Apple sued over supposed iTunes monopoly, being mean to Microsoft

[gxsaurav]

Apple's been hit with antitrust lawsuits over the dominance of the iPod / iTunes system before, but there's a new case brewing down California way that argues not that Apple has illegally tied the iPod to iTunes, but that Apple has abused its dominant market position by not supporting WMA. That's right, we've come full circle -- Apple is now being accused of locking Microsoft out of the market. The case, brought by San Diego attorney Stacie Somers, claims that since Apple disables the WMA functionality of the PortalPlayer chip inside many iPods, it's shipping "crippleware," and that it's doing so deliberately to abuse its position as the market leader. Of course, unprotected WMA files import into iTunes on Windows just fine, so this is really a DRM compatibility issue -- and given Apple's official position on DRM and the fact that Microsoft's own Zunes don't exactly play nice with all the flavors of WMA DRM, this suit could be over sooner than expected

Source

where is prakash? I guess it's time he should start hating the pioneer of DRM in Music market , crApple

[The_Devil_Himself]

Originally Posted by me

1.Songs bought from apple stores can be transferred to as many pods as you like and listened but can't be used on more than 5 pcs(correct me if I am wrong).Its like "hey bring over your ipod and i'll give you my full music collection.And no its not illegeal,its perfectly legal."

2.Real media player producers tried to implement their own drm thingy on songs,apple 'disabled' their drm in their next firmware,real again improved and implemented,apple 'disabled' it again,then real stopped trying.

3.Wow,Now comes my famous part.M$ and Zune.If I transfer songs from my Zune to my friends,it remains playable only for 3 days\3 times.But hey don't worry I got ways to bypass it:
(i.)Easiest of them all is set genre of songs to be transferred to 'podcasts' and voila! all 'podcasts' gets transferred without drm.Ha stupid of M$.
(j.)Still haven't upgraded to 'podcasted' firmwares? Just rename the .mp3 files to .jpg before transferring them to Zune.transfer them to another zune via wifi anndask your friends to rename them back to .mp3.
(k.)don't have much time?Just download one of many drm stripping softies off net.

They are all feathers of the same bird.They all hate each other and their ultimate motto is $$$,customers are least of their concern.
And tell me who are the ultimate sufferers?iPod owners can't play wma\wmv(wma sucks anyway!),Zune can't play m4a.There is playforsure,apple store,zune marketplace each having different drm schemes.

[MetalheadGautham]

we hate not only apple drm, but also windows drm

[aryayush]

This is one of the stupidest suits ever and one of the funniest headlines I've ever read. Apple "being mean to Microsoft"? So Apple is the big kid now and is bullying puny little Microsoft? Ha! Ha! I guess it's pay back time!

On topic and a more serious note though, doesn't anyone see the sheer stupidity of this suit? iPods do not play Microsoft's Windows Media format. So what's next, OS X does not write to NTFS partitions? iChat does not support the MSN Messenger protocol?

Apple employs the most unrestrictive DRM scheme in the industry and has made it clear time and again that they are all for the abolition of DRM if the music labels are willing to participate. It is because of Apple that you have Amazon selling DRM free songs from all the record labels today. Guess what, every single song they sell plays spectacularly well on iPods. When every other company was afraid to do so, Apple made the move and then others followed. The whole industry gets benefited and Apple gets spurned by the back-stabbing music labels and greedy little attorneys like Stacie Somers.

It's a fair and just world out there.

[krazzy]

I don't get it. Why should Apple support Microsoft's format? Aren't they supposed to be rivals? So why would they include a rival companies format in their music player? And most people don't even care about WMA so why would Apple bother to include it? I just don't get it. Don't these people have jobs or something to do instead of sueing everyone?

[aryayush]

At least someone here is not crazy.

Originally Posted by krazyfrog.

most people don't even care about WMA

Exactly. Only people who are completely clueless about technology, music, codecs and formats would ever use Windows media formats or any other proprietary formats, for that matter. Either them, or those who have statues of Bill Gates and (God forbid!) Steve Ballmer plastered all over their house.

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by The_Devil_Himself

Zune can't play m4a.

Zune can play M4A

The Zune software automatically searches for appropriate audio files, and then adds the audio files in the following formats to your Zune collection: •The following types of files: •.wma•.wmv•.mp3•.jpg•.mp4•.m4v•.m4a•.m4b•.mov

Originally Posted by aryayush

On topic and a more serious note though, doesn't anyone see the sheer stupidity of this suit? iPods do not play Microsoft's Windows Media format. So what's next, OS X does not write to NTFS partitions? iChat does not support the MSN Messenger protocol?

