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Frederique Pfrunder, a spokeswoman for the CLCV, one France's main consumer organizations, said that the France is "washing their hands of the consumer," fearing that the legislation will let companies like Apple dictate music pricing to the recording labels.

Yeah, it's awful that Apple has steadfastly refused to submit to music label pressure to raise music prices.

And she's the spokeswoman for "one of France's main consumer organizations?" Hmm.,.does 'consumer' mean 'supplier' in France?

So, Norway was depending on France to have a backbone (insert joke here) as proof that somebody could stand up to Apple. Well, that's gone. It's been centuries since the Vikings have conquered anything.

Looks like it won't be this time either.

But are the consumers the losers? Not hardly. They still get their music for their iPods at a reasonable price, held in check over what the studios want to charge. And there are plenty of other avenues to purchase music from if they don't like the scheme or the iPod.

Correct me if I am wrong but can't you just burn a CD of itms songs and rip them to any format you want and put the resulting files on any device that you want? Sure it's an extra step for consumers to take but it's not really preventing purchased music from being able to be loaded to any device.

Aren't consumers similarly getting the shaft by the recording industry's CDs that will not play in a cassette deck?

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DrShakagee wrote:
Aren't consumers similarly getting the shaft by the recording industry's CDs that will not play in a cassette deck?

No, but if Sony-made CDs that played ONLY in Sony-made CD players they'd have a problem with it.

>Yeah, it's awful that Apple has steadfastly refused to submit to music label >pressure to raise music prices.
No, the pressure is to allow VARIABLE prices, like any shop normally does.
I'd also add that the average price I pay for a track on emusic is about a quarter of the price on iTunes for the same track; it's an entirely different pricing model (pre-paid bundles) but it is more cost effective for me.

I also dislike the fact that Apple puts Fairplay on all tracks from iTMS, even where the artist is happy to sell on MP3 on other sites. Of course I am free to use those other sites - and do. I hope that this law means artists are free to say 'No, I don't want DRM on my music' without Apple then refusing to stock them in iTMS. And all this from the company that had resisted DRM to start with.

>Correct me if I am wrong but can't you just burn a CD of itms songs and rip >them to any format you want and put the resulting files on any device that you >want? Sure it's an extra step for consumers to take but it's not really >preventing purchased music from being able to be loaded to any device.

What keeps being missed in this is that the overall law is a piece of pro-DRM legislation - similar to the American DMCA - that would increase penalties for the removal of DRM from protected files. I think in this case you would be fine provided you were within the terms of the Fairplay licence - which allows for CD burning, but I am not sure of the rules for the further re-import of that CD.

The stuff about interoperability was an amendment added by a left-wing party so that consumers were not locked into a particular DRM format. iTunes is the primary candidate today, but it other DRM formats, and any future formats. (So there is the interesting possibility of Apple being able to legally insist on French consumers being allowed to transcode their DVD to their video iPod).

I would also add

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No, but if Sony-made CDs that played ONLY in Sony-made CD players they'd have a problem with it.

Well, there are already bits and pieces of CDs sold for years that don't work in Macs either (not to mention Linux).

YEARS.

Sony, BMG, etc., all make such CDs. Because it's their format they choose to provide. You know what, we've lived with it and gotten over it.

We know it going in. Big freaking deal. I can't put Diesel in my car either. It's a fuel, but it's not compatible. Hmm. I can still buy gas. You can still buy music in about as many formats as fingers on your two hands, whatever number that may be. Apple's format is compatible with their device only. They tell the customer this up front. You don't have to buy it, you don't have to shop at iTunes. But unlike Diesel, at least songs from iTMS CAN be converted to work in other devices. I'll never get Diesel to work in my vehicle.

Now, I can understand consumers 'wanting' Apple to open up. The iTMS is easy, it's clean, it's organized. It's friendly. But you know what? It's just a nice 'want."

Governments launching massive lawsuits and so called consumers rights groups (what a misnomer!) launching campaigns to change laws to force Apple to give away its product to competitors is socialistic, a gross restriction of free trade, and completely repugnant for a company who has legally set up a product, negotiated legal licenses to sell their products in these countries, and done so now for years.

And no, I don't work for Apple. I work in higher education. I've studied communications, ethics, and law, and it truly disgusts me to see what has been going on over this issue.