EU Commissioner Slams Music Lock-In

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday March 13, 2007 @03:05PM from the let-my-music-go dept.

Nonu writes "EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva has come out against DRM lock-ins like Apple's iPod-iTunes combo. Kuneva said she believes the tie-in that keeps music bought from the iTunes Store from playing on MP3 players other than the iPod was unreasonable. '"Do you find it reasonable that a CD will play in all CD players, but an iTunes song will only play on an iPod?" asked Kuneva. "It doesn't [seem reasonable] to me. Something must change."' The EU is in the midst of an effort to harmonize its consumer protection laws, and along with the question of DRM tie-ins it is also looking at mandating cooling-off periods during which customers could 'return' downloaded music."

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but iTunes Store sells AAC, not MP3s, right...? by openaddy · 2007-03-13 15:13 · Score: 0, Redundant

I don't own an iPod and have never used iTunes, so I'm obviously talking out of my ass, but I thought iTunes Store sells AAC. Even if there's no DRM, most of your MP3 players aren't going to play them, anyway, right? Huh?

Somebody must have figured out how to tinker w/ whatever you buy from iTunes Store so you can get an MP3 player-playable file out of it? Anyway, I avoid the whole iTunes/iPod craze all together...