Apple's iTunes, iPod, and MP3 are highlighted in a discussion of the Apple CEO Steve Jobs about-face on the need for digital rights management (DRM) software. Jobs, in an 1,800-word online essay, said the worlds major music companies should consider allowing Apple and others to sell songs unfettered by anti-copying software that prevents them from being shared however a consumer chooses. According to Jobs, the recording industry is not fixing the piracy problem with DRM and could bolster the market if music fans could purchase music online without the DRM restrictions. Many resent the restrictions, especially incompatibility among company catalogs and players. Big music providers Warner Music Group, EMI, Vivendi University Music Group, and Sony BMG back Jobs in the new take on music sharing. It is not known whether the mindset change would hurt or help the music industry, which as been experiencing quickly declining sales and increasing privacy since the emergence of Internet-ready copying and transmission of music. Even though limits on software can stall copying of online-purchased tunes, most music is purchased on CDs, which have no anti-piracy software. Ken Hertz, an attorney for the digital music business, says Jobs letter could be a blatant attempt to put the blame for incompatible hardware and services on the music industry, and some executives have said Apple uses encryption technology to lock consumers into Apple music products.