Panel member Mike Bebel, CEO of Ruckus music service, said: “Look, I don’t think anybody is necessarily down on Apple. The problem is the proprietary implementation of technology…and it’s causing everybody else who is participating in the marketplace–the other service providers, the labels, the users–a lot of pain. If they could simply open it up, everybody would love them.”

I think Steve should take this advice to heart and literally open up FairPlay. Not license it, open it up. Imagine of FairPlay were open source! Frankly, that would be as good as no DRM for the consumer, because the device manufacturer could customize the limits without changing the METHOD of protection. You could potentially have a “protected” (digital signature, easily identifiable) file with no limits of use. The record companies would be thrilled, right? Then they can negotiate the limits of use with every device manufacturer. Steve’s concerns about cracking the DRM would be a non issue, how can you crack something that is public?