Apple's Nightmare in Europe

Apple's problems in Europe are likely getting worse and worse. After the heels of France’s legislative to push DRM interoperability of its popular music store, Denmark is thinking along the same line. According to Maersk, Dansk Supermarked's product manager, Henrik Olesen, the DRM interoperability would be a win-win solution and would not hurt Apple.

"We would like to ask the politicians to follow the route they're taking in France, so that it becomes as easy as possible for the consumers to purchase music legally. This will in the end mean larger gross sales for all music stores," he said.

At the moment, Apple locks in its consumer with its iTunes + iPod combination. If you shop from iTunes music store, it can only be played on iPod and impossible to transfer to another player.

Last year, Apple refused to open its iPod DRM music format to competitors. As a result, US Congress is considering requiring all technologies and music labels to use a single DRM format for music. Apple failed to appear at the Congressional hearing.

Source

Filed in: Apple DRM Lawsuit