France and Germany team up against iTunes

Consumer lobby groups in France and Germany have partnered up to force Apple to open up iTunes. The groups want iTunes songs to play on non-Apple mp3 players. Conversely, they also want mp3 songs from other services to play on Apple iPods.

The two countries join Finland and Norway in trying to get Apple to loosen up iTunes restrictions. Norway has given Apple until September to open the service, while France already passed a law last August demanding a more open iTunes.

Apple iPod users are able to purchase and listen to music files from iTunes without restrictions, but those songs cannot be played on other players. iPod users also cannot play music from other online services because of DRM-copy protection mechanisms.

The lobby groups want Apple to remove clauses in their End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) that restrict music use. Apple has met with officials from all the countries, but its unclear if progress is being made.