Today Steve Jobs posted his thoughts on music. In this he explores three alternatives for the future of DRM (digital rights management). He concludes by suggesting making music available via download DRM free.

Awesome! But what is his motivation?

Using myself as a micro consumer example helps explain it a bit beyond Steve’s macro numbers. Currently I have 7,023 songs in my iTunes library. The vast, vast majority of these songs I purchased for my own use. Of those songs only 117 came from iTunes. Why? DRM.

Call me old-fashioned (well not that old-fashioned I generally purchase online), but I stll purchase my music in CD format (which is non-DRM protected) and then copy it on my hard drive (which is then backed up). I do this for one reason, and one reason only. I do not like Apple’s FairPlay system in that it limits the number of times I can copy an iTunes purchased song to a computer. I bought it. I should be able to use it as many times as I want to as long as it is for personal use.

It is the DRM driving my behavior. Its not the artwork. Its not the liner notes. It not the pretty stamped CD. My recent purchase habits are about 85% CD, 15% iTunes. You remove the DRM and those numbers reverse.

Steve is a smart man. He understands this buying behavior.

I hope music DRM goes away and that I can give Apple more business in the future.