Apple, iTunes and France: The Reality

Actually with respect I think Kirk misses the point with his analogies. The idea is not to force Sony to build-in operability with the Xbox, but to stop Sony engineering its products specifically to _prevent_ this. OK, that's a hard one - but this has actually been litigated in the US with the Lexmark case, who tried (and failed) to use the DMCA to stop a clone vendor manufacturing compatible cartridges. Car parts is also something that has been litigated in Europe, with Ford (IIRC) claiming design rights in its own parts _not_ to patent some unique feature to stop Toyota using it, but with the express intent of controlling the spare parts business - a business as old as cars themselves. Why shouldn't Schick (Wilkinson Sword here in Europe) be able to use a "clean room" process to manufacture a cartridge compatible with Gillette's, that is by looking at the blade handle in isolation from the cartridge? Everyone on TidBITS will be fully aware that this is exactly what Compaq did.

Here, what's wrong with saying that Apple can use FairPlay to stop illegal copying, but they can't use it to keep other music off the iPod, and other players out of iTunes? That isn't the same as saying they have to cooperate - it just means they shouldn't be able to go out of their way to _defeat_ such measures. Such measures include those of us with iTunes 6 and beyond being unable to use wi-fi music distribution systems with the exception of the Airport Express, or an AAC-compatible Sony Ericsson Walkman phone, or Nokia equivalent. I am struggling to see how this condones piracy - indeed, the unintended consequences of this sort of DRM as TidBITS readers will also be aware are DVD Jon's DeCSS and jHymn, both developed with the express interest not in being a file-sharers best friend, but so people could use their stuff how they want.

Indeed, while as an Apple fanboy I get how a locked ecosystem is in _their_ interest, it isn't in _ours_ as consumers, and it is also not obvious that Apple (or Microsoft, or the studios) would suffer disproportionate harm is they were required not to make everything DRM-free, but to make those keys available to everyone on non-discriminatory terms, much like anyone can make a DVD player on payment of the licence fee. There are those who would argue that as Apple has innovated, they should have an unfettered right to do what they want. Society disagrees with you - that's what antitrust or monopolies law is all about. Here, while I agree with Kurt both that this is far from a done deal, and that the French members of the Assemble Nationale may not really "get" the technology, personally I applaud the intent to take some land back from the DMCA and the EU Copyright Directive, in favour of us, the users who actually buy this stuff. I want to buy my future fifth iPod because it remains the best product on the market, and use iTunes because it is the best way to organise my music. I don't want to be locked into both for no other reason than I drank Steve Job's Kool-Aid in 2003.

On 28 Mar 2006, at 08:35 , alexjohnson wrote:
> Actually with respect I think Kirk misses the point with his
> analogies. The idea is not to force Sony to build-in operability
> with the Xbox, but to stop Sony engineering its products
> specifically to _prevent_ this. OK, that's a hard one - but this
> has actually been litigated in the US with the Lexmark case, who
> tried (and failed) to use the DMCA to stop a clone vendor
> manufacturing compatible cartridges. Car parts is also something
> that has been litigated in Europe, with Ford (IIRC) claiming design
> rights in its own parts _not_ to patent some unique feature to stop
> Toyota using it, but with the express intent of controlling the
> spare parts business - a business as old as cars themselves.

Trouble is, this doesn't compare. Apple allows "spare parts" or
"clones" because it fully supports mp3 and unprotected AAC files. If
it ONLY worked with m4p, then the analogy would hold water. As it
is, it's specious at best.

--
Today the road all runners come/Shoulder high we bring you home.
And set you at your threshold down/Townsman of a stiller town.

On Mar 28, 2006, at 5:31 PM, Hermann Rotermund wrote:

> The comparison with Playstation software on the Xbox or the razor
> blades is misleading. The music that is sold over the iTunes music
> store is not iTunes branded music or produced by Apple.

Most Playstation software is not made by Sony...

> I can expect
> that any drugstore sells Gillette razor blades without drilling
> additional holes in them that makes them unusable in my razor which I
> bought in another store.

Wanna bet? It's not the drugstore, it's the manufacturer...


