Apple to France: not so fast, mon ami

So the French National Assembly approved an ostensibly anti-DRM bill against Apple which had, as of yesterday, elicited no comment from Cupertino. Today, however, the claws came out. Apple said, "If this happens, legal music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers," and "iPod sales will likely increase as users freely load their iPods with 'interoperable' music which cannot be adequately protected. Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy." Funny how pro-consumer their statement sounds, when they're actually trying to do is rail against being coerced into opening the iTMS and iPod. We definitely get the impression, however, that if the law is passed when it hits Senate later this year, and Apple must either open their DRM or withdraw from France, that due to what we can only imagine are contractual obligations DRM record labels' recordings Apple will have to bail out and never look back.

[Dave @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:10AM]

Apple doesn't make enough off of just iTunes alone, right? What are the chances that France could just be cut off from iTunes music store, but still buy iPods? Heck, other companies might have to make THEIR DRM open to Apple that way... or would this be too underhanded and somehow illegal?

[DJ @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:13AM]

Screw France!

Apple should stick to it's guns!

Which means that in typical French fashion, 15 minutes later the government will pull out a few of those millions of white flags it owns and surrender.

[jobogro @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:17AM]

Bloody French! It's not Apple that will lose out, it's probably not the record companies either, it would be the consumer who loses out. Why? Because Apple had a hard time convincing record companies to go with their online music store iTunes. It was only the comprehensive anti-piracy that Apple offered that convinced them to "give it a go" and clearly, they must be quite happy they did. If France succeeds in getting the DRM stripped, it's not so much that Apple will pull out, it's the record companies who will, as they can't afford to promote piracy. So it's the consumers that will lose out.

[Jordan @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:19AM]

Apple will have to withdraw from France, and then iPod/iTunes will become a dirty feeling sub-culture that is totally intriguing. It will be legally obtaining music illegally. Some people in France will order iPods from other countries, and use iTunes with out-of-country credit cards. iPod/iTunes use will go down some inevitably, and piracy will go up some. Bad for Apple, bad for music labels, bad for artists, good for pirates. Probably good for competition. The problem is there isn't another good on-line music store available in France is there? I am still confused as to why the gov't would step in.

[Adam @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:22AM]

I agree, screw France.

There will be no way Apple could open the DRM up. That would break contracts with the RIAA. No offense to the rest of the world, but do you think an American Corperation, making most of its money off of Americans is going to give two shits about France?

[Jordan @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:23AM]

jobogro: "If France succeeds in getting the DRM stripped, it's not so much that Apple will pull out, it's the record companies who will,"

I don't think this bill will strip DRM so much as make companies work together to allow DRM to work on other players, right? I could be wrong. If I am, and this bill is to remove DRM completely, there is no way that any record company is going to sell music in France!

[Anita @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:24AM]

France to begin with is going to be the loser here. Apple wouldn't care much if it loses like 1 country of its 116 country customer base. And plus iTunes? Oh, please its the French who's going to suffer. Chiraq, you listening?

[Can0Spam @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:25AM]

It was Apple's decision to lock iPods to iTunes and that smacks of anti-competitive business. France is on the right path but, it is yet to be seen how it would be enforced.

If this passes the real winner is freedom of choice for the consumer. They can buy their music anywhere they want and put it on any DAP they want.

Evil

[AaronS @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:26AM]

Yeah, it sucks that the iPod only works with iTunes. I hate that you can't copy music from CD's you buy from record stores...

[Grapixeye @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:31AM]

We here in FInland are worried that France will try to ram the same law down the throats of the rest of the EU countries just like they did with the Farm subsidies issue. I'm with Apple on this on. Its not like people don't know that Apple (and indeed Microsoft) don't have their own DRM's and if they want to buy from the iTunes store they do so knowing full well it only works with an iPod. Next, France will probably pass some bill trying to force Apple's operating system to be put on ALL computers or Windows PC being forced to run Apple OS. Being France, of course they have to have there way.

[Yrian @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:34AM]

But the bill has to pass Senate and, if I know my share of French politics, then, surprise, it won't.

