only on itunes?
> > >
> > > I searched on Amazon, and it's also available there as mp3 - see
> > > http://www.amazon.com/Idgaf/dp/B009M58JBQ/
> >...
> >     We could not process your order. The sale of MP3 Downloads is
> > currently only available to US customers. Please refer to the terms
> > of use of the MP3 store to determine the geographical restrictions.
> 
> This is a whole separate can of worms. Last time I checked, itunes was
> also not available in Israel. So in your complaint, focus about
> evilness of this discrimination, not about the evilness of Apple.

Well, I see several possible discriminations here:

1. Discrimination against users of particular operating systems and/or
platforms.

2. Discrimination against people of a certain geography (i.e: non-US
or countries where iTunes is not available).

3. Discrimination against people who would rather not use proprietary
software.

4. Discrimination against people whose devices can only play certain
types of media files.

Amazon.com discriminates against people from outside the US, but as far
as I know, supports Linux, even without requiring one to install
proprietary software. iTunes discriminates against people who live in
countries that don't support iTunes (such as Israel), does not allow
purchases from Linux system, and requires the use of proprietary
software. In both cases, I believe one gets a honest-to-God .mp3 file
which most common players support (the MP3 format is patent
encumbered, but it should be OK).

> > > BTW, I don't think you need to frighten them with anti-Apple
> > > rhetoric.
> > > It's enough to say that the majority of music listeners out there
> > > don't have an Apple device, so selling on itunes alone is a not
> > > very wise business move.
> >
> > That's not the point here. One can install iTunes on Windows or Mac
> > OS X, and then
> > download the song and (presuming it is DRM-free, which I believe it
> > is the case), reuse it
> > in every player that supports that format and even redistribute it.
> > But since I'm using Linux,
> > and would rather not support Apple with my wallet, I don't have
> > that privilege.
> 
> You can do the same via Amazon. And in Israel, you cannot use them
> both, just the same.

Had I lived in .us, I could have used Amazon.com with a GNU/Linux
system without having to use proprietary software. On the other hand,
I would not have been able to use iTunes under these conditions. My
point is that the point of supporting non-Apple devices is moot, since
you get the file in a documented, widely supported format.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

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