With all the hoopla of the video iPod and speculation that Apple was going to release a media center-style PC and switch to Intel chips, it seems that the media last September inadvertently – or knowingly – forgot to post the news (via Tera Patricks ) that Judge James Ware, of the U.S. District Court of Northern California, has found the plaintiff, Thomas Slattery, as having "met all requirements for asserting [Apple's iTunes + iPod] tying claim.
Noting that the complaint alleges Apple has an 80 percent share of the market for legal digital music files and more than 90 percent of the market for portable hard-drive digital music players." Moreover, Judge Ware has given the green light to Slattery to proceed with his monopolization claim under the federal Sherman Antitrust Act.
View: September 2005 Ruling
News source: eHomeUpgrade
Noting that the complaint alleges Apple has an 80 percent share of the market for legal digital music files and more than 90 percent of the market for portable hard-drive digital music players." Moreover, Judge Ware has given the green light to Slattery to proceed with his monopolization claim under the federal Sherman Antitrust Act.
View: September 2005 Ruling News source: eHomeUpgrade
if its a monopoly because iTMS is the only download store that works with the ipod isnt that apple's choice to be selective
their so called closed system , in my opinion is better, when dealing with other stores such as napster, wlamart so on, you have to make sure your mp3 player supports "plays for sure"
if i'm missing something please help me understand what monopoly they are bringing up here.
So what that means is that if I start buying music on iTunes I am locked into only ever buying an iPod if I want to be able to use what I have bought. However, I am forced to buy from iTunes if I have an iPod.
This is very similar to Microsoft trying to force Windows users to use Internet Explorer a decade ago.
Yes, you are right, you have other choices, but when something becomes as popular as the iPod it is time to start playing far. Apple needs to allow companies like Napster and Microsoft to incorporate FarPlay into their music stores so they will work with the iPod and allow other manufactures like Creative and Sony to put FarPlay in their players so they would support iTunes bought music.. It would be nice if Apple just made the iPod "plays for sure" compatible, but that is probably too much to ask from Apple.
MS does not sell computer hardware, nor is regular computers locked to only working on Windows.
and even if they where the comparison wouldn't work, as windows isn't a store you're locked too anyway, it's a one time purchase,
whereas:
buy and iPod? then you can only buy music from iTMS
buy music from iTMS? then you can only ever play it on an iPod
and how is that system better than Plays for Sure? if you buy music form any of the other stores, you can play it on ANY plays for sure MP3 player(the iPod could play Plays for sure music, Apple said so).
and if you buy a plays for sure MP3 player, you can buy music form any of the non iTMS stores.
in other words, with plays for sure you can choose between brans, you don't have a single mp3 player with low quality audio components to choose from. and you can buy music form any store and even mix.
so plays for sure gives you more options, and more competition amongs the hardware manufacturers.
hint: it has nothing to do with who sells the hardware and who doesn't. so people should stop repeating that argument.
if u buy a protected (as in DRM'ed) song then u cannot import it into iTunes... & thus u r not good to go...
No really it's not much of an antitrust case.
It's the same concept- and if anything, the iPod is an even worse monopoly than Windows is.
Seriously, nobody forced me to buy an iPod and I bought one long before iTMS became available in the US let alone in my country of Canada.
If anything, MSFT encouraged a monopoly for Apple because they were trying so damn hard to keep everyone on windows by tying their services to windows alone.
Monopolies are not illegal. What is illegal is to attempt to maintain that monopoly through illegal means. Apple is not doing anything illegal and all they are doing is creating a product that people obviously want to buy.
Windows users have a choice. Maybe mac users should sue MSFT for shutting them out.
As a Canadian, I'd like to sue all the Americans making these lawsuits and the American educational system for turning out so many morons.
So why should MS make a player that works for you? Apple is fully capable of licensing WMA DRM and making a player capable of playing DRM'ed WMA files without having MS make it for them. MS doesn't have an obligation to make WMA players for all other OS' out there.
If one looks at the early history of the market, you can see that mac users were more likely to purchase music through an online store. The initial sales to US mac users gave iTMS momentum to leap ahead.
All issues go away for any store if you are able to burn to an audio CD.
BUT
the only reason to why apple has the market is because they did the mp3 and the software well, while everybody is couldnt get the balance right (and still cant)...
i dont think that apple is abusing the market.....
(P.S. - im not an apple fan, i own creative, iriver mp3 players, hate apple! but you have to give them credit were its due!
Don't sue Apple because you're too much of a lazy turd to do your homework.
~Clotz2000~
many people and companies do that...
i can tell you stories... omg
-fm
Don't like that you can only play music you downloaded from iTMS in iTunes or a iPod? Then don't buy from iTMS.
ZOMG! I can't take my corvette off-road! Im gonna sue Chevrolet! This is the exact thing your saying if you 'demand' that iPod play WMA and other DRM formats. The unit was never designed to play other DRM's. IIRC Apple said early on it woulden't play DRM WMA. So why on earth did you go out and buy a iPod then bitch it won't play other DRM's?
Why is this so hard to understand? Also, Apple runs iTMS, and Apple owns iPod. They can damn well do whatever the hell they want with it!
I love how Apple becomes a "monopoly" just because they were the first ones to make a easy to use portable audio player and a easy to use online music store. The verry people that like Apple's iTMS and iPod are the ones sueing Apple over being "monopoly" are also the ones that "caused" the "monopoly".
What would you say if Microsoft released an update for Windows that prevented the use of any media player other then theirs (or prevented OEMs from preinstalling any browser other then IE, hmm that sounds familiar)? Would you be saying “its their stuff, they can do as the please with it?” Or what if Apple announced that they would be dropping Windows support for iTunes and the iPod and that if you wanted to keep using your player and iTMS songs you should buy a Mac? Those two examples are no different then what Apple is currently doing.
I’m not saying Apple needs to embrace Microsoft’s DRM and playsforsure, they simply need to open up FarPlay and allow other companies to work with it if they wish (it would probably even be okay from them to charge a reasonable royalty for using it), and separate the iPod drivers from the iTunes software so that they could be install separately and work with any media center software.
So it's illegal to have a successful product now?
Burrrn
Anyway, I think it's really silly to sue Apple because their products "only" work with the iTunes music store.
( I mean, if you're so desperate, just "acquire" mp3s using a different method or something. >:
Oh well, I'm off to sue Burgerking for making me fat and not putting a warning on their burgers that says they will indeed, make you fat.
I use J River Media Center 11 and there latest update has added functionality for the iPod Video. About the only thing missing thus far is thumbnail support for videos. Outside of that, any files you buy from any store will import into Media Center 11 and will also auto-convert based on your settings whenever you sync your iPod with your library.
Not only that, but you can set it up to look and function almost identical to iTunes, only without that gawd awful iTunes skin.
So youre not bound to iTunes and iTMS.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.