Thanks to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, digital rights management has dominated much of the news in the past week. And it’s the focus of this edition of the Macworld Podcast.
In the wake of Jobs’ open letter saying that Apple would drop its FairPlay DRM system from iTunes Store purchases if the record companies allowed it, I’m joined by senior news editor Jonathan Seff and Macworld.com executive editor Philip Michaels for a roundtable discussion. We tackle Jobs’ comments as well as the reaction of the recording industry to the prospect of a DRM-free world.
But before that, we’re joined by Glenn Fleishman in a discussion with Macworld executive editor Dan Miller on the soon-to-be-finalized 802.11n wireless networking standard. Glenn and Dan spoke on the subject at last month’s Macworld Expo, but 802.11n continues to be relevant to Mac users with the release of the 802.11n-based AirPort Extreme Base Station.
Listen to episode 75
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Show notes
My recap of the week’s news includes Google’s announcement that it’s dropping the invitation-only restriction for its Gmail email service. And I talk about my recent adventures running Vista Home on a Mac via Boot Camp and Parallels.
On the DRM front, Macworld.com covered Steve Jobs’ anti-DRM comments as well as the reaction from iTunes rivals and record labels. Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman has been particularly critical, defending the use of DRM at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona on Wednesday.
Glenn Fleishman is a Seattle Times columnist who also blogs at Wi-Fi Networking News. He recently contributed an up-close look at 802.11n to Macworld.com as well as an article on the future of AirPort for the 2007 tech trends feature article in Macworld’s January 2007 issue.
As for the latest AirPort Base Station, my colleague Dan Frakes gave it a first look last month; a full review of the product should be up at Macworld.com later this week.
Music credits
“Basic‚” by Epicte the Elemental. Want to hear more of his music? Need a DJ in the Washington, D.C. area? E-mail him at epicte [at] gmail [dot] com.
The Barry White-esque background tune accompanying my round-up of the week’s news comes from yours truly.