While the iTunes store traffic is at its high point, rising more than 400% this holiday season, Apple is getting faced with several federal lawsuits, according to Associated Press. Among those is one targetting the copy-protection system that content purchased from the iTunes store are encoded in.

What the claim is saying is that Apple is "creating an illegal monopoly" by making sure that content bought from the iTunes store can only be played on iTunes, and not on any rival's digital music player.

Now, let me get this straight before I start. I think that it's an annoying feature, keeping people from freely moving around bought content from player-to-player. In fact, in terms of the iTunes store, Apple would be much harder to compete against if it opened up the Digital Rights Management technology it uses.

However, in all fairness, I think that Apple should be able to do whatever they want. They invented the technology, they should be able to use it without being forced to open up the content. Heck, you don't have to buy from the iTunes store or even buy an iPod if you don't want to. It was your choice to buy the Apple hardware/software, and if you don't like it, tough luck.

I also have to point out that Apple isn't alone with its closed DRM scheme. Many other companies, such as Microsoft, have similar technologies that limit the devices that something can be played. If a country really doesn't like the way the industry is selling media, they should make a law. That's what France did, and now any Digital Rights Management schemes have to be open to the public. At least there wasn't a federal lawsuit.

The way I see it is like this: if you buy a parts for your car, some parts may not work in other cars. There aren't just generic parts that you can buy often, so you have to tough it out. There's no laws agaisnt that. So why is everyone so against Apple's DRM? That's right, because they're the biggest.