Law to make iTunes compatible with Microsoft?

US legislators are debating whether to force Apple's products to interoperate with Microsoft's.

The Congress have been considering a plan that would outlaw music protected by proprietary digital rights management (DRM) technology, such as Apple's FairPlay, which stops iTunes downloads being played on Microsoft digital music players and vice versa.

However, yesterday's Congressional subcommittee hearing on 'Digital Music Interoperability and Availability', which included debate on mandating interoperability for digital music, received a 'hands off' message from industry representatives.

William Pence, Napster CTO, told the subcommittee that the music industry will eventually promote interoperability itself without the need for government intervention.

"It is my belief, and the essential point of my participation today, that marketplace forces will continue to drive innovation in the DRM arena with attendant consumer benefits - new ways to enjoy digital music at a variety of different price points - while also gradually 'solving' the interoperability problem," he said.

However, one of the biggest players in the digital market, Apple, did not attend the hearing.

Chairman of the subcommittee, Lamar Smith, criticised the Cupertino company's failure to show up, saying: "This interoperability issue is of concern to me since consumers who bought legal copies of music from Real could not play them on an iPod. I suppose this is a good thing for Apple but perhaps not for consumers.

"Apple was invited to testify today but they chose not to appear. Generally speaking, companies with 75 per cent market share of any business, in this case the digital download market, need to step up to the plate when it comes to testifying on policy issues that impact their industry. Failure to do so is a mistake."

Last year RealNetworks cracked Apple's DRM to make songs from its web song shop compatible with the iPod.

While Napster's Pence did advocate a more open approach from Apple, he said mandating one through government was not necessary.

"Napster believes that allowing the iPod to work with multiple service offerings would benefit consumers. Nevertheless, I do not see government intervention as the solution, as it would stifle competition and innovation that will benefit consumers and copyright owners at a very early stage of the market's development," he told the subcommittee. "It does not seem prudent for government to pick a winner in the continuing... marketplace battle between Apple's FairPlay DRM and its competitors."

Raymond Gifford, president of the Progress and Freedom Foundation, agreed: "Are open standards preferable? In some cases, yes; in others, no - you are making a trade-off. Are proprietary or non-proprietary standards going to give the greatest amount of innovation? We cannot be sure... For public policy, all this should inspire a great deal of caution for mandating any given outcome or specific standard."

Gifford added: "Much of the brow-furrowing over interoperability in digital music stems from the success of Apple's iPod platform. I urge this subcommittee not to give in to the politics of platform envy, however."