Europe Not Humming Apple's iTune

Apple's (AAPL Quote) system of locking songs sold on its iTunes music store to its iPod portable music player has some European regulators crying foul at a time when the region has helped the company push sales into the stratosphere.

European officials want Apple to open up its digital rights management system, called FairPlay, so songs sold in the iTunes Music Store can be played on other MP3 players -- and songs purchased from other digital music stores can play on iPods.

In countries such as France, Norway and Germany, among others, consumer advocates and government officials have taken various degrees of action to push Apple to interoperate with competitors. ...