If Jon Lech Johansen - the same Jon Lech Johansen they call DVD Jon who reverse-engineers data formats and has become infamous for hacking encrypted DVDs so that they play in Linux at the tender age of 15 - is after your technology, would you lose sleep over it?

Well apparently not Apple head honcho Steve Jobs. After a meeting with Johansen and his partner Monique Farantzos some time in January discussing their new company plans, he dismissed it by saying that while Apple was not a litigious company, other firms of the same nature might not go so easy on whatever DVD Jon might be up to.

Now, while Steve Job's extreme confidence is admirable, will it bite him back in his arse? See, Johansen's plan is to add the DRM rather than breaking it. He wants to license the technology to companies who want their content to be playable on Apple devices.

This is not the first time for DVD Jon to get in the ring with Apple. In November 2003, Johansen released QTFairUse, an open source program which dumps the raw output of a QuickTime AAC stream to a file that could bypass the digital rights management (DRM) software used to encrypt content of music from media such as those distributed by the iTunes Music Store, Apple Computer's on-line music store.

In the battle between armor and warhead, the warhead always wins, so goes an adage in military engineering. In the battle between media free play and digital rights management (DRM)... Honestly, we don't know. DRM tends to provoke an unsavory reaction just by talking about it.

The right of the music customer to listen to his purchased music wherever, whenever he or she wants, without unnecessary restrictions. The right of the music artist to receive the proper compensation for all his hard work on his or her music that the customer's listening to. The right of the music publishing company to be compensated for recording and marketing the music track made by the artist and enjoyed by the customer. How do you balance these three without pissing someone off?

Back to the battle between warhead and armor. Have you heard of QTFairUse6? It's based on the original QTFairUse program that would bypass or "strip" the DRM code off of a downloaded-from-iTunes music track. QTFairUse6 is an update designed to work on iTunes 6, though it's still not perfect (the current build is 2.4), and it lacks an easy-to-use GUI interface (such as its Media Player sister FairUse4WM).

There are those who would welcome software like these, which would make iTunes-downloaded music tracks playable on MP3 players which do not support DRM-protected files. In essence, they cry freedom. On the other hand, there are those who fear that denying companies like Apple or the music companies some sort of protection on their "ownership rights" over downloaded music will destroy their innovation and creativity - in short, seeing no profit in the market, they would leave the market altogether. In essence, they cry rape.

Welcome to the real face of DRM. Neither "right" nor "restriction" at the moment, only people trying to find the proper definition of "Fair Use" that will be acceptable to everyone. As it always is in economics, the market is a harsh mistress - and that's putting it mildly.

If you wanna transfer iPod files to another iPod without even touching a computer, then maybe you should take advantage of the services of Sima Products' Hitch. Pictures, Video, Audio, Documents-- name it! All can be transferred quickly and easily without being tethered to a PC the Â?old wayÂ?. Plus, it does this all without being plugged into a wall like a portable hard-drive, AND Hitch's internal battery can charge any USB charge-capable device.

So just how long would the transfer take? The company claims that Hitch can transfer a 4MB song in 5 seconds, an album with 15 songs for 80 seconds, a 2MB photo for 2.5 seconds, a 30 minute video for 3 minutes, and a 2 hour video for 12 minutes. Pretty good numbers there. Plus, Hitch will recognize and transfer files between the PSP's Memory Stick and another USB device (not games or UMD movies). Since the PSP is a multimedia player, go ahead and send that hot new song from your iPod to the PSP and listen to it everywhere.

This one will cost you $150. Aside from its capabilities, Hitch features a backlit LCD display and scroll-wheel navigation and is compliant with Digital Rights Management (DRM) copy-protection.

It seems that a new version of Apple Computer's iTunes Producer software suggest that the Steve Jobs camp may begin to offer tracks through its iTunes Music Store that are encoded in its higher-quality lossless compression format.

The Apple Lossless format is an audio codec developed by Apple Computer for lossless compression of digital music. It does not utilize any digital rights management (DRM) scheme, but by the nature of the container, it is commonly perceived that DRM can be applied to the Apple lossless audio codec much the same way it can with other files in QuickTime containers.

The iTunes Producer is a software that is distributed to record labels by Apple as a tool for prepping and submitting their content for inclusion on the iTunes Music Store. The iTunes service currently serves tracks only in the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format. In a release of iTunes Producer 1.4 recently, Apple said that the software "now encodes music in Apple Lossless format, which produces larger audio files and will increase upload time."

For now, this development has no major role on the iTunes Music Store. The format, unlike AAC, does not presently utilize a digital rights management (DRM) scheme to assure copy-protection but as mentioned earlier, it is speculated that a DRM could be applied to the format in much the same way as other QuickTime file formats.

Even if France and Scandinavian countries are leading the charge, European Commission officials are wary of forcing Apple to open up iTunes. According to Phillip Rowe, European Commission Director General of competition, "we wouldn't at this stage regard iTunes' inability to play back on devices other than the iPod as an instance of major concern until we've seen further market developments." Seems like EU doens't wanna make an enemy out of Steve Jobs and his camp.

The director general also added that if Apple is ahead of the mp3 race, this was due to the fact that they played the game fair and square. He mentioned that "Apple obtained its strong market position in open competition with many similar players, including some with their own web sites".

This was said amidst tremendous pressure from France and Scandinavian countries to open up iTunes song downloads to play on non-Apple music players. In the UK, consumer groups have begun campaigning against certain iTunes features such as DRM (digital rights management) while record label trade body the BPI also voices its concerns.

In response to EU's take, Norwegian ombudsman Bjorn Erik Thon says he will act soon against Apple, citing consumer law, but not before he has received a letter of explanation from the company.