Norway’s Consumer Ombudsman Bjoern Erik Thon is keeping his pledge to put more pressure on Apple to cut the DRM tie between its iPod models and music downloads from the iTunes download store. The consumer mediator gave Apple a November 3rd deadline back in September this year, and now that the deadline has passed without Apple making enough effort (in the Ombudsman’s opinion), it may face being brought before a government agency.
“iTunes has shown a lacking will to comply with our demand and we are now preparing to try this case in the Market Council,” Consumer Ombudsman Bjoern Erik Thon said in a statement. Back in 2006, Norway was among the world’s first countries to take issue with Apple’s FairPlay DRM, which while protecting music, also created a tie between hardware made by Apple and digital downloads it sells.
Apple responded to the pressure by providing certain information to its customers including a workaround that includes burning copy protected music to a CD with iTunes and then ripping to standard unprotected digital audio, which will work with pretty much all MP3 players on the market.
“iTunes maintains its previous views in its response to the Consumer Ombudsman. The company is in other words unwilling to make changes to make music in the iTunes Store available to all music players,” the agency said in its statement. Whether or not Apple will cave to the pressure remains to be seen.
Result for: consumer ombudsman
Norway Consumer Ombudsman Bjorn Erik Thon, after two years of being at odds with Apple, is now bringing his case to the Norwegian Market Council, hoping the council will force the company to remove its FairPlay DRM and allow users to play back their iTunes-purchased music on players other than the iPod.
“The Ombudsman demands that the consumers themselves should be able to choose what music device they would like to use to listen to music bought from the iTunes Store,” he said.
Thon adds that Apple uses the DRM to “dictate” what hardware the music is played back on. “As of today, the only portable players able to play files downloaded from iTunes are Apples own iPods,” read his original complaint from 2006.
Since 2006 Thon admits that Apple has made some progress, but that it is not enough and Apple has until November 3rd or he will sue them.
“It’s a consumer’s right to transfer and play digital content bought and downloaded from the Internet to the music device he himself chooses to use,” added Thon. “iTunes makes this impossible or at least difficult, and hence, they act in breach of Norwegian law.”
Now that everybody else is DRM-free, shouldn’t Apple move in that direction as well?
