iLounge

21

Of course, does anyone really think France’s National Assembly would’ve proceeded with this had Apple been a FRENCH company?

Like always, just thinking out loud…

Posted by flatline response on March 13, 2006 at 11:36 PM (PDT)

22

At least a government is doing something against monopolistic DRM. European law has obliged Microsoft to put WM out of Windows, so I guess Apple will have to do the same and open Fairplay.

Fairplay is bad, it’s a monopolistic idea, you can only play Apple Tunes on Apple products, it’s worst than Microsoft. At least, when you buy a WM tune you can listen to it on a lot of mp3 players…

Apple should sell Fairplay licences, they could earn money by the way and we could use Squeezebox to listen to our AAC Fairplay tunes

Posted by Steph on March 14, 2006 at 3:38 AM (PDT)

23

I wonder why i cannot play xbox game on ps2

Posted by Kap on March 14, 2006 at 4:47 AM (PDT)

24

I wonder, which country will try to do this next?

Posted by Nobody on March 14, 2006 at 5:01 AM (PDT)

25

what about MS and their format, agreed it can be used on other devices, if it runs on window’s ( no apple,Linux ) last i heard

Posted by Hell-In-A-Handbasket on March 14, 2006 at 5:54 AM (PDT)

26

Forget the bullocks, free the music!!

Posted by johnny on March 14, 2006 at 6:50 AM (PDT)

27

If you want flexibility, then buy your music on CD, or rip your AAC purchases to CD and then transfer and accept the marginal loss in quality.

The problem isn’t Apple’s its the direct result of the restrictions placed on Apple by the music industry in order to allow distribution and sale online.

Posted by Jacko on March 14, 2006 at 9:22 AM (PDT)

28

Even if Apple was as evil as Microsoft, that doesn’t mean much if you don’t take context into account.

Microsoft controls more than � of the consumer PC OS market. You know those media hubs into which you plug things like MP3 players?

MS is in a position to do much more “evil” than Apple will ever be.

If the iPod and iTMS never existed, I bet that MS would have seized these two markets in a snap and would have achieved domination of the market 4 years ago. Every music players would become tied to WMP, the WMA and WMV formats, and associated DRM. MS would sell cheap licenses to every manufacturer wanting to play those formats, and everyone would, to get good compatibility with Windows.

MS, in collaboration with the RIAA would then force their licensees to drop MP3 support. The DOJ wouldn’t blink an eye since it would be seen as the only way to fight rampant piracy. Eventually, audio CD’s would contain DRMed WMA only.

With the iPod and iTMS in the picture, there is competition.

Apple may dominate these markets, but it has to go against the ubiquitous Microsoft “standards”.

Not only MS can create a lock-in between music stores and players, but they can lock people into Windows at the same time. There is no law that prevent a company from making their own format, compatible reader and store. If MS can use it to their advantage, why can’t Apple do it too?

Having this competition between lock-ins will force government implication, and it maybe something better will come out of this, compared to MS dominating by default and tying everything to Windows.

Posted by Portamento on March 14, 2006 at 9:35 AM (PDT)

29

What’s ‘evilness’ got to do with anything? It’s about control and maximized profits, nothing else…regardless of it being MSFT or AAPL.

This dogmatic ‘world domination’ BS goes only as far as the last shareholders’ meeting. It’s all in appeasing the investors.

Posted by flatline response on March 14, 2006 at 12:23 PM (PDT)

30

Steph said:
> Fairplay is bad, it’s a monopolistic idea, you can only play Apple Tunes on Apple products, it’s worst than Microsoft. <

Eh? How come I can download an iTunes song on my PC and play it? No Apple computer, no iPod.

Maybe you should research the facts before you make such bold statements.

Posted by Nick on March 14, 2006 at 4:28 PM (PDT)

31

hey men, we are in europe not in US, democracy comes before the capitalist power, and apple (and microsoft too, they are whorst) will have to apply the law.It’s the first time than a democrtic parlement decide to apply what people wants.
i love Apple, but steve jobs can be whorst than bill gates when he decides its economic strategy, ITMS is a good thing for music world but it wil be better without DRM.
I applaude the french gouvernment

Posted by david on March 15, 2006 at 8:50 AM (PDT)

32

France is not asking Apple (or Microsoft) to do anything. They just want to allow people to crack the DRM so that the content can be transcoded. (AAC => MP3, WMA => MP3)

There are already emulators out there so that you can play PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, etc. games on PCs. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more support for Macs, too, now that they’re Intel Inside. And, there’s Game Boy on Palm, too.

Posted by George on March 15, 2006 at 8:28 PM (PDT)

33

Some pretty silly (“Hurray USA”) comments here. It’s a simple thing. I bougth it, so it’s mine. If you buy a cd, you can play it whereever you want. That’s it. Worst thing is, there is software nowadays (e.g. TomTom navigator) where the company writes on its webpage that they do not allow to sell the software to others? WTF? It is mine, I paid for it, why can anyone tell me what to do or not to do with it. I am not saying, that cracking or filesharing is okay. Pay for it. But then… then it’s yours. France, you’re right.

Posted by saminegm on March 16, 2006 at 4:17 AM (PDT)