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Antitrust Suit Filed To Halt Apple 'Music Monopoly'

Dotnaught writes with word of an anti-trust lawsuit filed against Apple late last month. Information Week has the story, a suit charging the company with maintaining an illegal monopoly on the digital music market. "The complaint goes beyond software licensing politics and charges Apple with deliberately designing its iPod hardware to be incompatible with WMA. One of the third-party components in iPods, the Portal Player System-On-A-Chip, supports WMA, according to the complaint. 'Apple, however, deliberately designed the iPod's software so that it would only play a single protected digital format, Apple's FairPlay-modified AAC format,' the complaint states. 'Deliberately disabling a desirable feature of a computer product is known as crippling a product, and software that does this is known as crippleware.'"

14 of 510 comments (clear)

  1. This is /. by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Microsoft bad
    Apple good
    Linux great
    Fire bad

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:This is /. by oahazmatt · · Score: 4, Funny

      Microsoft bad
      Apple good
      Linux great
      Fire bad
      Microsoft + Fire neat.
      --
      Those who believe the Internet is private,
      find their privates are on the Internet.
    2. Re:This is /. by Foofoobar · · Score: 2, Funny
      Oh I'm sorry... are you more familiar with Facebook?

      Mean people R bad
      Backstreet Boys good
      Hanna Montana great
      Parents bad

      --
      This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
  2. Apple's response... by ashitaka · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sosumi

    --
    If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
  3. Re:Wow by Rosyna · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're going to force Apple to license Microsoft's DRM? That's retarded.


    Yup. The solution to Apple being accused of being a monopolist is to have them license DRM from a convicted monopolist. Seems simple enough.
  4. Re:OGG! by Kuukai · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is ogg on the chip too? If so we have ourselves a case.

    --
    Sendou Wave Kick!!
  5. Re:Plays MP3's just fine by cstdenis · · Score: 1, Funny

    IIRC they do not play MP3. iTunes converts files from mp3 to AAC on the fly.

    --
    1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual.
  6. Re:Wow by SharpFang · · Score: 4, Funny

    The nice, simple and cool alternative is if iPods were mp3-enabled. No DRM. Songs from any source can be used, except of few chosen ones that use DRM ;)

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  7. Re:Wow by HardCase · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dumbest, article, ever.

    Clearly you weren't around during the Jon Katz era.

  8. Discrimination! by KetchupKyle · · Score: 2, Funny

    "...is known as crippling a product, and software that does this is known as crippleware.'" ... ....soooooooooooo my ipod isn't wheelchair accessible?

  9. !apple_records by yincrash · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was confused at first. I knew the Beatles were popular, but not that popular.

  10. Re:Spluh by badasscat · · Score: 4, Funny

    You could just organize your music in a meaningful way. I'd suggest Artist - Album/# - Title.Extension.

    I've been doing this for ages with 25 GB of music on my iPod, and just use Amarok to generate playlists (plain M3U), and Perl scripts to adjust them accordingly.


    That sounds so much easier than just dragging my mp3's into iTunes and, well, being done.

    Oh wait, no it doesn't.

  11. Re:Really by NaugaHunter · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think perhaps it's more about why there are no 3rd party iTunes stores?

    They're called 'buy the CD and do it yourself'. There's probably a store in your town!

    --
    R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
  12. Re:Really by LKM · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think perhaps it's more about why there are no 3rd party iTunes stores?

    You mean like the Amazon MP3 store, which, you know... exists?