Former Apple exec slams music DRM

Media companies are accused of treating customers 'like criminals'

Mike Evangelist, former director of product marketing for Apple's 'Pro' applications, has criticised the recording industry's use of Digital Rights Management technology.

"The latest episode in the war between music companies and their paying customers, in which Sony has decided that it's OK to surreptitiously take over your PC so you can't make a copy of the music you thought you bought from them, has finally pushed me over the edge," he wrote in his blog. 

Continuing in a manner that will not be going down well at Apple HQ, Evangelist said: "I have to believe that the record companies and movie studios would consider me a good customer.

"But with every day that passes it becomes more and more obvious that the greedy bastards who run these media companies prefer to treat me (and all their customers) like criminals.

"They continually expect us to pay more for less, and even then they are not satisfied. They want to pretend to 'sell' us their product, but they don't want us to actually have it. Well, I've had enough.

"From this day forward I will never spend another dime on content that I can't use the way I please. If I can't copy it to my hard drive and play it using the devices I want, when and where I want, I won't be buying it. Period."

In a response to a reader comment asking him whether he will be giving up the iTunes music store, Evangelist even admits to ripping iTunes content.

"I've spent a lot at the iTunes store, and feel that its restrictions are less objectionable than most others," he wrote. "But I still had to resort to third-party tools to remove the DRM so I can play my music with my Roku player. "