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French Parliament Seeks to Open Up Digital Music

The French parliament will give consumers more choices over music downloads from the internet. According to reports, MPs backed a draft law to force Apple, Sony and Microsoft to share their proprietary copy-protection systems, in order to allow digital music to be played on any player, regardless of its format or source.

The bill will now go before France`s upper house, the Senate, in the coming weeks for approval before becoming law. Alexander Ross, music partner at the media and technology practice, Wiggin tells news reporting agencies, "It is an attempt to level the playing field in terms of the consumer experience."

File-sharing and music downloads are sensitive territory when it comes to music artists and customers, with customers often preferring to try and get music or songs they like for free rather than buy whole albums. Still, Apple`s iTunes has sold over a billion songs, indicating that people are willing to spend money on music they can pick and choose if it is cheap enough.