John Gruber has posted a very insightful article analyzing Steve Jobs’s “Thoughts on Music” essay. I think Gruber is spot-on in suggesting that the point of the article is to get on record as having their hands tied by the music industry’s insistence on selling DRM protected music. It might not help them with European governments, but it certainly won’t hurt them either.

• Reading Between the Lines of Steve Jobs’s ‘Thoughts on Music’

I’m still wildly impressed by this public stance Apple has taken. Whether or not it’s a bluff is beside the point. Apple’s on record now as taking this stance, and the consequences of going back on it are worse than going through with it. For an industry leader to take such an aggressive stance and basically say, “We don’t need to lock our customers into our product. We know that they will choose us anyway.” is very impressive. I think think they’re right too.

This is kind of amazing to hear from the CEO of Apple considering how successful they have been at selling DRM protected music. It’s nice to see such a clear message from a company that they are willing and ready to embrace the inevitable change in the industry.

• Thoughts on Music

Essentially the gist of the article is that Apple sells DRM protected music through the iTunes Store because they are required to by the four major music companies. Jobs expresses his belief that it would be best for everyone, especially consumers, if the major music companies were to allow their music to be sold online free of DRM protection.

Via Daring Fireball.