[straylight @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:35AM]

hmm, this worries me that im siding with the french bashers...I see those of you who hate Apple BECAUSE of DRM siding against them without reading into the actual issue. The same goes for those of you who HATE France.

Ill start by saying I have no problem with France. I have no problem with DRM, I hate it, but I figure Apples Fair play has to be the best of the worst.
This is a precarious time for Apple- That being said, I'm betting Apple will just pull out France- its easier to not-do-business in a country 20% the size of the US than completly re-write their business model.
Itunes keeps track of what you listen to, and what you look at, that statistical model alone is what makes their algorythms able to recommend more music, using other players would make it that much harder for them to get music to you- so apple, the player is as much a part of the DRM as the DRM itself.

As for how much they make, if you scour the internet, you will realize Apple really ISNT making that much of a single itunes song sale.

Make no mistake- I hate DRM, I hate how fair play makes it so you cant use purchased mysic in a regular mp3 player, but if my choices are between this type of DRM and some of the "hold me down and pull money from my pocket everytime i HEAR the music i just purchased", Ill take Apples method. First France, then who else will jump in with the same demands?

-Straylight

[Rva @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:36AM]

Hey, France is not 100% for this Law. So don't screw all of us. French people is waiting for general election in 2007...

This law has been voted by the actual parlement, where the right party "UMP" has the majority since the election in 2002 ( "mistaken election of Chirac Jacques @ 82% against neo-facist Jean Marie Le Pen").

Note that the french UMP minister of Culture has been condamend by justice for "blanchiement" of black money for his party.
Note also, that there are 7 justice files where the name of Jacques Chirac is written. Jacques Chirac is the father of the UMP.

screw the banana republic of France and it's chief , Chirac Jacques, the "delinquant pr?dent". But not french poeple.

[metfuel @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:36AM]

AaronS what are you talking about. ok lets look at this logic. iTunes is free. iTunes works on windows and mac. You can use any music from any cd. you don't have to buy music from the itunes music store to listen to it on your ipod. If you don't have an ipod and still want to use itunes to buy music then hello burn it to a cd and rip it back to your computer. walla its not copy prtected anymore. I don't know where your getting you can't copy cds that you buy from stores.

[Jaxim @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:37AM]

Screw France? Screw Apple! ..and the the rest of the DRM-pushing companies.

If all of the music selling companies sold DRM-free music, piracy may rise a little, but overall the levels of piracy will probably around about the same and they may actually sell more.

Currently, some people are pirating music because there is no other alternative. CDs are too expensive if you just want one song. Buying from iTunes, Napster, or other music selling sites is not an alternative, because they include DRM, and you can't play the songs on any player of your choice. So for some people, piracy or not even buying music is the only choice.

Therefore, if Apple complies with France and eventually does this worldwide, they may actually increase sales from those people who have a morale objection against DRM-ridden music.

I say, Go France!!

[Dave @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:39AM]

"It's not Apple that will lose out, it's probably not the record companies either, it would be the consumer who loses out."

Bollocks!!

The consumer is FINALLY haveing someone stand up for them! It's amazing to me how many of these comments are anti-France, pro-DRM. I don't love the French, but any large body standing up for the consumer who is now almost consistently delivered crippled goods laden with DRM (from the mundane to the rootkit-installing kind) I say thank you to France, about freikin time someone stood up to the media giants and said "enough."

This is in no way anti-consumer. A little pain on our side to see the wrongs that were allowed to grow now be righted is never, never a bad thing.

[adrian @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:39AM]

the ipod is not locked to itunes i have used musicmatch to update my ipod but, if you use itunes you can only update an ipod.

[Carl @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:39AM]

With regard to comment #9, that is false. iPods play MP3s and AIFF files just fine. You can buy CDs from record stores, rip them in iTunes (or any other encoder you like), and load them onto your iPod with no restrictions. Only iTunes Music Store Fairplay AAC files are protected and unable to play on other players. And that is a small fraction of the music currently stored on iPods, despite the billion tracks sold.

[Thill @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:44AM]

#9. You can import music from any CD (or MP3's) into iTunes. It is easy. I have moved over 100 CD's worth or music into my iTunes..

