Andre Yoskowitz
29 Sep 2008 21:46
Norway Consumer Ombudsman Bjorn Erik Thon, after two years of being at odds with Apple, is now bringing his case to the Norwegian Market Council, hoping the council will force the company to remove its FairPlay DRM and allow users to play back their iTunes-purchased music on players other than the iPod.
"The Ombudsman demands that the consumers themselves should be able to choose what music device they would like to use to listen to music bought from the iTunes Store," he said.
Thon adds that Apple uses the DRM to "dictate" what hardware the music is played back on. "As of today, the only portable players able to play files downloaded from iTunes are Apples own iPods," read his original complaint from 2006.
Since 2006 Thon admits that Apple has made some progress, but that it is not enough and Apple has until November 3rd or he will sue them.
"It's a consumer's right to transfer and play digital content bought and downloaded from the Internet to the music device he himself chooses to use," added Thon. "iTunes makes this impossible or at least difficult, and hence, they act in breach of Norwegian law."
Now that everybody else is DRM-free, shouldn't Apple move in that direction as well?