Apr 3, 2007
On NPR’s Talk of the Nation today
Gonna be on NPR’s Talk of the Nation today at 4PM EST, or some time around then. (I’m there at 12:30PM PST, so who knows.) They’ve got a podcast too, so if you miss it I’ll post it here later. Topic: EMI and Apple. Try not to look so surprised! I promise I’ll continue praising EMI for their big move to DRM-free digital sales.
Update: NPR’s posted the show, it’s about an 1h 17m into the program. Looks like I’ll also be back tomorrow to talk about the same topic on On the Media.
Co-founder of 
It seems as though you were rather stridently bashing Apple. Why?
Ryan’s a well respected tech writer; Apple’s an enormous company with billions in cash reserves (and an active and vocal fanbase) — let’s not worry too much about Apple’s feelings. Speaking honestly and critically about the industry one covers should be lauded, not reflexively derided as “bashing.”
As someone who owns a G5, a 23″ Cinema Display, two iPods, iWork, and uses a PowerBook and Cinema Display at work, I don’t think he was bashing on Apple. I think everything Ryan said was exactly on the mark.
Steve’s reality distortion field is at work again, trying to convince us that all video has always been DRM’d. VHS casettes, broadcast TV, laserdiscs, all free of DRM and copy protection. Further, I agree that Disney should have done the no-DRM plunge first. After all, they were the first to put video in iTMS. Why not be the first to have DRM-free audio and video, too?
Anyway, I think Ryan did an excellent job as usual.
Thanks guys! I definitely did catch some heat, no question there, but I think it’s important to serve as a critical voice of reason. No company makes news like this without a reason, and as great and significant as the news happens to be, I felt it necessary to bring things back down from the stratosphere. Obviously not everyone was happy with my angle, but I think most people who didn’t have stars in their eyes were able to take something new away from all this.
[...] addition to being on Talk of the Nation, I also had the privilege of being on NPR’s On the Media this week. Yep, you guessed the [...]