A commentary column on BusinessWeek today looks at Apple’s influence on the music industry with its iPod and iTunes success in recent years. The report quotes a number of industry insiders who feel that the company’s proprietary technology and its refusal to offer more ways to buy music are hindering legal sales of digital music. “The villain in the story is the iPod,” says Chris Gorog, CEO of Napster. “You have this device (iPod) consumers love, but they’re being restricted from buying anything other than downloads from Apple. People are bored with that.” The story asserts that music subscriptions are a tough sell to mainstream customers. “The concept of a jukebox in the sky is not something most consumers intuitively get,” says Dan Sheeran, a senior vice-president at Real. If Apple came in, it could change the game.
