Norway Outlaws iTunes

Good intentions, questionable execution. European legislators have been giving DRM considerable attention for a while, but Norway has actually gone so far as to declare that Apple's iTunes store is illegal under Norwegian law.

The crux of the issue is that the Fairplay DRM that is at the heart of the iTunes/iPod universe doesn't work with anything else, meaning that if you want access to the vast iTunes library, you have to buy an iPod. That didn't sit well with the Norwegian Consumer Council, the body that kicked the whole thing off by filing a complaint with Norway's consumer ombudsman. France and Germany have also joined in on the action. (See our earlier reports on Norway and France's ongoing debates here, here and here.)

Now, I'm not much for DRM (though I'll admit that Fairplay is comparatively liberal) and I resent theoretically having to buy an iPod in order to listen to iTunes downloads away from the computer. But as it happens millions of people don't seem to care. They have an iPod, they have iTunes, they get their music, and they're happy because the whole thing does what they want.

My use of the word "theoretically" seems to apply here. As far as I can tell, this entire case came about because of the theoretical problem of a closed system; but I wonder, how many Norwegian (or French or German) consumers were clamoring for Apple to open up iTunes?

I guess we'll find out soon enough. Apple has until October 1 to open up Fairplay to other companies, or face fines and the threat of iTunes being closed down in Norway. Since the first option is about as likely as Satan skating to work, Apple's only choice in the long run -- assuming endless legal wrangling fails -- will be to close iTunes in Norway, and possibly other European countries. I wonder how many consumers would go for that?

Comments

Yeah. And you can have .wma files on your Zune and you can't have Zune files on anything but a Zune and you can't play either on an iPod. Big w00p!
NONE of the DRM schemes are compatible. It seems as if these people DO NOT get this and they are just picking on Apples format. Yeah. I feel SO protected as a consumer.
It seems to me that Microsoft should open their DRM as well. Otherwise this seems to just be an attack on the most popular combo. The Windows users always whine about us Mac and Linux users attacking them. This is the samething.

aergern

January 25, 2007

8:08 PM PT

I congratulate Norway on fighting DRM, but the consequences for Apple are severe. My philosophy on music bought over the internet is that once you buy it, you should be able to do whatever you want to a file. It's comparable to having a CD from one company that will work only in drives manufactures by that company (*cough*Sony*cough*). There was no DRM when people bought CDs, and there sure was no DRM when records were popular.

Of course, even the world's strongest DRM cannot beat a simple two-ended audio cable running from the speaker port on a sound card to the microphone port. As long as you can hear the music (or see the video) it can still be copied. As for me, I just dusted off Led Zeppelin II on an old 33rpm record, and it sounds better than jumping through the collective DRM hoops. And bigger brother is not watching analogue.

HaX80r

January 25, 2007

8:42 PM PT

aergern: Zune isn't released in Norway yet, so there's no possibility of forcing Microsoft to open their non-existent DRM lock-in at the moment. The consumer ombudsman said they had no reason not to go after other companies if they were made aware of other DRM lock-in solutions in operation in Norway, and they WILL go after Microsoft once they start selling Zune with DRM in Norway if they win the case against Apple.

Gunnar

January 26, 2007

7:00 PM PT

Fantastic... so soon I can´t buy music from iTunes store _legally_ in Norway and thats supposed to be better than DRM? Up yours, thanks for nothing!

jem90

January 29, 2007

11:00 AM PT