France to pass legislation taking iTunes beyond iPod

FRANCE is pushing through a law that would force Apple to open its popular iTunes online music store and enable consumers to download songs onto devices other than the computer maker’s iPod player.

Under a draft law expected to be voted in parliament on Thursday, consumers would be able to legally use software that converts digital content into any format.

It would no longer be illegal to crack digital rights management - the codes that protect music, films and other content - if it is to enable to the conversion from one format to another, said Christian Vanneste, a senior parliamentarian who helps guide law in France.

“It will force some proprietary systems to be opened up ... You have to be able to download content and play it on any device,” Mr Vanneste said

Music downloaded from Apple’s iTunes online music store currently can only be played on iPods.

The law, if enacted, could prompt Apple to shut its iTunes store in France, some industry observers say, to keep from making songs vulnerable to conversion outside France, too.

“The person who will have converted iTunes songs will be able to make it available elsewhere,” Marc Guez, head of the French Collecting Society for Music Producers rights told Reuters.

Apple officials in France and Britain did not return calls seeking comment.

The law would also mean that other online French music retailers such as Fnac, part of PPR, would have to make iTunes songs available on their Web sites.

Mr Vanneste said the draft law aimed to fight piracy, encourage the development of the online digital music market in France and benefit legal online music retailers.

Record sales tumbled 8% in France last year while digital music sales rose fivefold.