December 14th, 2006
Gates Says Just Buy a CD and Rip It
By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Bill Gates met with a bunch of bloggers today in an hour long any question goes session that included free Zunes for everyone. Wonder how much traffic you have to get to get an invite? 
Gates didn’t get into what could replace DRM, but he did give some reasonably candid insights suggesting that he thinks DRM is as lame as the rest of us.
Gates said that no one is satisfied with the current state of DRM, which “causes too much pain for legitimate buyers” while trying to distinguish between legal and illegal uses. He says no one has done it right, yet. There are “huge problems” with DRM, he says, and “we need more flexible models, such as the ability to “buy an artist out for life” (not sure what he means). He also criticized DRM schemes that try to install intelligence in each copy so that it is device specific.
His short term advice: “People should just buy a cd and rip it. You are legal then.” Source: TechCrunch
We Say: Now I know everyone who reads the post, will want to comment on the statement from Arrington about the look on Bill’s face when he saw everyone had a laptop from Apple, so let the argument begin.
SomeDumbGuy says:
Are you sure that said look isn’t from finding out the cost to upgrade all of his computers to be able to run Vista?
December 14th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
R Badger says:
“Buy an artist out for life”… what did he mean? Memory suggests looking at the experience of professional photographers who wanted to sell works through Bill’s Corbis photo service. I seem to recall the terms to sell anything included relinquishing the publication rights to your entire life’s work. For some people everything has to have a price tag.
December 14th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Charles says:
Bill has it right. Anyone with any commone sense won’t buy music online. Just buy the CD.
I tried Yahoo’s subscription service and that sucked too. Not is an artist’s entire collection not there, but some CD might have several songs as ‘previews’. Lame.
December 14th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Pramit says:
MediaVidea has 5 questions for Bill Gates.
http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2006/12/5-questions-for-bill-gates.html
December 15th, 2006 at 12:48 am
db. says:
“Buy an artist out for life”
Like Micheal Jackson did with the Beatles?
December 15th, 2006 at 6:31 am
methodshop says:
is anyone else pissed that these bloggers all wrote Microsoft fluff pieces after flying out to see Gates?
Want some positive blogger buzz about your product or service? Maybe you should just buy it like Bill Gates. Once you factor in the total cost of this stunt (free flights, Zunes, hotel rooms), I wonder how much Gates paid per letter for a handful of blog posts?
And should corporate blogs like Micro Persuasion and GigaOm, who have venture-capital financing and/or big name PR firms, really be accepting free stuff and sacrificing their objectivity?
How cheap are your personal ethics?
December 15th, 2006 at 7:02 am
David Gross says:
I agree with Bill, just buy a CD (if you like most of the songs on it) and rip it. Besides that there are other ways to get songs like Limewire.
December 15th, 2006 at 8:37 am
Jon says:
I think Billy is out of touch with his corp.. I Have been doing comps since mid 1980s I used to love intell IBM products back in the day they messed up and ibm is paying for that. The same thing is gonna happen to microsoft look at vista compatable with hardley nothing software or drivers even the basic acrobat. This is the most upset i have ever been with a company. And i loved microsoft but if they dont stand behind and fix products they sell I SAY Die Microsoft.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:59 pm