Tethering, Tying and You

Engadget has a pair of interesting editorials on tethering and tying. Tying is the practice of selling a "parent" product that requires a separtely sold "child" product to be complete: razors and blades, printers and toner and (apropos of this site) iPods and iTunes music. Of course, you aren't forced to buy music from iTunes. But if you are buying DRM-protected music, these pieces are relevant and thought provoking.

The first is from NYU professor Siva Vaidhyanathan:

Tethering should be a great deal for hardware makers. They all seem to be trying to corner the market on "secondary goods."� Whether they make coffee makers, garage door openers, ink-jet printers, batteries, video games, or digital music files, producers are employing tools that range from copyright to contract to design to freeze out generic competitors.

But some times, as with the coffee maker, such tethering limits consumer choice to such a degree that many consumers who would otherwise jump into the early adoption game eschew the new device in favor of diversity and flexibility.

Next is the response, written by Greg Scher:

Like iTunes™ protected files, MP3 files are tied to the presence of a standards-compliant player in order for you to hear the music. MP3, contrary to some assertions, is not an open format in the truest sense of the word "open"�. Makers of software and hardware players must pay a license fee to the owners of the MP3 standard in order to produce compliant products. The portability of MP3 comes at a price that is paid for by developers of MP3 players and encoders, like Apple. As a consumer, you should be aware of this. Someday, the ability to play an MP3 file may not be as free as it is today.

More bits at BoingBoing and a whole bunch more weblogs.

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