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The Dutch Consumentenbond has filed a complaint with the country's antitrust authority alleging that Apple's practice of supporting only its own iPod portable players is illegal.

'What we want from Apple is that they remove the limitations that prevent you from playing a song you download from iTunes on any player other than an iPod,' spokesman van Kouwen said.

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. 'When you buy a music CD it doesn't play only on players made by Panasonic. People who download a song from iTunes shouldn't be bound to an iPod for the rest of their lives.'

Apple declined to comment.

Kouwen said that the Consumentenbond will take the same action against Microsoft's Zune platform, should it be released in the Netherlands, and against other manufacturers, such as Sony, that have adopted a similar, restrictive model.

Earlier this week French and German consumer groups joined Norway, Sweden and Denmark in filing complaints against Apple's decision not to license iTunes' DRM to other device manufacturers.

Yesterday Norway's consumer ombudsman ruled that the practice is illegal in that country and gave Apple until October to remove the restriction.