The Coral Consortium, a DRM interoperability group, has publicly asked Apple boss Steve Jobs to join. In an open letter, the group hopes to lure Jobs away from his DRM-free stance and have suggested another alternative, that of interoperable DRM systems. Coral claims that it can help Apple's engineers develop a DRM system that is "virtually invisible" to the consumer.

"We offer Apple, Inc. a warm invitation to join Coral's ranks and help provide interoperability and the increased choice that it will bring to all of our customers," said Coral.

In his own recent public letter, Steve Jobs blasted the record companies for imposing DRM on iTunes music and practically mandating FairPlay, iTunes DRM system. Jobs outlined a few alternatives to DRM and even suggested that music be made DRM free.

Apple has been criticized for not opening up FairPlay's DRM to other devices, but other music services have similar, if not more restrictive, DRM technology that locks songs to certain devices or computers. Making DRM compatible with other systems could be a headache for software engineers who want to safeguard their systems.

The group promises Mr. Jobs that FairPlay technology will be kept secret, saying, "Of course the secrets in FairPlay remain safe - adopting the Coral technology does not require you to share them with anyone else."