Everyone but Apple joins new "buy once, play anywhere" group

I notice the article doesn't say that Apple was invited to the party but refused to show up.

Apple is already on record as saying they belong to the "buy once play anywhere forever" group: I can play un-DRM'D movies on my iPod Touch today, and if it were possible to buy un-DRM'd movies on iTMS, Apple would make an additional fortune from iPod and iPhone and AppleTV sales.

Judging by recent events with the record labels refusing to allow Apple to sell non-DRM content and studios like NBC dropping iTMS over a pricing spat (a move they reversed after discovering that nobody was buying their content elsewhere), I'm guessing that Apple is forcibly excluded from this group.

I may be wearing a foil hat, but my thought is that the entire point of this alliance is to come up with a DRM'd alternative to iTMS that consumers will actually use. If Apple were allowed in, they would still control the market and the pricing, which isn't what the studios want.

Buy once. Play anywhere. Note what's missing: the word "forever". Hey MSFT, hey Sony --- the first track I bought on iTMS? STILL PLAYS.

To combat piracy you have to deliver a better product. This is just delivering the same product.

i miss the good old days when you could tape your favorite song from the radio(you still could, if you actually like radio songs). Modern technology solved some music recording and distribution problems, but it introduced all this bullshit. Was it wort it?