"Looks like you do see the whole picture. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info" Jobs gave a rare look of admiration.

"And what's next?" Sid asked rhetorically.

"Don't you see that?" Jobs raised his brow, feigned surprise.

"Well, I'll explain it a little bit. Sid shrugged: "Essentially, software is tied to copyright issues. ”

"The lawsuit between Diamond and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is a real phenomenon – the digital market for music is beginning to emerge. Although last year, the court ruled in favor of Diamond on the grounds that the Rio 300 player was just a storage device, saying that it had the same function as an ordinary box player. ”

But the only reason Diamond's MP3 player is selling so quickly is because it can download MP3 music from the Internet for free. This shows that the provision of digital music services through the Internet is indeed a viable market. ”

Hearing this, Larry Ellison couldn't help but interject and ask, "But don't record companies always claim that free downloads on the Internet are piracy, and they will sue and crack down on related companies?"

"This is our chance!" Sid said with a slight smile, "The reason why online downloads are now regarded as a flood beast by the record industry is because of their free nature. On the surface, everyone is flocking to download MP3 because of the benefits of being free. But in fact, it is the convenience of MP3 that stimulates the demand of consumers, especially young consumers. ”

"They're downloading free MP3s now, not so much because they like it, but because the 'big brothers' don't give them any other choice. Sid raised his hands and ticked them twice in quotation marks, then added, "Today's record dealers prefer physical carriers like cassette tapes and CDs. ”

"But not because of the copyright issues they claim, but because of the benefits! Physical carriers can not only allow them to earn higher royalty income, but also stimulate the sales of cassette tapes and CD walkmans. So, Sony is actually the least likely company to develop an MP3 player right now. ”

"But for us, the Walkman is only a product at the physical level, and the digital music market is the supporting software market, and only by grasping both hardware and software can we really gain the right to speak. Sid said in a decisive word.

"Digital music? I hadn't thought of this yet. Jobs touched his chin and said thoughtfully.

Larry Ellison stared at Sid with a ghost-like expression, he didn't expect that Jobs, who had always been admired by him, would be thought of by others when he was one step ahead.

"If that's the case, then we can really combine the hardware Walkman with the software for digital music sales. Jobs summed up Sid's words by saying.

Larry Ellison suddenly realized when he heard the two of them summing up, but he immediately frowned again, "But if the record company doesn't license it, then it's impossible to sell digital music online." ”

Jobs looked at Sid with a smile, and Sid spread his hand: "The method is very simple, it is to make profits." We provide a platform to buy digital music through internet-connected software, and then charge a small fee and pay half, or even two-thirds, of the sales to record labels and artists. ”

"So much!?" asked Larry Ellison, surprised.

"Although we have a small share of sales per song, when all the songs are sold on our platform, our final revenue will be the largest through the platform's comprehensive fees. Sid concluded.

"Sounds good, but will things go this way?" Larry Ellison hesitated despite hearing the full plan, after all, in the actual execution process, any plan will encounter countless surprises.

"Of course not. Sid replied, "Today's record companies are giant T-Rex, big but clumsy, clinging to the old ways of thinking and unwilling to face the reality of the market." There have been rumors this year that the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) will directly sue sites that offer free MP3 downloads, and it looks like a cat-and-mouse game will be played for some time. ”

"But as long as there is demand, nothing will disappear completely, and the federal government's prohibition has created a boom in gangs. Will the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) crack down on digital music really make digital music disappear?hum~~" Sid let out a sneering chuckle.

Then he said solemnly: "But I do worry a little. ”

"What?" asked Larry Ellison, curious.

"Digital music is a new market, but the unbridled crackdown on the record industry and the emergence of free download technologies are making this nascent market chaotic. Whether it is a paid purchase or a digital copyright, it is still quite weak in terms of consumer habits and technical protection. ”

"If this goes on for a long time, I'm worried that something like 'Atari Shock' will happen in this market. Sid's words sent both Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs deep in thought.

Atari Shock is an early video game industry, a great catastrophe that happened.

