EU Countries Call Out iTunes DRM

seriouslywtf writes "Europe is upping the pressure on Apple to open up its restrictive DRM that ties iTunes to the iPod. Norway ruled last year that the iPod-iTunes tie-in was unreasonable and gave Apple a deadline to make a change to its policies, but was unsatisfied with the response they got. Now France and Germany have joined forces with Norway, making it a lot harder for Apple to just walk away from those markets. From the article: 'France's consumer lobby group, UFC-Que Choisir, and Germany's Verbraucherzentrale are now part of the European effort to push Apple into an open DRM system, with more countries considering joining the group. However, the company has been under some fire over the last year due to those restrictions, first with France and then Denmark looking to open up restrictive DRM schemes (including, but not limited to iTunes) ... Norwegian consumer groups were unimpressed by Apple's response. Norway has now given Apple a new deadline of September of this year to change its policies, and the pressure on Apple will likely grow in the months leading up to the deadline.'"

Comments

I don't get it....

[_PimpDaddy7_]

If you don't like the iPod, don't buy one.

If you don't like iTunes and Apple's DRM scheme, don't buy from the Apple music store.

Am I missing something here?

There are hundreds of MP3 players you can buy to play many types of music formats.

Re:But in the US, we get the "PERFORM Act"

[FallLine]

What a great country I live in. Here we have legislators in the pockets of media companies proposing laws that would require DRM, but in Europe, the legislators (apparantly acting on behalf of the populus, which is what I thought the "of the people, by the people, and for the people" US government is SUPPOSED to do) are rightly saying that DRM is unfair to the people.

Which "people" are you referring to? I am a US citizen and I would disagree vehemently with this sort of action. I would rather a government that treats us like adults instead of coddling us constantly. I am a rational and intelligent person that is perfectly capable of making this call on my own. Yes, in certain rare circumstances it might make sense to have the government intervene (like in the case of a true monopoly in a mature market). This, however, is an act of government overstepping its bounds. DRM is in its infancy and it's going to take awhile to get right. There are several other options out there for people that find Apple's system too onerous.

Yes, DRM is a pain sometimes (primarily because I have to use iTunes or an Ipod to play ITMS music). It would be nice to be able to play this stuff on my SONOS music system directly and other players....

Yes, I'm sure Apple benefits as a result of its lock-in.

However, I also suspect that it is unlikely that Apple could securely share (without people leaking) the specifications with a half-dozen different manufacturers and also keep all those different software/devices in sync with the latest DRM state (so that they could stay one-step ahead of the crackers... at least as far as the average user is concerned). The only way I see this working is if Apple could distribute binary/objects and mandate a framework for internet auto-update across all the platforms...even then I think it's a stretch.

Yes, I know some of you anti-IP people couldn't give a damn about the rights of the industry to protect its own property from illegal distribution, but this voter couldn't disagree more strongly. I'd rather face the lock-in with Apple (which, imho, still has a very good and product overall) than risk losing an effective DRM system entirely. It's possible that various copyright owners may survive without DRM, but I'd rather preserve the option (which requires avoiding hamhanded government regulation) and allow things to evolve before contemplating regulation like this.

Is this a great country, or what?

It has its flaws, but yes. On the whole I'd rather be here than anywhere else.

You can mark me -5 TROLL now.
Disagreeing with Slashdot Dogma:
pro-DRM (-1)
pro-IP (-1)
pro-US (-1)
pro-mainstream platform (-1)
anti- "consumer" (-1)

Re:An honest complaint?

[Archangel Michael]

"Why don't they bother .... "

Because Norway is SOCIALIST country, and thinks "success" is a bad word. Those others aren't "successful" and therefore are not a concern. Only people who succeed in life are punished. Everyone else is a victim of the successful.