Germany, France, Finland and Norway have decided to put together a collective stand against Apple's policies on iTunes songs being playable only on the IT giant's popular iPod mp3 players.

The four nations say that the download system used by Apple does not give way to the liberalization of the digital content market and threatened to take legal action if Apple refuses to budge until October 1.

"Do you think it's fine that a CD plays in all CD players but that an iTunes song only plays in an iPod? I don't. Something has to change," said Meglena Kuneva, EU's Consumer Protection Commissioner. He seconded the argument of the European countries that Apple's digital rights protection system prevents the copying of audio files between consumers and bars them from using their iTunes on other mp3 players.

Apple has not been available for comments on the matter. We'll keep you posted for the latest developments.