As soon as Amazon’s DRM-free MP3 service was launched (see my earlier post), Yahoo! Music’s VP for product development Ian Rogers handed the music industry their collective DRM-laden ass on a platter:
But now, eight years later, Amazon’s finally done what was clearly the right solution in 1999. Music in the format that people actually want it in, with a Web-based experience that’s simple and works with any device. I bought tracks from Amazon (Kevin Drew and No Age), downloaded them, sync’d them to my new iPod Nano, and had them playing in my home audio system (Control 4) in less than five minutes. PRAISE JESUS. It only took 8 years.
8 years. How much opportunity have we lost in those 8 years? How much naivety and hubris did we have when we said, “if we build it they will come� What did we spend? And what did we gain? We certainly didn’t gain mass user adoption or trust, two prerequisites to success on the Internet.
That’s the most heart-warming ‘Kiss my ass’ I’ve heard in a very long time.