France Lawmakers Approve 'ITunes Law'

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Not sure how forcing on online company developed for a certain device to work with other devices is fair in a free society

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I might be reading the situation incorrectly, but I think that the message is that you can protect your intellectual property so long as you don't prevent legitimate competition.

It sounds very similar to the EU rulings against HP and their ink cartridges? I guess that the message is that you can make iPods, and that is your intellectual property, and your iTunes are also yours, but you cannot make it so that iTunes can only be played on iPods?

I wonder what the RIAA's position is on this one?........... you see, if the iTunes can be played on numerous devices then one would expect them to sell more music (although iPod sales would go down?) and that should benefit the recording companies and possibly the artistes?

:confused:

That's like saying Xbox CD can't be reserved just for the xbox. It has to work in the playstation as well. 2 Very different platforms. Doesn't make a lick of American sense to me.

But like I said. I am not French.

iTunes is a repository of music in a proprietary format that only works on an iPod. iTunes is also a software component on the PC that connects to the iPod and the online iTunes store. You use iTunes to import, rip, convert, manage song libraries and burn CDs all without the AAC file format or ever connecting to the online iTunes music store.

So apperantly in France somone wants to download iTunes content to a device that cannot play the AAC format song file. And they want to force Apple to make this available or change their online content format It's in AAC format to restrict the use of the 99 cent song you purchase. Because that's pretty cheap. Like I said you can take it or leave it. I don't use it. But you can take your other device that is non-AAC and just subscribe to another service. iTunes is VERY successful and I would wager it's because of the AAC format that is propriatary to Apple.

So I am not sure how you can have intellectual property with this decision. Same with HP. If you don't like their cartridges don't buy the printer? Buy one with intergangeable ink? If people wanted the open standard of MP3 then Apple, iTunes, and the iPods wouldn't be bought in France. And the whole venture would have flopped. This is where our cultures are very different. Government enacted and forced standards versus open market and what works with the users. It's one thing to say, if someone can hack your software too bad. Or if someone intercepts your encryped TV signal, too bad. I agree with that. And it's very different to say, "You can't use that format, change it." And considering the whole system is built around it what if Apple says "Piss of France" and everyone who is using itunes gets burned by their own government.

If there weren't like a hundred online MP3 Music services I may agreee with you and the French. Who knows. Some are better than itunes (the online side) but the iTunes (iPod management side) is the best thing going for content management. So like I said, someone pissed of somebody somewher in France and made this some big deal.

Phew...... I don't own any stock in Apple. Er.. Yeah... Make Apple give up their stinkin technology.

In all honesty though. I am assuming that the French have patent laws protecting inventions and intellecutal property, and if the patent is still valid why is this really an issue. The other guys will just have to wait until the Itunes copyright becomes publically exploitable in 8 years or so.

But then again we are talking about the French????????? I mean, any country that thinks that a "bunch of whipped egg whites that have been spewed into a jar and left to rot" is an exceptable condiment for "French Fries" is a little off their rockers to start with. <SHRUG>

MMM Mayonnaise on French Fries. Don't knock it until you try it. :p Best french fries I ever had were from a street vendor in Belgium. Rotting eggs included.

Road my friend. The Belgium fries were the best that you had ever had because they were most likely cooked in 100% pure lard!!!! Now as for the M-word, I tried it once, and the German fries cooked in 100% pure lard almost made the M-stuff edible. :D I'll stick with good ole salt.