Nickname: kieno

Review: This is so overblown. It's not like you can't take a CD, rip the files and then play them on your Ipod. This complaint is groundless. I don't see them complaining about porn-companies and their DRMs. I don't see them complaining about the XBox vs PS3. Get real people! Have some consistency and stop the socialist habit of targeting someone just because they're the biggest.

Date reviewed: Jan 25, 2007 8:18 PM

Nickname: noc

Review: The person who said that European consumer watchdogs have no right to say what a particular iTunes store should charge is right of course but they're missing the point. Who cares if the UK iTunes store charges more than other countries' stores? What isn't fair is that UK comsumers (and others too) can only buy from their own store. I can't get some songs I want in my local store and it's so annoying to see them sitting there in another store unavailable to me for no good reason. I can buy goods, including CDs, all over the world using my credit card except in a foreign iTunes store. It restricts competition. It doesn't make sense. They say there are supposed 'copyright issues' but why would the record companies not want to make money from people from other countries. Why refuse a customer? If it is true that the record companies are responsible for the geographical restrictions then Apple should be putting pressure on them to get real for all our sakes!

Date reviewed: Jan 19, 2007 6:28 PM

Nickname: Robert

Review: These European countries are being very short sighted. The only reason Apple was able to negotiate such good rates for music downloads from record companies was because they basically have a monopoly on the MP3 market. If consumers could use iTunes with any MP3 player, there would be no barriers to entry for other MP3 companies to create their own iTunes type Web site to be used with any MP3 player, including iPods. At that point, record companies would have the upper hand in negotiating sky high prices for music downloads because Apple would have no leverage to negotiate. Apple would then just be one of many music download Web sites. It's only because iTunes can be used only with iPods that they were able to negotiate such good price points with the record companies. Why do socialist countries have to punish companies for being innovative? Besides, consumers knew what they were getting into when they bought an iPod and used iTunes. There was no bait and switch by Apple.

Date reviewed: Jun 17, 2006 7:02 PM

Nickname: the frog

Review: Cut the crap with the socialist b.s. resulting in "no innovation" coming from Europe. Apparently you do not even know that the MP3 codec is a Thompson CSF (now Thales) patent and that Thales is a French group.

Date reviewed: Jun 15, 2006 9:53 AM

Nickname: jean-roch (from france)

Review: We all agree that what is to be paid is the right to listen to a given piece of music. Then we could imagine a standard way of materializing this right and associate it to a given customer. But the thing that we don't want is that we buy a given right with a given technology. If I buy "Love is all", I wouldn't easily accept to buy the right to listen to it on an iPod, and pay the same right to listen to it with another store. Of course, we couldn't oblige a software company to make Windows software work as well as on a Mac. But, if I have a PC and I buy a piece of software, and then tomorrow, I replace my PC with a Mac, I would like very much if the software company allowed me to use the Mac version of the same piece of software. I would then be pleased to buy a new media if necessary, or pay for any extra price between the two versions. But today, most of the time, you just have to buy it all again, and throw the other one away.

Date reviewed: Jun 15, 2006 6:24 AM

Nickname: Cowboy

Review: You socialists, get a grip. The market works this way; if you don't like what is going on, don't buy. The "big brother" approach won't help you.

Date reviewed: Jun 14, 2006 2:14 PM

Nickname: No Stereotypes????

Review: Another stupid (but cited!) argument comes from that "British consumers' advocacy group." Since when is it anybody's business in a free market what prices a private company charges for its products? Such a comment implies that price should only be established based on costs. How about basing it on what consumers are ready to pay... This is a stereotype!

Date reviewed: Jun 14, 2006 12:50 PM

Nickname: No Stereotypes????

Review: To No Stereotypes. You are missing some points in your answer to RivTC. Your ideals are nice, but forcing private companies that invent things to share (or to manage) their inventions will not get you to these nice objectives. Apple forces nobody to buy music from iTunes. You can buy music from anywhere and download it to iPods. iTunes and its integration with iPod is their innovation and it is their right to use it as they wish. Yes, it would be fair to plug in a GE toaster into a GE socket if GE invented electricity, would distribute it and would want that. The article is right - Apple is simply attacked because its leadership. This is outrageous!

Date reviewed: Jun 14, 2006 12:43 PM

Nickname: Leo

Review: rjwill246: I didn't even mention Apple and burning to CD and then re-compressing into MP3 does reduce quality.

Date reviewed: Jun 14, 2006 10:14 AM

Nickname: Theknight

Review: We live in the digital world and it is simply too easy to pirate content that is not copy protected. So if we, as consumers, want to continue having access to quality content, that is content protected by copyrights and licensing deals--read content that costs money to create, produce and market--not what you'll typically find on Youtube or some peer to peer networks, then the only solution is to protect that content from illegal distribution through some form of DRM. It is simply irresponsible and totally unrealistic to support unprotected digital content distribution.

Date reviewed: Jun 14, 2006 2:00 AM