NBC vs. Apple

NBC seems to be coming off as the biggest media whiner around.

First, they pull their shows from the iTunes music service. Most assume this is because Apple’s wildly successful media content delivery service is trumping everyone else’s. NBC just couldn’t stomach the fact that Apple was making some money off their stuff (of course, NBC was too, but just not enough, in their viewpoint). So NBC takes its toys and goes home.

Now, NBC executive Jeff Zucker is claiming that Apple is responsible for “destroying music pricing.” Sounds to me like he’s trying to drag others into his pout-fest about Apple’s success. It’s an age-old trick… I’m not happy with the way things are going, so I’ll try to make others unhappy too.

I don’t know of many consumers who are angry with Apple for forcing the music industry to start thinking competitively. C’mon, who really wants to pay $16.98 for a CD at Wal-Mart when you can get it for $9.99 through iTunes. So the traditional music and media moguls are only making tens of billions instead of hundreds of billions of dollars now. Waaaaah.

One caveat… there’s a bunch of folks that are not thrilled with Apple’s heavy-handed techniques of negotiation. I, for one, am still a little miffed about how Apple initially treated its music and media content. Why should I not be able to put a CD that I’ve bought on the iTunes store on my PSP? I know that there are work-arounds, but Apple was a little archaic in its approach. Perhaps that was one area that they locked down to appease the music folks? Who knows?

Another arena of Apple’s misguided methodology has been its approach to the iPhone and third-party software. Their “fear” of viruses and talk of the potential of harming the cellular network must have been authored and propogated by the same guys that frothed up the Western Hemishpere over Y2K.

At the day’s end, however, it’s not NBC that is known for innovation, technological breakthroughs, and customer satisfaction, however. It’s Apple. I am NOT pleased that I can’t easily get an episode of Heroes onto my iPhone or iPods. I don’t think millions of other media users are either. NBC and Zucker are coming off sounding like kids pitching temper tantrums. And it’s only hurting themselves.

On this day...

• Pastor Appreciated: Mission Accomplished... - 2006
• The Theisman Trophy... - 2005