Apple Inc (AAPL)

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05:47 AAPL Jobs's new tune raises pressure on music firms - WSJ (84.15 )

The Wall Street Journal reports in an 1,800-word essay, Apple's (AAPL) chief executive Steve Jobs said the world's major music cos should consider allowing Apple and others to sell songs unfettered by anticopying software that prevents them from being shared or played however a consumer chooses.

While Mr. Jobs is positioning his proposal as a consumer-friendly step, it isn't clear whether the biggest music cos -- Warner Music Group (WMG), EMI Group, Vivendi's Universal Music Group, and Sony BMG, the joint venture of Sony (SNE) and Bertelsmann -- will embrace his recommendation.

Allowing online music sales without anticopying software would amount to a radical about-face for the recording industry, which several years ago viewed the technology as a remedy to rampant online piracy through file-sharing networks like the original Napster (NAPS) and Kazaa.

Music heavyweights have long required Apple and others to use the technology -- known as digital-rights mgmt software -- if they wish to sell their songs online.