“The French National Assembly approved a digital copyright bill on Tuesday that will require DRM (digital rights management) developers to reveal details of their technology to rivals that wish to build interoperable systems. The bill could affect the FairPlay DRM used by Apple Computer Inc. in its iTunes Music Store and iPod music players, and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Media DRM, used by rival French music stores Fnac.com and Virginmega.fr to lock downloaded tracks to particular music players,” Peter Sayer reports for IDG News Service. “Deputies voted to approve the bill, ‘Authors’ rights and related rights in an information society,’ by 286 votes to 193. The bill now goes to the Senate for a second reading [expected to begin in early May], and a vote, before it becomes law.”
Full article here.
“Apple has so far refused to comment on the bill or on analysts’ suggestions that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company might choose to withdraw from the French online music market rather than share the proprietary technology at the heart of its business model. Representatives for Apple France did not return calls Tuesday,” Laurence Frost reports for The Associated Press. “Under the bill, companies would be required to reveal the secrets of hitherto-exclusive copy-protection technologies such as Apple’s FairPlay format and the ATRAC3 code used by Sony’s Connect store and Walkman players. That could permit consumers for the first time to download music directly to their iPods from stores other than iTunes, or to rival music players from iTunes France.”
Full article here.
Earlier this morning, MacDailyNews reader “john” wrote us with an interesting idea. “The French can’t specifically force Apple to give up selling AAC files specifically, but it can force it to find a way to make its iPod [and iTunes Store] somehow interoperable with other [services and devices] in France. Apple could provide its French customers exclusively with a collection of its iTunes catalog in the MP3 format in addition to providing the same catalog in the AAC format (MP3’s with whatever DRM that may or may not be required as per the music labels desire, since the music labels seem to be ok with this new idea). And in the iTune’s download interface for French users only, allow they to choose whichever format they wanted- be it AAC or MP3. If Apple’s competitors wanted to sell files that worked seamlessly with the iPod, all they’d have to do is to provide those files in the MP3 format. Beyond that, everything else would remain exactly the same. In all the ways that matters, Apple would be in full compliance with the new French law, Apple’s competitors would still not have direct access to either FairPlay or the iPod, and there’d be nothing the French could do about it.
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not a big fan of the french
Apple could simply refuse to sell any old Jerry Lewis movies on the iTunes Music Store. Then the French wouldn’t buy anything from them, and the whole issue would be moot.
Wow the French really know how to chase technology out of town.
Apple will just leave the area, sorry, no more iTunes because WE’RE NOT SHOWING THE FRENCH HOW IT WORKS!
I fart in your general direction
^Common sentiment on this board. Its odd, because the French are so much like Americans. They’re both criticized for arrogance. And there is the whole matter of the French being responsible for helping the Americans gain independence from Britain.
If you look at the way that Emusic.com sells tracks it would be easy to see a way for Apple to get around this and put pressure on the labels.
If you look at the eMusic catalog and the iTunes catalog there is some overlap with eMusic selling mostly independent labels. eMusic sells all their songs in unprotected MP3. What would stop Apple from selling those songs the same way, and make the argument that they are complying with the law. The burden then falls on the labels since they are the ones preventing music from being sold without DRM.
Heyyy, come onnnn. I love de French. I mean, it’s like having a retarded little cousin — everybody loves them. Yeh-heh-hehesssss. Hey, listen, I don’t enjoy knocking the French. Really, they’re good people. I’m an American comic — it’s just my job.
No really, I enjoyed my time in France a few years ago. ‘Course, Paris smelled like downtown Trenton on a hot summer day. And I swear I was de only one who smelled like soap. But you know de old joke, ‘What do you call someone in France taking a bath? A tourist’.
Hey, I keed. I keed because . . .
I hate de French people with a passion!
YEH-HEH-HEHESSSSSSS! Bring it on, nerds, I got a million of them.
Very interesting idea “reader john”. The French gov might not like it, but if it satisfies the law, then they can’t complain. The people that’ll complain will be MS, Sony et al. They’re salivating over the idea of getting Apple’s DRM legally even if it is just for one country. If Apple pulls out of France, then MS can easily open up it’s drm as everyone else (other than Sony) is using it anyway. They’re not giving away any “secrets to rivals”. They have nothing to loose. Then they’ll own the French market.
My question is does this in any way come into play with osX and other apps on the mac other than iTunes? What about video downloads from ITMS?
The economic facts of the matter are that if France were to become a state of this union (heaven forbid!), it would be ranked 46th in GDP among our 50.
That’s right, folks.
France is a little old gray lady, and if she wishes to cut off her nose to spite her face in this matter, so be it. Apple can easily absorb the shock.
