More doom and gloom for the technology sector in relation to music. Consumer rights officials in Norway have again demanded Apple open up its digital music offer so that iTunes users are no longer locked to the iPod and vice versa.
As much previously reported, Apple has come in for much criticism, especially in mainland Europe, because no one other than iTunes can sell DRMed tracks that work on an iPod, and DRMed tracks bought from the market leader download store only play on the Apple device.
This is less of an issue since the major record companies allowed their music to be sold without digital rights management, because DRM-free MP3s, which many iTunes rivals are starting to sell, do work on the iPod. However, Apple itself does not sell DRM-free music from all majors (mainly because some won't let it), and when it does sell DRM-free music (from EMI artists for example) it still provides tracks in the AAC format which many non-Apple digital music players can't play.
It is to this end that the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman Bjoern Erik Thon yesterday demanded once again that Apple formerly respond to his previous statements regarding the incompatibility of the firm's music products and services, threatening to take the matter further if they fail to do so.
Apple are yet to respond, though if they do they may well shift the blame on to those record companies who are holding off providing their music without digital rights management to the market leader download store, saying that that is the issue, rather than their own unwillingness to open up their proprietary music technologies to competitors.