I'm sure most of you have read by now of Apple's intentions to purchase Universal records. This is great news! What got me mad was people's immediate reaction of, "What the hell is Apple thinking?". Sure if you just gloss over the big numbers then this deal makes no sense whatsoever, also why would a computer company want to get into the media business? Well Microsoft has been making some serious inroads over the past few years incorporating technologies that make the recording industry happy and they haven't forgotten about the video side of things either. Now the news comes out that Microsoft is considering purchasing Universal Records too. Microsoft doesn't "experiment" with industries, they play for keeps or they don't play at all, look at the game console industry. They can bleed more cash than any of their competitors and live to monopolize said market.
Universal is a huge company and they have huge artists like Ashanti, Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Eminem, Jay-Z, Elton John, Limp Bizkit, Nelly, No Doubt, Shaggy, Sting, Shania Twain, U2 and then some. Apple is in the perfect position to implement and roll-out a digital distribution system for music. This type of a system would give a much needed boost to the flagging sales of records that the RIAA has been crying over for the past few years. Apple's iTunes is bar-none the best audio player and audio management software and for kicks lets ignore the iPod for now. Apple should by all means establish itself at the forefront of digital music downloads. If Apple gets into the fray they will go with MPEG-4 and AAC for sure, which is not nearly as restrictive as Microsoft's DRM vision. Microsoft's DRM obviously requires Windows, "approved" hardware, and forget about burning songs to CD or any sort of copying for that matter. I don't want a day to come when to enjoy any sort of music I have to pay regular homage in money to a large entity like the RIAA or Microsoft or anyone, its my music and I'll enjoy it as I wish under fair usage standards.
Its very important that Apple be the first company to implement the digital music distribution system, because this will set the precedent for the type of user experience people are going to have and expect. If Microsoft gets this first, like everything else they will establish themselves for good and that'll be the end of that (Office, Windows, Solitaire). Once they're established it'll take them three tries just to get the interface right and then a major code revision until they achieve good stability. Another great reason for Apple to do this more than Microsoft is because Apple has a Unix based operating system they would develop this distro system for which leaves the window for the Linux users wide open. Choice is a good thing.
A couple of the major points people seem to keep coming back to regarding this deal are the hit Apple stock took on Friday and about how Apple is going to manage a mini media empire and do everything they have going on already. So the stock...okay its fact that investors have a herd mentality and they aren't very smart (Enron investors). Investors are fickle ignoramuses in most cases and just follow the crowd, and one trading day doesn't mean anything. On the matter of the multiple project management, well Jobs and Apple together are doing a phenomenal job with Pixar, Silicon Grail, Nothing Real, Raycer, Prismo, Emagic and Filemaker has only improved since joining Apple. There is nothing that would make me doubt that Jobs and the rest of the Apple crew can't do the same with Universal under their umbrella. I for one hope that Apple can pull off this buy. Universal is looking for a cool $7 billion and Apple's offer is in the $5-6 billion range from what I've read, I have no doubt that Microsoft can top that.
In the summer of 2001 while I was with Microsoft I had a some time with Bill Gates and I asked him why Microsoft isn't purchasing a media company (Disney and Viacom were possibilites) to really compete with the AOL Time Warner beast. He looked at me with his signature grin and a twinkle in his eye and said, "Microsoft isn't a media company, Microsoft is about computing. That's why we sold off Expedia. We want to be the platform that delivers the content from our partners."
Things I learned by watching Collateral Damage:
In other news, my mom is back at my mama's place and shes doing fine. I think shes getting a little tired of the repeated phone calls from here courtesy of dad and I. This is a sure sign of her well being. Just happy in the knowledge that mom is nearly well.
Quoteses:
"I'd spend 50 cents on you any day." - Cassi B.
"Put your mouse in the air and wave it from side to side." - L.L. Cool J for AOL
"Learn COBOL!" - The Captain
Linkses:
Antiseptic war.
Wrong on mulitple levels.
What channel can I watch on?
Time to find a job in Belgium.
Stop Shannon. It just makes sense.
2003 Jefferson Muzzle Award Winners
Not all Keyurs can be as cool and suave as I am.
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