Kirk
           Author of: The Mac OS X Command Line: Unix Under the Hood
                      http://www.mcelhearn.com/unix.html
                - - - - - -
              Read my blog: Kirkville -- http://www.mcelhearn.com
           Musings, Opinion and Miscellanea, on Macs, iPods and more

On 3/28/06 09:35, "alexjohnson" <alexjohnsonmac.com> wrote:

> Here, what's wrong with saying that Apple can use FairPlay to stop illegal
> copying, but they can't use it to keep other music off the iPod, and other
> players out of iTunes? That isn't the same as saying they have to cooperate -
> it just means they shouldn't be able to go out of their way to _defeat_ such
> measures. Such measures include those of us with iTunes 6 and beyond being
> unable to use wi-fi music distribution systems with the exception of the
> Airport Express, or an AAC-compatible Sony Ericsson Walkman phone, or Nokia
> equivalent. I am struggling to see how this condones piracy - indeed, the
> unintended consequences of this sort of DRM as TidBITS readers will also be
> aware are DVD Jon's DeCSS and jHymn, both developed with the express interest
> not in being a file-sharers best friend, but so people could use their stuff
> how they want.

Okay, so first of all, you can put all kinds of non-iTunes, non-AAC music on
an iPod. MP3, AIFF, etc. There's nothing there preventing you from doing
that. You can even use them with iTunes.

As far as other players out of iTunes, here's a question: If the other guys
are SO hungry for the Mac market, why aren't Windows Media and Real
supporting the Mac fully. They can do this. Not via iTunes maybe, but they
could easily do this. Apple is doing nothing to keep Napster and the Zen off
of the Mac.

Yet, time after time, you keep seeing these people kvetching about the iPod
and iTunes, as if that's the only way to work on this platform. This is a
lie. I'm beyond any attempt to make it sound like someone ignorant of the
ability to do stuff on Mac OS X. When the VP in charge of Windows Media says
that Apple is keeping them off of the Mac, that person is Lying. When that
prat in charge of Real says that Apple is preventing him from creating a Mac
version of Harmony, he is Lying.

They are not dancing around the truth, they are not narrowly interpreting
things, they.are.lying. Period.

What they want is not the Mac market. Neither Real, nor the WM team gives a
rat's patoot about the Mac. What they want are all those iTunes users on
*Windows* back. What is pissing them off is that Steve stole their users,
whom they thought they had a lock on. Wah.

Why else do you think Harmony was NEVER going to be usable on the Mac?
Right. Lying.

In their world, Steve will let them have a situation where iPods on Windows
are able to play music that iPods on the Mac can't. They think that Steve
will approve of the ghettoization of Mac users with iPods. That *Apple* will
go for this, and help Microsoft and Real screw over Mac users.

In what reality is this a possibility. When I see full support for WM 10/11
and all DRM on a non-Microsoft platform, and the same for Real, then I'll
take anything they say as possibly honest. Until then, they're just lying
liars spreading their lies.

--
John C. Welch Writer/Analyst
Bynkii.com Mac and other opinions
jwelchbynkii.com

On Mar 31, 2006, at 6:19 AM, Google Kreme wrote:
>> Actually with respect I think Kirk misses the point with his
>> analogies. The idea is not to force Sony to build-in operability
>> with the Xbox, but to stop Sony engineering its products
>> specifically to _prevent_ this. OK, that's a hard one - but this
>> has actually been litigated in the US with the Lexmark case, who
>> tried (and failed) to use the DMCA to stop a clone vendor
>> manufacturing compatible cartridges. Car parts is also something
>> that has been litigated in Europe, with Ford (IIRC) claiming design
>> rights in its own parts _not_ to patent some unique feature to stop
>> Toyota using it, but with the express intent of controlling the
>> spare parts business - a business as old as cars themselves.
>
> Trouble is, this doesn't compare. Apple allows "spare parts" or
> "clones" because it fully supports mp3 and unprotected AAC files. If
> it ONLY worked with m4p, then the analogy would hold water. As it
> is, it's specious at best.

But the law is suggesting that it does compare. The law is requiring
interoperability _only_ for iTMS songs; not for the iPod itself.


Kirk

                       Author of: iPod & iTunes Garage
                      http://www.mcelhearn.com/ipod.html
                - - - - - -
              Read my blog: Kirkville -- http://www.mcelhearn.com
           Musings, Opinion and Miscellanea, on Macs, iPods and more