The world's first game console was invented by graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in their spare time, while the world's first home game console was invented and operated by the American game company Atari.

At the time, Atari was a standout, monopolizing the market for physical home consoles and having a considerable position worldwide. After Jobs dropped out of college, he worked at Atari for a while.

Later, as the well-known story goes, Jobs received $5,000 from his boss for an independent project, and then "used" his friend Steve Woznika's electronics to complete it, only to give Woznicka "half the salary" of $350.

And the company in this story is Atari.

Although Atari was a rival in the hardware market at the time, in the software market, there were serious problems. At that time, in order to increase further profits, software vendors blindly lowered costs and produced a large number of shoddy low-cost games.

A large number of inferior game software flooded the market for a long time, causing chaos in the entire market, but Atari did nothing, and they even felt that no matter what they did, players would pay for it without reservation. When the time came to the early 80s, gamers throughout North America completely lost confidence in games and consoles, and were unwilling to buy games and consoles, which caused a devastating disaster for the entire North American gaming industry.

In North America, almost all game-related companies have gone bankrupt, and the former king Atari has also been liquidated by banks.

This is also why, later, a large number of Japanese video game companies represented by RB Nintendo were able to dominate the world for 20 years as if they had entered a no-man's land.

"What you're talking about is a problem. Jobs nodded, organized the language and said, "In that case, we still have to take the hardware first, and in the early stage of the software, it is more of a CD transcription function to add music files to the hardware." ”

Sid nodded, in the early days of iTune, its main function was to transcribe CDs and then sync them to the iPod. It wasn't until the fourth version of iTune that the online digital store of iTuneStore was opened.

"Not only that, but we also have to scare the old guys in the record industry. Sid said with a mischievous grin.

"You mean open network file transfer and CD burning?" Jobs immediately smiled as soon as he heard it.

Napster's founder, Sean Parker, although he later arrogantly said in Facebook's coming-of-age movie "The Social Network" that no one has bought CDs to listen to music since he founded Napster, he has changed the way people listen to music.

But the reality is that Napster, as one of the first free download sites, is still too complicated to operate, and many people can't operate its website to download MP3 well, except for hardcore enthusiasts. This is also an important reason why later record companies think that they can survive.

But the early days of iTune, which could import Mp3 music and entire CDs, as well as burn MP3 files to a blank disc, made the entire record industry nervous. If everyone could transfer and burn CDs, who would buy CDs?

It was under this intense pressure that the Big Four labels, under the "obscenity" of Steve Jobs and Apple, agreed to iTune's digital music sales plan.

In this regard, Jobs and Sid hit it off, and the two simply designed all aspects of the Walkman in the sea-view living room of Larry Ellison's villa.

Fueled by Sid, Jobs's long-brewing inspiration erupted one after another, not only setting the names of iPod and iTune, but also determining the general framework in terms of hardware specifications and software functions.

But the two got stuck in an unexpected place and got into an argument.

"No, no, no, Steve (Jobs), iPod and iTune must be compatible with Windows!" Sid said with a serious face.

"Wrong, Sid. Apple's products must be closely integrated with hardware and software, and we can no longer let the rental operating system happen. Jobs said without backing down.

"But that doesn't mean that the iPod should be bound to Apple's computer, that's too narrow!" Sid retorted unceremoniously.

"No, that just means that you have to bind your iPod to your Mac computer, and only then can you create a whole Apple product system. Jobs and Sid stared at each other, and neither could convince anyone.

Larry Ellison next to him looked at the two of them arguing, looking at them funny and nervous, Sid and Jobs in front of outsiders and subordinates, always with a wise and calm appearance. Ordinary people don't have much chance to see their two faces arguing.

Sid took a deep breath and felt that this was not the way to go, so he took a step back first, "Steve (Jobs), first of all, I agree with Apple's strategy of combining hardware and software. ”

Sid's words made Jobs breathe a sigh of relief, and then Sid continued: "But what we have to clarify is, what is the right software to combine with hardware?"

"Proper software?" asked Larry Ellison curiously, "isn't software just software?"