Norwegians swallow iTunes threat
Snowed by DRM turnabout
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The Norwegian government has dropped its legal action against Apple's iTunes Store.
Last November, Bjoern Erik Thon, a Norwegian consumer mediator, said that he would take Apple before that country's Market Council for limiting use of the iTunes Store to iPods and the iPhone. Had the Council ruled against Apple, it could have imposed a fine or ordered Apple to open up its protection.
Yesterday, however, Thon said that Apple's move to allow DRM-free music downloads from the Store means that "We have no reason to pursue them anymore," the AP reports.
The reason for his turnabout is that on January 6, Apple announced it was removing DRM protection from songs published by EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and "thousands" of independent labels.
But Thon made no reference to the fact that the Store's movie and TV offerings remain DRM-protected, nor did he mention the other areas in which Apple restricts the use of its music players and computers, such as the DisplayPort Content Protection (DPCP) built into the display-connecting ports of its latest line of MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air laptops.
Perhaps Thon may reinstate his complaint after one of Norway's 4.7 million consumers remind him of those remaining anti-competitive restrictions. ®
COMMENTS
I still don't care
I've bittorrent has a better selection anyway.
@'Freedom' my arse.
Yes, actually, you CAN demand those things. No one will listen, but you CAN demand them.
When one company so thoroughly dominates the market that their proprietary interfaces and controls have become the "standard," and most people can't figure out how to work a similar device without retraining, then yes, you need to open that device up. The same argument applies to DRM, or to your E-books, or to yes, those Xbox games.
If Ford had patented that the gas pedal goes on the right, the brake pedal on the left, and that the steering mechanism was a wheel, then suing anyone into the ground who tried to make a vehicle that worked the same, transportation would be a nightmare. Imagine if for had a patent on the concept of burning gasoline and/or diesel etc. in a vehicle to make it go.
I don't know the history of that one, but the end result of either foresight and good choices, or being arbitrated into playing fair is that almost all vehicles have a common control interface for the basic functions, and we can use a common fuel.
Someone, somewhere will take up that e-Book reader bit as a lawsuit, just as soon as a clear victor emerges. Especially if it is Sony, who have a dark history of not playing nice with anyone.
This isn't about DRM, it's about a company whose product has BECOME the standard, (and thus sets all standards for it's market. HOW They got to that position and WHY don't matter, regardless of any level of fanboyism. They are there, dominant, and are the deciding entity for the entire market. In order for competition to be possible, and to protect the consumer from abuse of a monopoly, other companies need to be able to make competing products that utilize similar interfaces, and run on the same "fuel."
Thank you for reading, and have a great weekend.
'Freedom' my arse
However, it should be possible to run on an emulator for the XBox360. There's a REASON why an XBox game won't work on a PS.
What is the reason why an AAC file whose ONLY PURPOSE is to be listened to, not be usable on anything capable of playing an AAC? Why, when we're in a global economy, is it OK to say "you cannot buy this because you are in the wrong country"?
Seems we're free to lose our jobs in a global market but not spend our money likewise.
And people DO NOT know the deal when they buy a DRM'd product. Because they are not educated about it, don't have the time to learm and until they get fucked up the arse, don't see it as a problem.
E.g. an iTunes store user doesn't realise how badly he is fucked until their iPod breaks and they buy an AAC player that isn't compatible with iPod DRM. Or their Windows machine breaks and the service goes down.
Until they get screwed like the buyers of Gears Of War (who would have figured DRM would kill your game if it went past Jan28?), they don't see DRM as a problem because they are TOLD *deliberately* that DRM is only to get at those pesky pirates. And, not being a pesky pirate do not think that the DRM would affect them.
Until it does.
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