Apple in trouble by Claudia Sonea

You are in trouble…in trouble…Ombudsman Bjoern Erik Thon sings to Apple Inc. It is ironical how the game of words twists to show that Apple’s monopole over the iTunes music store is being attacked by Norway's top consumer advocate as breaching Norway’s law. Thon made public on Monday the fact that this very important matter will be brought in front of the government's Market Council for a test case and if everything goes according to the plan the music sold by this store will stop being available just on the iPod.
Two years ago and this year in February, Apple assured that it plans to sell music without DRM ("Digital Rights Management") and it is in favor of making systems interoperable. However, the company has done nothing until now and Norway isn’t the only one bothered by the situation, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands back up the campaign of making its iTunes online store compatible with rivals' digital music players.
Norwegian Market Council has the power to order companies to change trade practices or order fines and Apple has until November 3 to present in front of it. Yet, the decision will be taken only at the beginning of next year. Apple refused to comment on the matter. Whether it is just or not, you can also judge upon the situation. Isn’t it in the customer’s right to decide what he/she will do with the music purchased- iPods don’t play music from other music stores, while iTunes’ music can play only on iPods.



related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080930/ap_on_hi_te/tec_verizon_fios;_ylt=AguvnW81J59z9FMLSdWnHQ6s0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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