I think France picked on the wrong company. Steve Jobs has as big an ego as France, and I doubt that he will give in here. He would pull out of France before he opens up the iPod to other music services. In the big scheme of things, I doubt that this would affect Apple too much. If anything, it may make the iPod and iTunes even more popular in France....

[BK @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:47AM]

The difficulty arises not from Apple bailing out of France--it only account for 5% of IPods sale there--but if others in Europe (or European union) follow suit and enact similar laws. Surely, Apple can't take themselves out of the market place then. At that point, Apple will probably be forced to open up.

[Thill @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:54AM]

I hate to tell all of you, but DRM is here to stay. It is not Apple that requires DRM, it is the music companies. The bottomline is that Apple's Fair Play system, while not perfect, is pretty dang flexible. I have imported hundreds of songs from CD's and other M3's into my iTunes. It is easy and legal. The fact of the matter is that if you want to listen to an iPod, you have to use iTunes. If you want to listen to MP3's through Napster, Yahoo, etc, you just buy a different MP3 player... Why is this so difficult to understand?

Next you will have France saying that Microsoft and Sony need to make games compatible on both the PS3 and Xbox360... Not gonna happen. They are proprietary systems...

[Mike @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:54AM]

Go France! All you anti-French bandwagon douches would have nothing to say if it were any other country.

[Corey @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:55AM]

#15...

No alternative to pirating music? You act as though the music is public domain. It isn't - you do have an alternative to piracy. You have a few:

1) Purchase DRM'ed music, and deal with the fact you limit your player options.

2) Purchase an entire CD

3) Don't listen to the music if you can't handle what needs to be done to legally listen to it

Nobody is holding a gun to your head to listen to any particular music. You do it because you WANT to. And because you want to, and the music does NOT belong to you, you must pay for it. Anything less makes you nothing more than a petty theif.

[theBuggane @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:56AM]

what proportion of each iPod user's content is downloaded from iTunes? I don't know, but I bet it isn't a big propoprtion. This sounds like a non-issue.

I have a Sony player and I'm pleased to say I've never bought from their donload shop. What's wrong with buying a CD (better quality master copy) and ripping it?

Keep the album alive!

[ben @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:00AM]

Here's something I don't think I've seen in any discussion of this decision so far...

1. The draft law says no company can lock-in a format on their player...whatever format you use has to be more or less universally compatible (and not through workarounds like burning and ripping CDs).
2. Apple and Microsoft pull out to avoid opening their DRM. After all, France is only 5% of Apple's market.
3. Some enterprising company sees that 5% as a significant amount of market share, and figures out a way to work with the law.
4. Barring a completely incompetent execution by this hypothetical company, French music fans end up with the best music download system in the world. The record industry (assuming they have some capacity for rational behavior - perhaps an unwise assumption) will go along, because the issue is not DRM-less product, merely interoperable product. This law really has nothing to do with music copyrights.

[MacBandit @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:00AM]

#17 it's called sarcasm.

I didn't post the message but I got the point loud and clear. People are whining about DRM and forgetting they can still buy CDs and rip them and get all the quality DRM free they want.

DRM is a necessary evil to get record companies to sell their music online. Remember the music that most of you are obsessed with is owned by the record companies and as such they can do whatever they want with it even if you dislike it.

If you want something that has less DRM then start supporting Indies.

[AaronS @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:04AM]

#14, #17, and #18. It was a joke. I was making a point that saying iTunes + iPod is a completely closed system doesn't make sense to me...Thank you for bringing it up to others, though, that you CAN in fact copy music that wasn't purchased from iTunes to your iPod.

[key @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:11AM]

#20 DRM is fine as long as it's an OPEN STANDARD. The monolithic dominance of iTunes in the marketplace is not healthy for the long run. France is not opposing DRM per say, just DRM that is locked to one vendors products. It's like Microsoft only allowing Windows on Microsoft hardware. The US government has stepped in to break up previous monopolies (think Bell)

[Malfoy Roark @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:13AM]

Re: 5

This just in: Law trumps contracts. The EU has their own music 'union'(which I'm sure is made up of most of the same companies but I dont think they operate under the RIAA) who have saw this coming(if they didnt, they need to hire better lobbyist). If this was to become law and Apple followed the law, what do you think the music industry would do? Sue Apple for breaking a contract? They wouldnt even get in the courts front door. The industry is gonna have to take this up the EU and GOOD LUCK WITH THAT. MS has showed that even with the most money, if the EU is gunning for you, well you're gonna get gunned down.

