Nordic trio wage war on Apple's DRM

Apple's DRM has drawn the ire of three Nordic countries, which are accusing the Mac maker of operating illegally by making its music player and iTunes download service incompatible with rivals'.

Denmark, Norway and Sweden have all agreed to tackle the issue of the lack of interoperability between Apple's DRM, known as Fairplay, and copy protection systems used by rivals such as Microsoft, for their MP3 players.

The three countries will now be taking Apple to their respective ombudsmen to review the iPod maker's DRM practices. Its licensing agreements will also come under scrutiny, as some elements are written in English rather than the appropriate Nordic language, and are therefore against the law.

Norway's consumer ombudsman has already ruled that Apple must change the terms and conditions in its licences this month, or risk being fined.

The decision marks a growing tide of discontent within Europe around Apple's DRM, which ensures consumers can only play songs downloaded from iTunes on the iPod.

France has been debating legislation that will force Apple to open its DRM to rivals if it's passed. Apple has threatened to pull its iTunes service out of the country rather than become interoperable.

According to JupiterResearch analyst Mark Mulligan, Apple has to stop taking an ostrich's approach to the DRM objectors.

He wrote in his blog: "Apple really needs to start formulating its Plan B now so that it is best positioned in any potential transition of terms. Otherwise it could find itself watching European countries falling like dominoes."

It's not just the Old World that has been getting hot under the collar: US consumers took to the streets today to protest about Apple's take on DRM. A group calling itself Defective by Design protested outside Apple stores in a number of US cities, calling for an end to DRM.