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The issue was that his track was DRM protected. Of course you can get round it buy burning it to CD and then re-ripping it but even if he knew that, he couldn’t be bothered. He told me he was so annoyed he went off and deliberately went to find the track illegally. A prime example of DRM not only failing to prevent piracy, but actually encouraging an honest person, (a lawyer at that) to go off and commit piracy.

So what is DRM good for then? The reality is that it’s no more than a mechanism to maintain a monopoly and it’s that the French are railing against. Apple’s DRM, ironically called Fairplay, is designed to keep the iTunes and the iPod locked together. Because it wants you to buy songs of iTunes, not elsewhere.

But Apple isn’t the first to lock people in. Let’s look at other examples. Digital camera SLR enthusiasts have for a long time had to make a choice between Canon or Nikon. Both make great cameras but the lenses and accessories for each only work with their respective brand, so one you made your choice got nowhere to go unless you don’t mind ditching your investment

Right now in computer graphics, we have nVidia’s nForce SLI motherboards and ATI’s CrossFire motherboards. You could choose either but if you want dual graphics cards you have to choose between one platform or the other, you can’t put your two ATI cards in an nForce motherboard, and vice versa. It’s a lock in. So why is Apple any different?

We know buying an iPod limits our choice of music store but it’s not as if we can’t get those songs with other online stores and buy a host of other players to play then on. And does the French government have the right to tell Apple how to do business?

Despite my complaints in my 2004 column about the lack of choice, in reality, are consumers really suffering? Let’s face it. iTunes and the iPod has become a monopoly because they’re so damn good. The iPod is still the most desirable piece of hardware on the planet, while the iTunes online store is easy to use and has a very extensive catalogue. In fact it’s got loads of exclusive content, which people actually want. A proof in point are Podcasts. They’ve been around for a few years, but it’s only since Apple integrated Podcasts into iTunes that they’ve gone ballistic. In fact, since Apple took the lead you can now get them for your PSP or your Creative Zen.

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