[AaronS @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:13AM]

This PC World article (http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,124434,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp) says that in 2005, digital music downloads accounted for 6% of all music sales. Does this not mean that the iPod can (by default) play 94% of the music that was purchased in 2005 (obviously, there are some CD's that have copy protection on them when purchased in store which prevents copying to a computer, but you get the general idea)? Wouldn't that number increase even more considering iTunes contains the largest online music store? If I've got a device that can play 90% + of all music being purchased, that's good enough for me.

[Mat @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:13AM]

My understanding of this is that, Apple gets around 2% of their profits from France, they could easily pull their French iTunes store and still sells ipods etc and not loose too much money there, but if they refuse to comply then the goverment will make it legal for people to strip the DRM from iTunes bought music and play it on whatever they want.
DRM doesnt really bother me that much, being that i sometimes buy from iTunes, convert my CDs in iTunes and put them straight on my ipod. But if DRM is what got record labels to sign up to iTunes in the first place, then the French government (if they make this law) will be undermiming that, making it legal for people to essentially have pirated music.
Those crazy French, they'll be banning head scarves next...oh no wait...

[shadekh @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:15AM]

I dont see how this bill is anti-drm. All it will do is allow apple's competitors to make money off the ipod hype. It breaks the apple business model. its not like apple's a forced monopoly like Microsoft, if you dont like apple, dont buy the ipod. If this only makes it easier to get music from another DRM-laden store, how is it beneficial?

It would be different if the law advocated removing drm entirely. Then i would cheer. But this law only makes it so that other drm companies can enjoy apple's success. In the end, maybe there is a slightly wider choice for the customers, but the apple business model is badly hurt, and most probably it would just result in the withdrawal of the itunes music service from france. Its a tirade against a store, a brand, not a monopoly as such.

Apple's monopoly is because it has a good and attractive product, so it commands the market share. Its not because customers are forced to choose ipod because 99% of the music dosentt play in other players (like the windows monopoly).

[NeoteriX @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:20AM]

I like the idea of disabling the DRM for the very simple reason of it allowing me to enjoy my music more. The iPod EQ implementation is pretty flawed and leads to clipping and cracking. To get around this, I use MP3/AACGain and normalize my music a couple of decibels quieter to reduce the clipping.

However, with the DRMs in place, I can't actually use MP3Gain to make my legitimately purchased music more enjoyable.

[jobogro @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:22AM]

Dave (#16) you're missing the point, read Thill (#20).

This whole DRM set up is something the music labels have insisted upon, not Apple. The French government will not force global change here, more likely shoot themselves in the foot and lose out. DRM is here to stay, if you buy from Apple, you're in their DRM. If you rip your own CDs you can do what you like. Seems fair to me.

Jobogro.

[Torontoguy @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:26AM]

It is all very confusing. I don't download any music...hey, I don't even buy commercial music CDs...so I have no intention of giving Apple (or Sony) 99 cents for anything they have to sell...so I am out of the DRM circus.
What I don't understand is that one day, everybody is whining about how DRM is the greatest enemy of 'freedom' in the world and today everybody is saying how DRM must be preserved from the evil French government's attempts to circumvent it.
What is it, people? Are you for it or against it?

[jobogro @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:34AM]

Torontoguy #30

Yeah we hate DRM in principal, but i am aware that without it iTunes would never have existed. As Apple proved to the Music labels, they could sell their stuff online "safely", I accept that DRM has allowed iTunes and indeed other online stores to exist. So for that I am grateful, and therefore "for DRM".

jobogro

[Jack @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:39AM]

au revoir DRM. bonjour free culture!

[len @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:51AM]

You people surrendered to Apple long ago. Your ears are chained to your white flag as it is chained to iTunes.

Resist, resist your oppressor!

C'est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous, et demain
L'Internationale
Sera le genre humain!

