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18.3.1
The Apple iTunes Music Store
The first example is the massive success of the Apple iTunes music store. This company is
so successful that many other companies are launching similar initiatives. While the prof-
its from each sale are small, they are tangible, and in such bulk that the long-term business
model is sustainable. Ultimately, every single recorded piece of music could be available
online. At present only the most popular material is being made available legally, and
some tracks are exclusive to iTunes or other competitive services. Of course much mate-
rial is also available through illegal sources, which in the long term will only serve to dam-
age everyone's interests.
The iTunes DRM system allows the user to make some limited copies of the track on
several computers and to burn a list of songs onto a CD. Based on the fact that you can
never put back information that has been discarded, those CDs will carry audio with some
compression artifacts. Apple uses the MPEG-4 AAC audio format, so high-quality content
is still delivered. It is not an exact copy of the original CD recording, however. This DRM
Figure 18-2
Apple iTunes
Music Store.
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