I was reading recently that Hulu is giving DRM as it’s reason for not currently supporting HTML5. I was reminded of the open letter that Steve wrote back in 2007 about DRM with regards to the music industry. I was also reminded of the frequent times I’ve heard TV and Movie executives make the statement, “We don’t want to make the same mistake that the music industry made.”

Here is, what I feel, a relevant part of that letter that Hulu should read.

The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.