EU Consumer Chief Kuneva Criticizes iTunes iPod Combo

http://www.playfuls.com/news_06487_EU_Consumer_Chief_Kuneva_Criticizes_iTunes_iPod_Combo.html

European Union consumer chief Meglena Kuneva has expressed her opinion about Apple’s policy to allow iTunes’ songs to be played only on iPods. “Do you think it’s fine that a CD plays in all CD players but that an iTunes song only plays in an iPod? I don’t. Something has to change,” said EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Kuneva, according to Reuters. It’s still unclear if Kuneva’s remark is an official position or just a personal opinon, but Apple is facing a lot of pressure in Europe to make iTunes interoperable.
In January this year, the Norwegian government declared iTunes illegal and gave Apple until Oct. 1 to let competitor devices play songs downloaded from the iTunes music store. Also, consumer rights groups in Finland, France and Germany filed similar complaints and issued a joint statement with their counterparts in Norway criticizing Apple.
The problems for Apple in Europe have begun last year when France threatened to pass a law forcing the company to make iTunes tracks compatible with all devices. After Apple called the law state-sponsored piracy and have threatened that will close its iTunes store in France, the French senate softened the law. The French senate has added language to the bill so that a company that agrees to provide its proprietary codes to rivals will receive a license fee along with guarantees that the transfer of information will not weaken its copyright protection measures.
iTunes Store was launched initially to promote iPod player, but in three years Apple has managed to transform into the biggest online music download service. In February 2006, Apple has celebrated the 1 billionth download from iTunes. According to Nielsen NetRatings, a provider of Internet media and market research, traffic to Apple's iTunes Web site and use of the iTunes application has spectacularly increased in the last two years, reaching nearly 14 percent of the active Internet population.
Last month in an open letter, Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, expressed his opinion about the issues in Europe. “Those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free. For Europeans, two and a half of the big four music companies are located right in their backyard. The largest, Universal, is 100% owned by Vivendi, a French company. EMI is a British company, and Sony BMG is 50% owned by Bertelsmann, a German company. Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.” wrote Steve Jobs.