ITunes to bow out of France?

The French senate has made significant new changes in the Digital Copyright Bill to incorporate the demands of the Apple lobby. According to the previous bill passed in March last year, online digital music stores like Apple’s iTunes were forced to make their music compatible with all music players in the market. Other major companies that would be affected in France are Microsoft, Sony, Vivendi and Audio.com. The bill required all these companies to hand over access to their software to a government agency. This would enable the French government to convert files from one format to another through Digital Rights Management (DRM) prompting Apple to call this move “state sponsored piracy”. The new bill includes a license fee as compensation along with guarantees to ensure that copyright measures will not be violated. Currently, songs on Apple’s iTunes are only compatible with the Apple iPod. Although Apple has not commented on the new issue, it is likely to withdraw iTunes from France altogether.