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March 22, 2006
French iPod revolution
Here's an interesting development: a parliament which thinks its job is to protect the interests of its voters, rather than those of the copyright controllers. The French parliament has passed a bill which would impose interoperability on Apple, Sony and Microsoft digital music players.
“It is unacceptable that . . . the key should be controlled by a monopoly. France is against monopolies,” said Martin Rogard, an adviser at the French Culture Ministry, quoted in the Financial Times, after the vote. “The consumer must be able to listen to the music they have bought on no matter what platform.”
Mr Rogard hopes it's the start of a Europe-wide move to open up digital music, but predictably, the technology industry reacted with horreur. CompTIA, a trade association, said the law was the latest in a series of measures in the European Union that were “punishing inventors and stifling innovation”. The truth, of course, is that the unprecedented extension of copyright laws is what's stifling innovation. We don't expect any similar move in the corporate protection institute that we quaintly call the Australian parliament. But if the French force Apple to build more open iPods for their market, guess where we'll be buying our next music player?
Posted by cw at March 22, 2006 10:05 AM
Comments
I don't know if commentators said this or Apple said it themselves, but I thought I heard them say the loses out of this sort of law would be the users of iTunes as Apple would simply take down the French store.
Have you heard this and what are your thoughts?
Molly
">http://www.mollyzine.com
Posted by: Phillip Molly Malone at March 22, 2006 04:48 PM
You can expect Apple to play it very tough. They're experts. Steve Jobs has even faced down the slavering music industry executives who've been trying to muscle him into charging more for music tracks.
Who knows, Jobs might even contemplate ditching the French iTMS. If the Europeans got serious, however, and Germany, Britain etc. stood up to them, Apple would have to negotiate, I suspect. And would the iTMS lose significant market share from a more open regime? I doubt it.
Posted by: cw at March 22, 2006 05:20 PM
You may want to check this out.
http://digg.com/technology/Support_DMCA_Reform_-_Help_Pass_HR_1201__2
"Congress is now considering the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (DMCRA, HR 1201), a bill that would amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to allow circumvention of copy protection for non-copyright-infringing uses. This would finally allow us to legally backup our DVDs and DRM'd music. Follow the link and contact your local representative!"
Posted by: Stephen at March 28, 2006 01:09 PM