Mentre la EMI ha annunciato di non applicare più sistemi anti-copia e DRM ai propri CD (la notizia in italiano qui), Wired pubblica l’articolo Who’s Killing MP3 and ITunes? del giornalista musicale Eliot Van Buskirk su formati digitali, condivisione della musica e protezioni. Tra le diverse ragioni che vengono riportate nel testo, probabilmente le ultime due sono le più importanti perché riferite agli utenti e al futuro della tecnica. In merito ai primi, si legge:

6. People love AllofMP3.com

There’s already a case study of what an MP3 store could look like: the Russian site AllofMP3.com, which people are still reporting access to, despite attempts to starve it of U.S. credit cards. Its popularity also indicates that digital music pricing should drop (a 10-cent to 25-cent per unprotected MP3 sounds about right to me). Since increased sales of a digital good can’t affect inventory, the labels would more than make up for the price drop by selling far more songs — especially considering the endless targeting capabilities online music stores could eventually offer. (For instance, what if something like Pandora were used as a front end to an AllofMP3-type service?)

Su futuro e MP3:

7. MP3 has future options

Although it’s an aging technology, the MP3 format has been made over a couple of times. Coding Technologies has been working hard to give the MP3 format a future in terms of sound quality (MP3PRO) and surround sound (MP3 Surround). Although they haven’t taken off yet, these formats are reverse-compatible with MP3, unlike other advanced formats. This allows them to play on devices that support MP3s but not MP3PRO or MP3 Surround. And from what I understand, existing devices could add support for those with a simple firmware upgrade.