Audio and videos purchased/downloaded from iTunes cannot be ported to other, non-Apple devices, everyone knows that. This is the reason why Norway’s top Consumer advocate drags Apple to the Norwegian Government Market Council to force the Company to allow interoperabilty of files downloaded from iTunes. If Apple give in to this demand, the iTunes will finally be open for users and for rivals in the music business.

The demand has the potential of making Apple miss many sleepless nights. The Market Council has the power to dictate companies to change trade policies and practices and levy fines in case companies fail to comply. Apple has not commented on this latest anti trust action. November 3rd is the deadline set by the Council for Apple to respond.

If things go wrong here, the future of iTunes in Europe will become very bleak. Denmark, France, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands are all out to support the Norwegian Council in stripping the autocratic policy of iTunes. We will know soon what Apple plans to do deal with the Council’s demand.

Apple is a step ahead of Microsoft in forcing users to get hooked for better or for worse. With Windows, Microsoft wants users to get addicted to the Internet Explorer as it the browser comes by default. Nevertheless, we have a choice here to download and use other browsers.

However, with Apple’s iTunes you are just hooked forcefully, songs and videos downloaded via iTunes become useless the moment you decide to say goodbye to Apple and iTunes. You just wasted away your precious dollars buying those stuffs that cannot be ported to other devices. However, those who care about quality service and innovative devices cannot say ‘No’ to whatever is Apple.