There are people out there who believe that people who own an MP3 player or download music are thieves . Bold statements to that effect have been made by the CEO of Microsoft, Steve Balmer, who has been quoted saying, “The most common format of music on an iPod is stolen”; and Doug Morris, chairman and CEO of Universal Music who said, “These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it. So it’s time to get paid for it.”
It is so sad that all these men see are thieves. There are billions of people all around the world. Billions of songs have been downloaded legally since a way was made to legally acquire the music. Many more still buy music CDs and still they are not content.
“Why are they insulting their market?” you wonder. Unfortunately, no one knows the answer to that at this point. Maybe they want people to try and prove them wrong and have people buy a Zune and get music from them. With such similar opinions, is it any wonder that they have come to an agreement? In exchange for being able to sell Universal’s music, Microsoft is giving Universal a percentage of the sale of every Microsoft Zune. This is the kind of arrangement that Microsoft plans to make with all the recording companies, it is said.
Rather than insulting people, come out with great products and great alternatives instead. Make it worth people’s while to buy your stuff. More people are likely to download legally if they get a better deal that way.
[tags] download legally,music,microsoft,zune,universal music,mp3,thieves [/tags]