A recording industry group fired back Wednesday at Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs, suggesting his company should open up its anti-piracy technology to its rivals instead of urging major record labels to strip copying restrictions from music sold online. Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, said the move would eliminate technology hurdles that now prevent fans from playing songs bought at Apple"s iTunes Music Store on devices other than the company"s iPod. ``We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen,"" Bainwol said in a prepared statement.
In an essay posted Tuesday on the Cupertino-based company"s Web site, Jobs called on record labels to abandon their requirement for online music to be wrapped in Digital Rights Management, or DRM, technology, which is designed to limit unauthorized copying. The major record labels -- Universal Music Group, EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group -- control some 70 percent of the music market and have maintained that DRM safeguards are needed to stave off rampant piracy. Jobs said eliminating such restrictions would open up the online music marketplace