Tim Cook and U2 just got roasted for forcing music onto customers’ iPhones, but from 2007 to 2009, Steve Jobs’ Apple was allegedly playing a different tune, and deleted music off of iPods that was purchased on rival music services.
That wouldn’t have been so bad if it were just your embarrassing Nickelband albums, but attorneys for consumers at the ongoing antitrust lawsuit, say iTunes deleted all rival files without ever giving users a warning that they were about to lose their tunes.
Attorney Patrick Coughlin said that Apple deciding to give users “the worst possible experience and blow up” a user’s music library, reports the Wall Street Journal. Coughlin accused Apple of designing the iTunes system so that users weren’t told there would be a problem.
Users who tried to sync an iPod to iTunes with music from a rival service would receive an error message. The only way to get rid of the error was to follow the instructions to restore to factory settings. Once users’ reset, rivals’ music would disappear completely.
Apple’s attorneys told the court they deleted the files because of security concerns. Evidence was submitted that showed Steve Jobs himself was concerned about hacking. In an email to Eddy Cue, Jobs wrote reason “someone is breaking into our house,” referring to music pirates and tormenters invading iTunes.
Apple’s security director said the company just didn’t want to confuse users, saying, “we don’t need to give users too much information.” She also blamed hackers such as “DVD Jon” and “Requiem” for increasing Apple’s paranoia of protecting iTunes.
Phil Schiller and Eddy Cue are also expected to testify at the trial this week. Plaintiffs in the decade-old class action suit playing out in Oakland, Calif, are seeking damages of $350 million.
Source: WSJD
