Jobs: People Don't Want Microsoft's Music Model


On the anniversary of iTunes' launch, [see our earlier story] Apple CEO Steve Jobs declared that Microsoft's music subscription service model was not the one consumers wanted, Macworld UK reports.

"Purchasing and owning music is a very ingrained thing," Jobs is quoted as saying in the story, "and I think that is why subscription services have failed."

As Microsoft readies Janus [see our story earlier this month], its subscription service with built-in Digital Rights Management (DRM), Jobs has already dismissed the technology, arguing it is not what content providers want.

"Here's the deal. Microsoft does not own the content, and the content owners do not think it's such a good idea. they do not want to license their content through a subscription model where it can be carried on portable players for maybe ten dollars a month. We speak to these people, and that's what they tell us," Macworld UK report quotes Jobs as saying.

Jobs also poured cold war on speculation - rampant for around two years now - that Apple will integrate color screens or video into its iPod. But Jobs sees music players and video devices as utterly different. Music success for Apple, he says, has been revolutionary because the company has delivered a one-stop solution to digital music.

Analysis: That's not to say Apple isn't prepping another digital device; it just means it's not an iPod. After all, why sell one unit when you can sell two? Works for the Mac and the portables, doesn't it?