Apple Faces Fresh Legal Attacks in Europe - New York Times:

As for making iTunes music compatible with non-Apple players, Mr. Thon said that his office expected a response from Apple by June 21, and would rule on the matter after that.

"We are likely to rule against Apple, but it is fair to hear their point of view," Mr. Thon said. "Consumers should be able to play music they have purchased on any device they want."

Mr. Thon said that he himself had bought a large number of songs from iTunes for about 1 euro apiece, and now wanted to transfer them to his new Nokia N80 cellular phone, but could not.

"I just cannot imagine an argument in favor of stopping someone from using a song they purchased," he said.

Let's say he uses a Windows box to go to one of the other online music stores and buys a song. Now, he wants to play that song on his Mac. Or his iPod. Or, on Linux. Why is there no demand that Microsoft open up its formats to everyone?

Does Norway ban CD's with copy protection?

Has this guy tried to put a CD into a cassette player? I bet that doesn't work, either. Yet, I've never read anyone to suggest that if I bought a Mini-Disc of music and now want a CD version of the music, or bought a CD of music and now want an audio cassette, that I should be provided with one.