The code that prevents music downloaded from Apple"s iTunes store being played on any portable player other than an iPod has been "cracked".
Apple has not commented on claims that Jon Lech Johansen has "reverse engineered" the FairPlay system. Prominent hacker Mr Johansen has made a name circumventing software used to restrict the use of digital media. His company, DoubleTwist, said that it planned to license the code to other digital music player manufacturers.
"There"s a certain amount of trouble that Apple can give us, but not enough to stop this," Monique Farantzos, managing director at DoubleTwist told Associated Press.
"We believe we"re on good legal ground, and our attorneys have given us the green light on this."