Apple Accused of Deleting Songs From iPods Without Users' Knowledge

SternisheFan writes with this excerpt from a story at AppleInsider that says "During in-court proceedings of Apple's iPod/iTunes antitrust lawsuit on Wednesday, plaintiffs' lawyers claimed Apple surreptitiously deleted songs not purchased through the iTunes Music Store from users' iPods. Attorney Patrick Coughlin, representing a class of individuals and businesses, said Apple intentionally wiped songs downloaded from competing services when users performed a sync with their iTunes library, reports The Wall Street Journal. As explained by the publication, users attempting to sync an iPod with an iTunes library containing music from a rival service, such as RealNetworks, would see an ambiguous error message without prompting them to perform a factory reset. After restoring the device, users would find all non-iTunes music had disappeared. ... It is unclear if iTunes or iPod encountered a legitimate problem, though Coughlin seems to be intimating Apple manufactured the error message as part of a supposed gambit to stop customers from using their iPod to play back music from stores other than iTunes. For its part, Apple said the system was a safety measure installed to protect users."

Comments

Not surprising at all.

[Anonymous Coward]

THAT is why many people avoid Apple like the plague. They've lost their lead, had their fun and are now fighting fowl.

home taping is killing music

[Thud457]

"You didn't buy it from us, you must have stolen it."

Re:lol

[PRMan]

Considering both Apple and Amazon sell unprotected music and have for almost a decade now, and they have record sales every year, I'd say the fear is overblown. Buying a song for .99 is convenient compared to piracy.