Digital Home Thoughts: Real CEO: iPod Users Steal Music

"Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser says that iPod owners steal music. The majority of music on the average iPod is obtained illegally, with relatively few songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store, Glaser said in an interview with The Guardian. “If you want interoperable music today, there is a very easy solution: it’s called stealing,” Glaser said. “The average number of songs sold for the iPod is 25, and there are many more songs on iPods than 25. About half the music on iPods is music obtained illegitimately either from an illegal peer-to-peer networks or from ripping friends’ CDs, which is illegal. But it’s the only way to get non-copy protected, portable, interoperable music.”"



What I'd be really interested to know is this: where the hell did he get those numbers?! I don't know what the rest of you are doing, but ALL of the music on my iPod is ripped from my own CDs. I agree with Glaser that Apple's interoperability is not in the consumer's best interest, but Apple has a right to lock their system down and (as a result) drive their own profits up. To attack this lack of interoperability by calling the average consumer a criminal and a thief is entirely the wrong approach. Talk about a sore loser.