• Business Week, Wednesday, February 7, 2007 12:15 PM

In a carefully worded statement posted to Apple's Web site yesterday, CEO Steve Jobs recast his company's role in the long-standing debate over copyright protection software by putting the onus for lifting copying restrictions squarely on the music industry.

In the final paragraph of the essay--"Thoughts On Music"--Jobs said that convincing music labels, like Viviendi-Universal, EMI and Sony-BMG, to allow their music to be sold online without digital rights management (DRM) technology would "create a truly interoperable music marketplace"--one that Apple would embrace "wholeheartedly."

Apple has come under increasing pressure from governments in Europe and consumers around the world to loosen restrictions on music downloaded from the iTunes music store and what songs can be played on the iPod.

Regardless of what direction the industry takes now, Apple can now claim the moral high ground, says Bob Cohn, who founded and later sold eMusic, the leading seller of non-DRM music. "He may be counting (on the idea) that the labels will still not give up on DRM."

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