Even the industry has begun to acknowledge the problem. It was much discussed at an OECD conference in Rome earlier this year and Yahoo! has expressed its frustration with DRM. Of course, those rejecting the DRM-based approach are finding great success – witness the Canadian music industry, where the large independent labels have left CRIA and largely avoid DRM, as well as eMusic, which offers "clean" MP3s, and has grown into the world's second biggest music download service.
Regulators have also become involved as concern over consumer fairness and marketplace competition mounts. France toyed with legislation earlier this year that would have mandated that Apple reveal technological specifications to its competitors so that they could design compatible devices. As a result, songs bought on iTunes would theoretically play on any digital music device. Officials in several Scandanavian countries are now examining similar concerns.
It is important to understand that this interoperability problem is not solely a product of DRM. Rather, it is the result of combining DRM with anti-circumvention legislation.