Topic: Norway declares Apple’s iTunes illegal

[Nemesis]

Link to full article

Apple was dealt a blow in Europe on Wednesday when Norway’s powerful consumer ombudsman ruled that its iTunes online music store was illegal because it did not allow downloaded songs to be played on rival technology companies’ devices.

The decision is the first time any jurisdiction has concluded iTunes breaks its consumer protection laws and could prompt other European countries to review the situation.

Extend this to software . . .

[Commander Maxillius]

That's because the Norwegian lawmakers are stupid.  IF they would look at the settings menu and set it to download purchased songs in MP3 format instead of AAC there would be no problem at all.

[Nemesis]

You might find this article about "DVD Jon" interesting.

As he and Farantzos explain DoubleTwist in a conference room they share with several other companies, he points to a sheet of printer paper tacked on the wall that has a typed quote Jobs gave the Wall Street Journal in 2002: "If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own." As Johansen sees it, Jobs didn't follow through on this promise, so it's up to him to fix the system, just as he fixed the software for his father's camera.

"Today's reality is that there's this iTunes-iPod ecosystem that excludes everyone else from the market," says Johansen. "I don't like closed systems."

There's an obvious question: Isn't opening the iTunes system illegal? There is no obvious answer. FairPlay is not patented, most likely because the encryption algorithms it uses are in the public domain. (Apple would not comment for this story.) And Johansen says he is abiding by the letter of the law - if not, perhaps, its spirit.

To let other sites sell music that plays on the iPod, his program will "wrap" songs with code that functions much like FairPlay. "So we'll actually add copy protection," he says, whereas the DMCA prohibits removing it. Helping other devices play iTunes songs could be harder to justify legally, but he cites the DMCA clause that permits users, in some circumstances, to reverse-engineer programs to ensure "interoperability."

[Commander Maxillius]

How to get around iTunes' copy limits:

1. Burn a cd.  iTunes will let you burn 6 CDs with purchased music.  This is inconsequential, since digital recordings don't degrade like analog recordings do.  I'm not saying they don't degrade at all, but it's much less noticable.  Don't forget to burn it as MUSIC and not as DATA.

2. Delete the purchased songs from your machine.  Empty the trash/recycle bin.

3. Import the songs from the CD to iTunes.  As far as iTunes knws, you bought the CD somewhere else, and it might just be a random disc if it can't find CDDB data on it.  At any rate, iTunes could care less how many copies of your on stuff you make, so long as they weren't bought in the iTunes store.  But, as I pointed out above, the tag the put in the file to signify a purchased track is lost when you record a music CD since most CD players are confused by extra crap in the file.

Come on, not that hard y'all.

[Clark Kent]

So, I'm not saying apple is full of a bunch of angels here, but why go after Apple and not the record companies that are forcing this kind of DRM on Apple to begin with?  I mean we are talking about a group of people who would be thrilled to have laws passed that say that making any sort of back up or copy of music is illegal.  In fact, i think in some coutries it is.

[Commander Maxillius]

Because it's easier to go after people that can't afford legal counsel than it is to go after people than can afford legions of the best and brightest Hell has to offer. 

[jualdeaux]

How to get around iTunes' copy limits:

1. Burn a cd.  iTunes will let you burn 6 CDs with purchased music.  This is inconsequential, since digital recordings don't degrade like analog recordings do.  I'm not saying they don't degrade at all, but it's much less noticable.  Don't forget to burn it as MUSIC and not as DATA.

2. Delete the purchased songs from your machine.  Empty the trash/recycle bin.

3. Import the songs from the CD to iTunes.  As far as iTunes knws, you bought the CD somewhere else, and it might just be a random disc if it can't find CDDB data on it.  At any rate, iTunes could care less how many copies of your on stuff you make, so long as they weren't bought in the iTunes store.  But, as I pointed out above, the tag the put in the file to signify a purchased track is lost when you record a music CD since most CD players are confused by extra crap in the file.

Come on, not that hard y'all.

I think I have actually done that once. I wanted to see if that would actually work to get around that copy protection or whatever they call it. It was quite a while ago though.

Because it's easier to go after people that can't afford legal counsel than it is to go after people than can afford legions of the best and brightest Hell has to offer. 

Ain't that the truth.

[Nemesis]

Because it's easier to go after people that can't afford legal counsel than it is to go after people than can afford legions of the best and brightest Hell has to offer. 

Alternately it could be because the business is in Norway but the record companies involved are not.  The record companies are out of reach but Apple by doing business in Norway is not.  Also it is Apple that does not want to license their DRM to competing players to the iPod and to the iTunes music selling business.  Apple by doing business in Norway has to follow their laws just like a Norwegian company doing business in the U.S. has to follow American laws.  Comply with the law or be penalized.

[Commander Maxillius]

I'm Apple will feel the loss of losing the sales of the 7 machines they were going to sell there anyway.