The lawsuit is about Apple crippling the Smasung/PortalPlayer chip capability of playing WMA files & restricting the user.

Apple employs the most unrestrictive DRM scheme in the industry and has made it clear time and again that they are all for the abolition of DRM if the music labels are willing to participate. It is because of Apple that you have Amazon selling DRM free songs from all the record labels today.

Lolz...songs bought from iTunes can be played only on Apple iPod. iPod can play songs bought from iTunes only. You cannot copy songs back from iPod to computer. You are forced to use a software to use iPod unlike Creative Zen which works on any OS. U call this "unrestrictive"

[infra_red_dude]

Monopolist vs. Monopolist.. Interesting...

[Pathik]

This suit is just as stupid as the one Opera filed against MS for including IE7 with Vista.

[aryayush]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

The lawsuit is about Apple crippling the Smasung/PortalPlayer chip capability of playing WMA files & restricting the user.

Windows media is Microsoft's proprietary format. For any software/hardware to have the ability to play it, the parent company has to pay Microsoft a huge recurring yearly licensing fee. Why, oh why, would Apple go out of its way to support a clearly inferior format owned by its competitor that does not even have a respectable share in the market? Does Microsoft's Windows Media player and Zune play AIFF files? No, they don't. Heck, Zunes don't even play Microsoft's own "PlaysForSure" DRMed music. Ha! The irony.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Lolz...songs bought from iTunes can be played only on Apple iPod.

Wrong. DRM free songs bought from the iTunes Store can be played on any player in the world. DRMed songs from any store in the world can only be played on their specific partner devices. This whole system is controlled by the music labels. How does Apple get the blame!

Besides, Apple's lenient DRM copy protection allows you to easily burn the protected content onto physical media, thus freeing it from the shackles of DRM and allowing it to be played any way the user wishes to.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

iPod can play songs bought from iTunes only.

Complete and absolute bullshit.

Damn! I really didn't want to have to change my signature but you forced me to.

Let us put some facts and statistics here. The last time Apple announced the figures, they'd sold around 100 million iPods and 2 billion songs on the iTunes Store. So, according to you, the average iPod only has about twenty songs? And Indians buy iPod and put a picture of Lord Shiva on it and worship it day and night, because we don't have the iTunes Store here?

Do you ever think before uttering pure gibberish? I know it is difficult for you but try and practice doing some thinking. Trust me, it goes a long way towards not making you look stupid.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

You cannot copy songs back from iPod to computer.

Wrong again, of course. You can do so. I did it three days ago.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

You are forced to use a software to use iPod unlike Creative Zen which works on any OS. U call this "unrestrictive"

You are forced to use the software because it makes the whole experience painless and easy. Believe it or not, people buy iPods because of the rock solid and trustworthy integration with iTunes. And believe it or not, no one cares about your opinion on the matter.

Just when the scars inflicted by your ridiculous posts and blatant lies start to heal, you have to go ahead and open your mouth yet again. Shame!

[sourav123]

My personal advice. Don't go for iPod or Zune. Go for a third party music player like Creative ZEN or SanDisk Sansa. In many cases, these players are much superior in terms of quality and features, but only because they don't have an Apple or Microsoft behind them, many people will not agree with me.

[cooldudie3]

Originally Posted by aryayush

This is one of the stupidest suits ever and one of the funniest headlines I've ever read. Apple "being mean to Microsoft"? So Apple is the big kid now and is bullying puny little Microsoft? Ha! Ha! I guess it's pay back time!

On topic and a more serious note though, doesn't anyone see the sheer stupidity of this suit? iPods do not play Microsoft's Windows Media format. So what's next, OS X does not write to NTFS partitions? iChat does not support the MSN Messenger protocol?

nice... I mean like microsoft is not doing something... There's more to go...

[Voldy]

Hehehe now the sides have been switched the Policy forcer so called "Microsoft" now made abused by Apple .
The one thing i was to say is WMA sucks just like microsoft's propducts like Vista and DRM integration ,their monoploy policies to gain the profit frm other companies .
I think the attorney who filled these lawsuit may a mental problem .... besides this case these attorney might need some treatment frm a psychiatrist

[x3060]

apple , microsoft...:yawn: , time to sleep ...

[LoRdKsHiTiJ]

Originally Posted by Voldy

WMA sucks just like microsoft's propducts like Vista and DRM integration

Don't bash everything about Microsoft. It only makes YOU look like you could use a psychiatrist's help.
Vista is as rocksolid as XP can never be. And windows 7 is even better.

[Hitboxx]

Sab yaatri ko nivedan hain ke woh kripya thaarik ko madde nazar rakthe hue post kare. dhanyavaad, aapki yaatra sugamaye ho..