*Charlie Brown Noise*
These morons in congress just don't get it.
Listen you DOLTS. If you hadn't CRIMINALIZED FORMAT SHIFTING you wouldn't even be having this rediculous conversation.
US legislators are debating whether to force Apple's products to interoperate with Microsoft's.
The Congress have been considering a plan that would outlaw music protected by proprietary digital rights management (DRM) technology, such as Apple's FairPlay, which stops iTunes downloads being played on Microsoft digital music players and vice versa.
However, yesterday's Congressional subcommittee hearing on 'Digital Music Interoperability and Availability', which included debate on mandating interoperability for digital music, received a 'hands off' message from industry representatives.
William Pence, Napster CTO, told the subcommittee that the music industry will eventually promote interoperability itself without the need for government intervention.
"It is my belief, and the essential point of my participation today, that marketplace forces will continue to drive innovation in the DRM arena with attendant consumer benefits - new ways to enjoy digital music at a variety of different price points - while also gradually 'solving' the interoperability problem," he said.
However, one of the biggest players in the digital market, Apple, did not attend the hearing.
Chairman of the subcommittee, Lamar Smith, criticised the Cupertino company's failure to show up, saying: "This interoperability issue is of concern to me since consumers who bought legal copies of music from Real could not play them on an iPod. I suppose this is a good thing for Apple but perhaps not for consumers.
"Apple was invited to testify today but they chose not to appear. Generally speaking, companies with 75 per cent market share of any business, in this case the digital download market, need to step up to the plate when it comes to testifying on policy issues that impact their industry. Failure to do so is a mistake."
Napster, the main challenger to Apple in the online music market, last year cracked Apple's DRM to make songs from its web song shop compatible with the iPod. While Napster's Pence did advocate a more open approach from Apple, he said mandating one through government was not necessary.
"Napster believes that allowing the iPod to work with multiple service offerings would benefit consumers. Nevertheless, I do not see government intervention as the solution, as it would stifle competition and innovation that will benefit consumers and copyright owners at a very early stage of the market's development," he told the subcommittee. "It does not seem prudent for government to pick a winner in the continuing... marketplace battle between Apple's FairPlay DRM and its competitors."
HOW IN THE HELL congress can come down on Apple when they have let Microsoft skate for going on 3 decades now is HILARIOUS. Apple "won" their market by being the best and getting there first. Microsoft has cheated and abused and been BUSTED doing it 3 times and they don't get any kind of pressure -- not in the US anyway. Could it be because they bought some congressmen?
The fact remains, if it wasn't a CRIME for the end user to take their Real or Napster music and convert it to MP3 to play on their media player of choice this wouldn't be an issue at all. Nevermind the fact that nobody gives a shit about Real of Napster beause Apple as a better client, a bigger store and more reasonable requirements.
