Warner says no to Apple's DRM ditching requests

Still wants copyright protection

9 February 2007 10:40 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Warner Music is the latest music company to shun Steve Jobs's open later entitled "Thoughts on Music" asking the music industry to ditch Digital Rights Management (DRM).

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, its boss Edgar Bronfman, said Mr Job's proposal was "without logic and merit".

In an open letter on the company's website earlier this week, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs criticises Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI for holding back the industry insisting, "DRMs [Digital Rights Management] haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy".

On the back of the letter, Apple has hinted for the first time that it will open up its iTunes music store to be compatible with other players such as Microsoft's Zune and Sony's Walkman phones if the music industry drops its insistence on making sure music files are locked with copyright protection software.

Jobs question why "if the music companies are selling over 90 per cent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system?".