14 DAY TRIAL // Norway has been chosen for the “test case” that consumer ombudsman Erik Thon has filed against Apple two years ago. France, Germany, Finland and Denmark jumped in as well, to get Apple to change its DRM-locked content system used with the iTunes Store.
"It's a consumer's right to transfer and play digital content bought and downloaded from the internet to the music device he himself chooses to use," said Thon. "iTunes makes this impossible or at least difficult, and hence, they act in breach of Norwegian law."
In short, content purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store only works on Apple devices (the iPod, iPhone and Apple TV). To achieve this, Apple created its own proprietary AAC file format. While iTunes customers can also pay to download the open MP3 format, extra fees apply to the already expensive content.
Basically, what Apple has slapped on top of regular AAC files is its DRM (digital rights management system), which locks tracks into Apple software and hardware. Thus, an iTunes customer can download music via the iTunes Store, but cannot listen to the tracks on an iRiver MP3 player, for instance. This conflicts with Norway's laws. Thon hopes to force Apple's hand, and have it remove the DRM, at least in this territory. However, should the case be successful, Apple will have to open all its tracks in the iTunes Store.
Thon added, "iTunes has now had two years to meet our demands regarding interoperability. No progress has been reported by iTunes since our meeting in February." Apple has until November 3 to reply to Erik Thon, but the verdict isn't due until early next year, according to The Guardian.
The same report points out to an open letter from Apple's chief exec, where Jobs was urging record companies to abandon DRM technologies. Jobs declared that Apple had been forced to create a digital rights management system, to be able to offer consumers musical content from the world's four largest record companies.