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Apple sued over iTunes-iPod tie

6 January 2005 10:02 by Jari Ketola | 38 comments

Apple sued over iTunes-iPod tie An unsatisfied customer has sued Apple Computer Inc. for "forcing" iTunes customers to buy an iPod player if they wish to listen to the music purchased from iTunes on a portable device. The customer, Thomas Slattery, is seeking an unspecified amount of damages. Apple uses their own FairPlay DRM protection on iTunes which is only playable using either the iTunes software or an iPod player.

Antitrust experts see the lawsuit as a long shot. The key would be to show that iTunes is a market of its own with no real alternatives. There are, however, several competing digital music stores in the market that provide the same or similar content.

"Apple has unlawfully bundled, tied, and/or leveraged its monopoly in the market for the sale of legal online digital music recordings to thwart competition in the separate market for portable hard drive digital music players, and vice-versa," the suit charged.

Finding the case against Apple would pretty much outlaw all proprietary DRM schemes. Obviously it's highly unlikely that the customer will win the case, but at least the issue with iTunes' DRM is brought to wider attention.

Source: Yahoo

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    Discuss this article!  There are more user comments available, read them here
    DMW (Member) 7 January 2005 4:13 Send private message to this user   
    Check this out guys.....http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/
    Don't know if wht the video says is true, but DAMN, if it is, it's just another downside to an iPod!!!

    After using one yesterday, i have to admit they are pretty cool, but waayyyy to expensive compared to alternatives.

    C'ya guys.

    This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7 January 2005 4:15

    djscoop (AfterDawn Addict) 7 January 2005 10:24 Send private message to this user   
    that video is hilarious. I don't doubt it. I know many idiots who have payed for ipods, to only have their batteries, hard drive, or lcd display die right after the warranty expires.
    Hvezda (Inactive) 7 January 2005 10:52 Send private message to this user   
    Well being braindead is one thing in America if you choose to buy Ipod, and not the better alternative "Creative". Lets consider the even bigger idiots than Americans.....The Brits! They pay 350 pounds for Ipods, just to show off what "upper class" people they are, and what prestige they have to buy an Ipod and Itunes. The current exchange rate of dollars to pounds is 2 dollars = 1 pound after you deal with these Brit "bank fees" etc. Hence for 750 dollars, you can own the same damn Ipod, and for one pound you can download one Itune....----That my friends is braindead!
    DMW (Member) 7 January 2005 12:21 Send private message to this user   
    yeah that video made me laugh too :-)

    I don't think Brits buy them to be "upper class" at all. They buy them for whatever daft reason everyone else in the world buys them for.