[Jimmy @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:54AM]

I'm stunned at how many people are slagging of the french for being anti DRM, the french maybe tossers but iTunes is an anti-competitive monopoly which only cares about its bank balance - you have to consider the effect that DRM has on small labels who cant afford to get these DRM licenses and legal issues sorted out before they can publish a record, effectively it pushes out the small players so you are left with the big players in the music industry which seem to sell crap music to us and really lack creativity

[David @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:57AM]

Let's see . . . Apple invests money to develope and produce the iPod . . . Apple invests money in infrastructure, marketing, supply chain, and R&D to establish a (non-mandatory, non-critical -- we're not talking about food or energy here) product/service business model . . . . Apple gets the recording, TV, and movie industries to embrace on-line media sales for the first time, and for all of this work Apple wants to collect a profit! WHAT IS WITH STEVE JOBS?
People: there are other digital audio/video media players and services out there and many can play music or video in almost any format it's available. If you're upset with Apple, go buy one of those other devices. What you say? Apple has enormous market share? 60%? 80%? Is that an indictment of Apple's business model or an endorsement? Seems that most people vote with their wallet, more often than not. And MOST people who like to listen to and/or view media digitally and portably are saying (with their collective wallets): Apple's product/serve is the best available combination of features for the price at this time.
Is it ANY surprise whatsoever that a Socialist country takes issue with a Capitalist company and business model?

[Jay @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:03AM]

If iTunes got artists and labels to switch to their service because it's 'safe' from piracy, then why would they (artists, labels) agree to be placed (without DRM) on a French version of iTunes? I think the French just have a anti-American agenda in general and this is just a way to push American corporations away (to be replaced by their own). Isn't communist China doing something similar?

[dmcc @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:06AM]

This bill is so complicated, unclear and confusing that it was easy for Engadget to misunderstand it... It's not anti-DRM at all, it a DMCA-like bill. And it became so unpopular because it's said to have been written under influence of audio and video content providers. The chapter about DRM makes sure DRM protections are legal, which was unclear before. But it also says DRM should not be used to lock users into a proprietary system and Apple has to provide APIs to competitors. Since the bill doesn't really care about technical details, it could take years to have Apple actually change something on iTunes.

[len @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:17AM]

I like the analogy to Sony and Nintendo...

Can you imagine a future where some artists can only be heard on the Apple platforms, and others exclusively on Microsoft, and others locked out entirely because they dare to sell through a non-DRM'ed channel?

Go ahead, pretend you're still rebels, pretend this is what capitalism is all about. Third parties controlling what you do with your own property is sooo liberating.

[E @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:18AM]

If peope want to copy music and media they will find a way.

For crying out loud, even with copy protection there is nothing to stop someone from doing a high bitrate digital recording of an audio feed.

Stupid asses.

This is about Apple keeping a grip on the market with their own proprietary formats. Like Apple gives a rats fart about keeping pirating down to a minimum.

The iPod was a huge success BECAUSE of pirated music.

[rroger @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:27AM]

First, it isn't France targeting Apple and the iTunes music store. Its France trying to mandate a common industry standard for DRM. An article with a headline that reads "French law could force Apple to open iTunes" is more likely to get read or picked up by other news services than one with a headline that reads, "France pushes for common DRM format".
Second, its not France trying to break Apple's perceived monopoly on the online music business. That already went to court in France with the French courts saying there were plenty of alternatives in the market to iTunes and the iPod. People just aren't buying those alternatives, that isn't Apple's fault.
Third, Apple doesn't mandate DRM. The people who provide the content that Apple sells do.
Why does Apple tie the iPod to iTunes? Simple, Apple doesn't sell just the iPod they sell the solution, part of which is iTunes. Why do they do that....besides the fact that yes they make money off the iTunes store? Because they control the total experience and hence can support the product better. Do they do that for the sake of the customer? No not really, it keeps their support costs down, simplifies their product offering, and if they do it right (and it appears they have) sell more product because people like it. Imagine what a pain it would be if you had to support everyone's music library software.
The problem with the industry is all the participants have their own idea how it should work to meet their vision and trust me, those visions are all different and tailored so that you the consumer part with as much cash as they can squeeze out of you. Preferably in the form of a recurring revenue stream via a subscription service.

