Apple and the French...

[alexpgp]

There's a bunch of crypto-cyber-libertarians out there celebrating what appears to be a blow against the much hated DRM bogeyman, as France is seriously considering (or has actually passed) a law saying Apple has to make sure songs sold in France via iTunes can be played on any mp3 player, not just on iPods.

Pardon me while I roll my eyes.

Don't misunderstand. I am no fan of DRM, but on the other hand, the provision is not being considered because it's the Right Thing To Do™, but because French mp3 manufacturers are getting cut out of the action by the choices being made - willingly, as it is my understanding that buying stuff from iTunes is not mandatory - by their countrymen.

Cheers...

Comments

[lemur-man.livejournal.com]

I guess I had it backwards: I thought they wanted songs sold by places other than iTunes to be playable on iPods (which is already the case).