    As for the monetery difference, unfortunately that's out of our control. As with the itunes store, if you try to buy from the states they forwrd you back to the UK site. We could buy from Ebay or such like, but then on the very real chance it has problems, you have to sort them yourself.
    Or if we're really lucky, we can send it back to the country we managed to buy it from cheaply, and incure shipping charges, which makes a very expensive ipod become a stupidly expensive ipod.
    We're just screwed when it comes to cheap goods :-(
    C'ya guys.
    daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 7 January 2005 14:54 Send private message to this user   
    Thats the kind of thing I'm talking about how we need more of in America.
    cmmnsense (Inactive) 7 January 2005 19:27 Send private message to this user   
    Ha, you guys are great. However that video I can't, or rather opt not to watch because it requires quicktime player which I don't have, neatly enough the free quicktime player is bundled with, ironically the itunes software, lol. I get the jist of the video though, product quality enough to stand up to warranty and not much else. I refuse to download the apple software, especially bundled with itunes software. The ipod is considered a social status "cool" thing primarily world-wide among certain groups ie morons, which tends to be alot of people, because most people don't know much about computer/devices quality and how cheap all media players and storage (it's a damn piece of silicon) actually is to produce compared to what it sells for. Is Afterdawn going to update the results of this case?
    cmmnsense (Inactive) 7 January 2005 19:51 Send private message to this user   
    Yeha, I got quicktime qithout the itunes bundle p.o.s. That video is great, more people should do just that, and it is true, my friend told me about that awhile ago, he justified it somehow because he was foolish enough to buy one. I love that video, it's about time someone told the truth.
    daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 7 January 2005 19:51 Send private message to this user   
    Yeah, I didn't download the Quicktime w/ iTunes, I just got the one with only quicktime for Windows 2000 and it works as it should. I don't understand why only the XP 'version' has iTunes, though. The funny thing is, at the end it displays "Edited on a Macintosh, using Apple's iMovie." I thought that was a nice touch.
    DMW (Member) 7 January 2005 23:28 Send private message to this user   
    Yeah the end credits on that video were great!
    Has anyone tried the quicktime alternative software on this site? http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/quicktime_alternative.cfm
    I'll be honest, Ive not tried it so I cant really recommend it, but it's one way not to put their software on your PC.
    C'ya guys.
    daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 8 January 2005 10:56 Send private message to this user   
    If its anything like Real Alternative, then I would recommend it. I'll try it now...
    kinza (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 11:00 Send private message to this user   
    Apple should be free to do what they want. If people are so frustrated they should just buy an ipod or find another site to get music from. Suing people over stupid things is ridiculous. Unfortunately that's sometimes the only way to get a major company's attention.
    djscoop (AfterDawn Addict) 11 January 2005 11:37 Send private message to this user   
    Apple should be free to do what they want and Monopolize over the competition by creating files only iTunes and iPods can play? I don't think so... Thats immoral, even for a shitty company like Apple.
    daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 12:19 Send private message to this user   
    ...and it's all legal, thanks to your friendly neighborhood RIAA board member!
    kinza (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 12:37 Send private message to this user   
    Think in a business point of view. Apple is just trying to make more money. And if you owned the company you would just give in to consumer demands and lose millions. Yeah, sure, whatever. People are so self-centered...both Apple and you!
    daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 12:47 Send private message to this user   
    Don't they make enough money off of iTunes by itself, without making people buy an $300 iPod in order to take it with them? And then replace the battery for $250 after 18 months? I really can't understand how you can think any of this is right.
    Oh, by the way, the QuickTime Alternative works fine and the plugin works fine with FireFox.
    kinza (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 12:58 Send private message to this user   
    Obviously there is a difference of opinion. My $400 DVD player broke right after its 12th month. I didn't whine about it. If you guys are so sick of being unable to download from iTunes then just go download from somewhere else. It's NOT a monopoly.
    djscoop (AfterDawn Addict) 11 January 2005 13:06 Send private message to this user   
    The point is Apple is greedy and trying to force people to buy iPods in order to listen to iTunes music on the go. Any other music site you can download and play on other players. It seems that Apple is the only company dumb and greedy enough to expect their customers to keep shelling out money for their inferior products. And I've never downloaded from iTunes, and never will.
    kinza (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 14:09 Send private message to this user   
    Apple's products are not inferior, at least not the iPod. Eventually people are going to stop downloading from iTunes, but it doesn't seem so in the next couple of months. You're missing out on some good stuff.
    daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 16:00 Send private message to this user   
    It's not that we want to download from iTunes, it's that the average person will go with hype and get iTunes, only to find out that in addition to their monthly fees, they have to dish out $300 in order to take their digital music with them, which is one of the main points in digital music. I don't see myself as "missing out" because I can get the same music, most of the time more music, and it will be playable whenever and wherever I want it to be. Apple is monopolizing via hype.
    cmmnsense (Inactive) 11 January 2005 17:50 Send private message to this user   
    From Kinza's logic, it is obviously a woman. And if I'm wrong it's even funnier, sorry but your the only person here to support Apple, especially when their ipod is specifically designed to last the duration of the warranty and maximize profit. Encrypting publically downloaded music for use in your own companies media player, is monopolizing, it's a compatability monopoly to a certain extent, Apple just hasn't quite sealed the deal by (this is probally going to happen someday) designing the next installment of the ipod series to only play itunes. They would make money doing this because the ipod is already established amoung homosexuals like alton john, preppy go-getters, and people that just didn't know any better, sorry all those who paid $350-500 for 18 months with a plastic P.O.S.
    daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 11 January 2005 18:36 Send private message to this user   
    Finally some common sense, thanks to...cmmnsense...
    kinza (Senior Member) 12 January 2005 11:46 Send private message to this user   
    How many men does it take to screw in a light bulb?
    One-He just holds it up there and waits for the world to revolve around him.

    Get someone else to revolve around your opinion.
    scott2453 (Junior Member) 12 January 2005 12:28 Send private message to this user   
    kinza i have to disagree with you companies should never make products that stop working right after the warranty is up. It is dishonest to the customers. It would be one thing if something like that only happened every once in a while, that is understandable. But from what i've heard, this is not the case. and its unfortunate that the majority of their customers won't realize this until its too late.
    kinza (Senior Member) 12 January 2005 12:36 Send private message to this user   
    it's rated a 4/5 from consumers themselves. anyways, let's close this arguement. I have to admit that the iPod Shuffle is definately a ripoff as well as a piece of trash.
    cmmnsense (Inactive) 12 January 2005 16:05 Send private message to this user   
    It's funny how you can tell the women from the men, just from their comments, men are naturally more mentally apt. it's amazing how often it's proven and identified. Quote "I have to admit that the iPod Shuffle is definately a ripoff as well as a piece of trash." Then when proven wrong they lay down and take it.
    kinza (Senior Member) 12 January 2005 16:22 Send private message to this user   
    the ipod and the shuffle are two different products. there are reasons the shuffle is a piece of trash and there are reasons the ipod is not. and i thought women were thrifty.
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