[Christian @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:36AM]

How can any of you realy be a against compatibility. No one is trying to kill DRM, they're just saying a music devise should be able to play music, regardless of where you buy it from.

This is a good thing, because apple doesn't even have to open up Fairplay, they just have to provide codecs for playing those files. Sure they'll be reverse engineered, but who cares, because they've already been reverse engineered (Real/several open source projects).

Also, Fairplay doesn't hinder pracy. If people want to steal music, they're going to steal, Fairplay or no fairplay. In fact, the RIAA has probably sold even more CD's lately, because the minute an iPod user discovers that he can only play those apple files on his ipod or using iTunes, they start to think if it would have been smarter to buy the CD and rip it to the computer where I can play it using my software payer of choice (iTunes is decent, but there are better), my music player of choice (some people do use something other than ipods - though I love mine) and on Various OS's.

Also, Apple isn't pulling out of France. The RIAA is to greedy to willingly drop music sales from the Itunes music store in France over their phony veil of piracy. If you want to slow piracy, cut prices and you'll reach a point where stealing to save a buck or two is irrelevent. Of course i'm sure the RIAA considers that kind of talk blasphemy.

[Jim F @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:36AM]

And what kind of business sense does it make for an artist to limit their audience to a specific product?

What kind of business sense would it make for Apple to sell an iPod that only played DRM music as you suggest, one that would not play MP3 or AIFF? I'm sure that would sell like, well, hotcakes to a room full of people on a low-carb diet.

In other words, not at all.

No third party is controlling what you do with "your content." It is the responsibility of any consumer who makes a purchase from iTunes or lays a few hundred dollars down to get an iPod to understand the limitations of the products. If you make the conscious choice to purchase DRM music that only plays on player X, and then decide that you really want to get player Y, well, that's a bed you've made, take some personal responsibility for your decisions and sleep in it. Don't ask the French government to come in and bail you out because you feel cheated.

Governments need to keep their dirty little paws out of business and allow them to make their own business decisions. Consumers need to make intelligent purchasing decisions and support good products.

The logic presented in many of the comments here confuses me to no end.

[tank @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:40AM]

We bought our son a Leapster when it was first released. He quickly got bored of the three games written for his age group so I emailed LeapFrog and asked if they intended to open the Leapster up to third party game developers. Their reply was that the following year, four more games were planned for release but they would not open the Leapster to third party developers. We bought him a GameBoy and the Leapster's collected dust ever since.

Point is, it sucks that LeapFrog chose not to open the Leapster, but there are alternatives. Perhaps the French can rectify this Leapster issue for me and force interoperability.

[OMAC @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:52AM]

God Bless France! Why is everyone getting so worked up over this? As I see it all they are trying to do is allow itunes music to work on non-iPods.

Apple is trying to scare everyone into thinking this somehow equates to piracy. Should be technically easy enough since Apples iTunes can convert from MP3 to their own format. We just need a piece of software that reverses the process. And yes, I know it's possible to burn a CD from itunes then re-rip as MP3, but that's not very efficient.

Aside from all this, it would be interesting to hear how and why this law got started in the first place.

Apple has no option really but to adhere to the law if it is passed. They aren't going to bail on France or Europe anytime soon. Once France passes this law other European companies will hopefully follow, then maybe the rest of the world will see the light.

If I buy a song on itunes and then next year decide to buy something other than an ipod, why should I get screwed into having to burn and re-rip everything into MP3?

[Peter G @ Mar 22nd 2006 12:07PM]

So what is the technical solution? Random legislation with technical solution is pointless.

Legislate the 200MPG car.
Legislate XBOX and PS and Nintendo compatability.

Legislation doesn't make it so. No fan of DRM here, but I am no a fan of government interference where they have no clue what they are asking for.

There is no common DRM. Who does France suggest gets enriched by creating this neutral standard? How do you handle all the myriad of legacy players in the field.

There is no technical solution so Apple will pull out if it is enforced for that reason alone.

Though Apple may be exempt as you can already convert/remove DRM from Itunes songs by burning to CD anyway.

So actually this may be more of an issue for the play4Sure crowd as that system is even more locked in.