I Don’t Want to Be Part of Your Fucking Ecosystem ⇥ shkspr.mobi

Terence Eden shares my qualms with the current state of media silos:

I just want us all to get along. I want my disparate equipment to talk to each other. I don’t want to live in a house where ever component has to be made by the same company otherwise nothing works correctly. I don’t want to be stuck using a crappy product because they’re the only ones offering service X.

I dislike this, too. I’ve purchased around a hundred movies through iTunes, all of which can only be used with Apple’s portable products. Of the reasons I can’t try other devices, this is one of the biggest.

There are two ways around this: companies either have to make a player that allows playback on all devices, or have to distribute movies, TV shows, and ebooks that work on all platforms. Amazon has already subscribed to the first choice. They have a Kindle app that allows one to read Amazon’s DRM-encumbered books on a Mac, PC, or just about any portable device.

Apple isn’t the sole hold out, but iTunes is the biggest name in the business, and video products sold there don’t work with non-Apple portable products. Apple could build a player for Android, but there are a lot of great reasons for them not to, chief among which is that iTunes isn’t a massive business for them, but the iPad and iPhone are. I think Apple would be more interested in dropping DRM from their products altogether, but that’s not their choice to make.