Apple’s Eddy Cue explains why DRM in iTunes was a necessary evil

In a trial about whether Apple’s iTunes was the lynchpin in shutting out competitors and making it harder for consumers to take their music elsewhere, today was Apple’s chance to explain what it was doing with its software nearly a decade ago. To do that, Apple’s iTunes chief Eddy Cue today spent several hours testifying in an Oakland, California courtroom, mainly trying to explain why the company not only created its own digital rights management (DRM) software, but also why it didn’t share it widely with others. At odds in the case is whether Apple’s Fairplay DRM encryption made it harder for consumers to use music software and services other than iTunes. The plaintiffs in the class action suit complain that Apple made its software worse for consumers when it tried to lock out would-be competitors, while Apple says it was necessary to secure digital music files in order to license music from the major record companies, and that any changes were made to improve security of that system.