Its only France. BuhBye

. . . affect French iTunes users? Will their downloads be unusable, and if so will they receive refunds? There are many questions to be answered here. It is not as simple as "will they stay or will they go? stay, go, stay go."

This may be a messy process, either way the cookie crumbles.

Uh, do you know how pay per download works? It is not a subscription. The songs will continue to be playable and they can always backup the songs to audio and data CD/DVD.

I think the concern is in the authentication. If I am in France and buy a new Mac will I be able to authorize my new computer to play my music if I dont have access to the store?

The French suffer under a socialist government where true competition is not allowed to flourish. That is why unemployement is so high and the economy continues to wither. Let them stew in their own juices. In America, we thrive under capitalism run its course.

They pass laws saying it is in the interest of the people. But they really pass laws that protect their local industries and shield inefficient local businesses against world competition. They are hopeless.

As long as Apple will agree to offer the other player manufacturers an opportunity to buy a license for the DRM they will have no problem with the new french law.

The other manufacturers can choose whether or not to but the licenses which will open their players to itunes.

The DRM is only there in the first place because of the record companies.

I think apple needs to focus on more pressing issues, such as being able to sell certain hardware products in france. Then take care of the iTunes thing, which will obviously take much longer.

I'm glad. The new vesrion of the law abandons the strong anti-DRM stance, and instead strengthens the position of DRM. While Apple's motivations are clouded (indeed, positively curdled) their actions are useful.