FCC Commissioner Michael Copps had an interesting op-ed in the New York Times several days ago, spelling out what he sees as the failure of broadcasters to live up to the public-interest requirements of their licenses. It's hard to find much fault in what he says, both because he highlights the shoddy job many broadcasters do, but also the failings of the FCC in ensuring they live up to their end of the bargain. Unsurprisingly, the piece evoked a response from the head of the National Association of Broadcasters, who (with a straight face, we presume), touted broadcasters' "public service commitment". That's a pretty laughable claim, and as Orbitcast points out, it's undermined by the NAB's backing of a bill that would ban satellite radio companies from airing local content, including Amber Alerts and other emergency information. If the NAB really had the public interest at heart, why would it try and limit the ways in which this sort of information could be distributed, and to create its own monopoly on local content? Hypocrisy from the NAB -- shocking, we know.

Late last year, rumors emerged that Amazon was in talks to launch a DRM-free music site to compete with iTunes. There had been talk that the company would launch some sort of music site for a long time, but the idea that it would be a DRM-free service was interesting because it offered a possible way for the company to differentiate itself from iTunes. However, iTunes ended up taking the play away from Amazon by starting down DRM-free path itself. So today's announcement from Amazon that it's launching a new music service with unprotected tracks from EMI and other smaller labels comes a little late. If the company had offered it sooner, it'd have been a genuine alternative to iTunes, but as it is, the offering doesn't look to be particularly interesting. The question, now, is whether the company will apply the lesson to its unsuccessful movie download service, which has been hampered by onerous copy protection and the attendant lack of usability. If the company wants to avoid being an also-ran, it needs to get out in front of Apple and be the first to explain to Hollywood why it would be better off if it dropped its useless insistence on DRM.