No, really . . . seeing all those French chicks with their unshaved pit hair brings back good memories for me.
They kind of remind me of a couple of lhasa apsos I used to date.
Nope. Sorry, John.
That proposed alternative would be letting the proverbial genie out of the bottle – “do it for one iTunes (regional) store, do it for all”.
Not gonna happen.
Conversely, Apple shuts down the iTunes France store. Then we all watch its customers start a Second French Revolution.
Watch how the angry voters (iPod owners) decide the outcome to all of this crap.
Am I missing something here, but isn’t the iTunes Music Store based in Luxembourg?
That means technically it’s not a French store and all the French consumers are purchasing songs from a foreign store. Of course the ‘French’ iTMS is only accessible to the French, but couldn’t Apple just open for example the Luxembourg store to the French and add specific French content to that store instead. Then the French would still be buying from a foreign store and Apple wouldn’t be affected by the new French law either.
What do you think?
why would any of us want DRM imposed on our music is beyond me
Puh-leeze, “duper”.
Wanna talk Normandy? We paid France back in many more American lives to keep ’em speaking French these days – and not German!
Uh…how exactly is MP3 with proprietary DRM any different from AAC with proprietary DRM? That is other than AAC sounds better at lower bit rates, and at least iPods support AAC with Fairplay, while virtually nobody is supporting MP3 with DRM.
3rdKidney,
I’ve emailed MDN’s take to Apple, just in case they’ve overlooked this possible ‘way out.’
VinitaBoy:
WRONG. Completely, totally, utterly!
Want to tell me which state in the union has a GDP greater than 2.2 Trillion dollars? None, not even California, not even my state, New York.
The facts are:
GDP of France is approximately $2.2 Trillion. GDP of the United States is $12.7 Trillion [both 2005 estimates]. California’s GDP is 13% of the US total [facts here: ]http://www.forbes.com/global/2002/0527/066sidebar.html]
Interestingly, the workforce of the US is approx. 149.3 million…. whereas the workforce of France is only 27.7 million.
Oh yeah… another fact for you:
Percentage below poverty rate in US: 12.3%
Percentage below poverty rate in France: 6.6%
Not so rosy now, is it? Get at least one fact right next time, instead of spouting off your prejudices. Typical…
Oh my God ! One more occasion for a bunch of hating ignoramuses to spew their inane ravings…
Good for France. Next stop Europe. Thank god someone has finally shown some sense. Big (American) corportations dictating where and when I can play the music I buy is not my idea of progress….
The only thing I remember about French innovation was the Can-Can
VinitaBoy
That’s funny, because the CIA World Factbook lists the GDP of France as $2.118 trillion. If that is #46 in your Union, the US economy would have a GDP of at least $100 trillion rather than the $12.7 trillion the CIA think it is.
So either you’re full of it, or the CIA are. Which is more likely?
I fail to see why forcing companies to make DRM interoperable can be a bad thing – if this was Microsoft DRM we were talking about everyone would think it was great. And as for the whole anti-french thing, just because in Europe we’re still allowed to think for ourselves rather than believe whatever Fox news tells us doesn’t make us bad people. Oh, and France has offered far more to Western culture than the good old US of A ever has – 70% of english words are derived from French. I’m a brit btw, but France is a great country with great people if you bother yourself to learn a bit of their language and respect their culture rather than walking round like you own the place treating it as it’s one big theme park put there soley for your amusement.
vive la difference
Written by Doxxic on AI:
Because who is going to get hurt when the law gets into effect? Not Apple. The unfairly priced business models, like PSP, XBox, music-by-subscribtion are, while Apple is going to change nothing and survive.
The misconception everyone on the net seems to make, is that because the iTunes store and the iTunes-iPod combination work together so well, each of them can’t stand on it’s own.
Well, they can. Easily. Laughingly. iTunes is profitable, iPod is profitable. And their each the best the planet has to offer in it’s category. That’s the difference with content/hardware combinations Sony and Microsoft have to offer.
You read it here: Apple is going to function as the example for Sony and Microsoft, in being an innovative company with a pricing system that is resistant to anti-kartel laws that benefit us, consumers, and will be applied everywhere.
“could affect Apple’s FairPlay DRM”
??
Given it was Apple, Sony and Microsoft the legistlators were talking about I think you can bet it will affect Apple.
“The facts are:
GDP of France is approximately $2.2 Trillion. GDP of the United States is $12.7 Trillion [both 2005 estimates]. California’s GDP is 13% of the US total [facts here: ]http://www.forbes.com/global/2002/0527/066sidebar.html]
Interestingly, the workforce of the US is approx. 149.3 million…. whereas the workforce of France is only 27.7 million.”
Which means that the workforce of France is less productive than the US.