What's up with France

[Quicksilver]

Why so much interest in Apple Technology??
I don't get it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060322/...e_copyright_dc

[Juanted]

Bad move on France's part. Though Apple has not publicly commented, it is widely believed that the company will not open iTunes; instead, they'll just shut down iTunes France. The French government is screwing its own people.

Apple is committed to DRM and to its proprietary technology, and why shouldn't they be? Just like MS will not open its OS, and treats it as proprietary technolgy, so should Apple with iTunes. It's funny how people don't gripe about the fact that Windows is not an "open" technology or incompatible with Linux or Unix, but they bitch about Apple's stance on iTunes.

Apple has NO incentive whatsoever to open iTunes. Techonolgy-wise, economically-wise... They are the dominant technology, and they know it. Why should the open it?

Juan

[carlos3679]

Listen Quicksilver, you and your news links are killing me, first it's the smoking link and now this, STOP THE MADNESS!!! lol just kidding

[NOC]

The French govt. opposses a lot of things that don't make any sense some times. They should employ their time to more serious matters.

[rayxi]

I don't see how France could ever enforce such a law. If the law passes iTunes will pull out of France and the French people will just buy their iPods and iTunes online from other countries. All it will accomplish is a shift in revenue out of France. Bonehead idea.

Originally Posted by Kaefer

It's funny how people don't gripe about the fact that Windows is not an "open" technology or incompatible with Linux or Unix, but they bitch about Apple's stance on iTunes.

I don't know who you've been talking to Juan but every Unix geek and MacUser I know jumps at the opportunity to gripe about Microsoft. I don't like the fact that iTunes is proprietary but I don't bitch about it. I just refuse to buy an iPod.

[Juanted]

Originally Posted by rayxi

I don't know who you've been talking to Juan but every Unix geek and MacUser I know jumps at the opportunity to gripe about Microsoft. I don't like the fact that iTunes is proprietary but I don't bitch about it. I just refuse to buy an iPod.

Yeah, but they're not griping about Windows being incompatible with Unix or Linux. They gripe about the insecurites or flaws in the OS, but it is widely accepted that MS has won the OS war. When you've "won the war," (OS, MP3 technology, whatever...) then, unless something comes along to challenge you, why should you open your proprietary and intellectual property? You're the dominant player. You wanna play? Then, maybe you should adapt your software to work with the iPod. eMusic realizes that; all their downloads are iPod-compatible.

Anyway... it'll be interesting to see how this shakes out.

Juan

[somewhereinla]

Please, please, please, if you want to comment on the news, research it first before trowing out statments that are not correct! be aware of big, out of context headlines that are more than often misleading at best.

First the law is not targeted at Apple at all, Unlike in the U.S. Apple doesn't have a monopoly in Europe where Virgin is a big player. In France Apple has 40%, Virgin 30% and the rest is divided between smaller companies.

Second, the European Community pressured France to pass a law for digital content ( All countries in Europe had one except France) so the French government in a hurry to meet the deadline, wrote and passed this law(the law is flawed, I agree on that much).
The spirit of the law is that if one buy an mp3 player, that person should be able to choose any site to buy music from, and be able to put it on which ever MP3 player(s). The obvious problem is the only way to achieve that, since nobody want's to have a common copy-write protection standard, or design players that can read all copy-write protection standards, is to remove it, which is the unfortunate flaw of that particular law. If, for instance, you buy a television, you assume that it will work with all cable provider in this country, thus the need for a a universal standard, NTSC for the U.S.

Third, as in this country, the law still has to go threw the French Senate before becoming law, who knows what will happen there.

Here is a quote taken from a an other blog on that subject which sumarize the problem very well:

" First, it isn't France targeting Apple and the iTunes music store. Its France trying to mandate a common industry standard for DRM. An article with a headline that reads "French law could force Apple to open iTunes" is more likely to get read or picked up by other news services than one with a headline that reads, "France pushes for common DRM format".
Second, its not France trying to break Apple's perceived monopoly on the online music business. That already went to court in France with the French courts saying there were plenty of alternatives in the market to iTunes and the iPod. People just aren't buying those alternatives, that isn't Apple's fault.

Third, Apple doesn't mandate DRM. The people who provide the content that Apple sells do.

Why does Apple tie the iPod to iTunes? Simple, Apple doesn't sell just the iPod they sell the solution, part of which is iTunes. Why do they do that....besides the fact that yes they make money off the iTunes store? Because they control the total experience and hence can support the product better. Do they do that for the sake of the customer? No not really, it keeps their support costs down, simplifies their product offering, and if they do it right (and it appears they have) sell more product because people like it. Imagine what a pain it would be if you had to support everyone's music library software.
The problem with the industry is all the participants have their own idea how it should work to meet their vision and trust me, those visions are all different and tailored so that you the consumer part with as much cash as they can squeeze out of you. Preferably in the form of a recurring revenue stream via a subscription service"

And last, Apple did put out a statment:

"iPod sales will likely increase as users freely load their iPods with 'interoperable' music which cannot be adequately protected. Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy."

remember," Apple doesn't mandate DRM. The people who provide the content that Apple sells do." What makes iTune popular is not its DRM, but it's ease of use and it's flawless integration with ipod. Furthermore, there are plenty of freeware , that can remove DRM and are easilly found on the internet.

Again, it is a very badly written law, I agree, but the spirit of the law does make sense.

[Wagner]

It's France, don't ask.

Shouldn't they be dealing with their riots?

[Quicksilver]

Somewhereinla;

I believe the comments submitted so far are correct.

It is common knowledge that lawsuits have been filed against Apple to get them to open up their technology. One could say "First the law is not targeted at Apple at all." But who else uses the technology aside from Sony? So you can take aim at the ship but your sure to hit the engine room which drives the technology that being Apple.

Various critics say the plan is technically unworkable, unfairly undermines Apple and opens the door to more piracy by crippling technology that protects copyrights. Supporters see France setting a long-overdue legal precedent that opens Apple's closed iPod-iTunes digital music system to competition. There are those words again "APPLE", iTunes iPod.

To me it does seem that it's all about Apple, The iPod, and iTunes. If they didn't have a corner on the market no one would be having this discussion.

So it seems to me that the many who have tried to compete have failed and now they want Apple's closed iPod-iTunes digital music system to open because they cannot compete. Sour Grapes IMHO

[somewhereinla]

But that's exactly one of my point, In the U.S. Apple has over 75% of the market, a monopoly, but in France it only has 40%, Virgin has 30% and FNAC has 20% which means that not only there is competition , but Fairplay, Apple's DRM, is not the prominant DRM. And when Apple was sued by a French consumer advocacy group, the French Court sighted with Apple against the consumer advocacy group, stating that there was a wide variety of similar products and services, and that Apple could not be held responsible for its success. The Loss for Apple, Virgin, FNAC and other smaller companies is the fact that the law will ultimatly make piracy very easy, and rather than buy music from which ever vendors, legally, the French will be back to pre-DRM days, when most people didn't "always" buy their music... Actually, if you think about it, Virgin and FNAC have more to loose, at least Apple will still be selling iPods.