Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Finally!

This is what I have been waiting for. Leave it to those sneaky Scandinavians to challenge Apple on their DRM system. DRM (Data Rights Management) is really my only hang up with Apple. Honestly, they make really well designed products but when you start getting into Apple they turn out to be just like Microsoft. Both companies feel the need to control their products so tightly that they squeeze out some of the functionality and advantages. With Itunes and DRM you can't just take your Ipod to your freinds computer and copy your songs onto his computer. Song sharing is such a big deal to me (and millions of other people) that I can't buy an Ipod just for this reason. I am forced to use a mildly inferior product (a Sansa mp3 player) which uses the more standard mp3 format.
In Scandinavia there are many bittorrent websites becuase of the very open copyright laws. So it doesn't really come as a surprise to me that a Norwegian consumer advocacy group is suing Apple because of DRM. The consumer ombudsman said "It's a consumer's right to transfer and play digital content bought and downloaded from the Internet to the music device he himself chooses to use, iTunes makes this impossible or at least difficult, and hence, they act in breach of Norwegian law."
I hope they get somewhere with that. Then I can buy a Mac.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buy a Mac?!? We need to talk. Btw, my iPod has no DRM issues, perhaps because I wouldn't touch iTunes with a 10-ft pole.

Reuben said...

Why, do you have a Mac for sale?
Do you just use mp3s in your Ipod?