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Bainwol was responding to Jobs' call for the music industry to abandon its insistence that music downloads are sold with copy-protection attached. DRM-free music, Jobs said, would stimulate innovation in a 'truly interoperable music marketplace', and Apple 'will embrace this wholeheartedly'.

But in a statement Bainwol said that interoperability could equally be achieved if Apple licensed its proprietary FairPlay DRM so that iTunes downloads could be played on any portable music device, not just its own iPods.

'We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen,' Bainwol said.

'We all want to see this marketplace work and for fans to enjoy the music they have lawfully bought on various devices or services. The issue is how. One way to achieve it was outlined by Steve Jobs in his post - for Apple to license its DRM to other technology companies. We think that's a great solution.'

In fact Jobs is firmly opposed to licensing FairPlay, because he believes doing so would jeopardise the security of the DRM on which the major record companies that the RIAA speaks for insist.

'The most serious problem is that licensing a DRM involves disclosing some of its secrets to many people in many companies, and history tells us that inevitably these secrets will leak,' he wrote.

'Apple has concluded that if it licenses FairPlay to others, it can no longer guarantee to protect the music it licenses from the big four music companies.'

But the CEO of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI), the music industry's main international body, disputes this.

'I am told that in spite of what Steve Jobs says it should be neither impossible nor unreasonably burdensome to implement interoperability while maintaining the security of DRM,' John Kennedy said.

He urged Jobs to sit down with the music industry so that the industry can explain how it believes that it is not inevitable that DRM licensing threatens its integrity.

'There would be a sensible discussion of the pros and cons, a risk/reward assessment and a discussion to make sure we are not throwing out the baby with the bath water, and, most importantly, to preserve the right of all rightsholders, big and small, to decide whether they want to implement

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DRM on their intellectual property,' he said.

'Evidence that the burden is manageable comes from Microsoft who continue to run PlaysForSure across hundreds of music stores and devices,' Kennedy added, although he mentioned neither that PlaysForSure has been cracked at least once nor that Microsoft chose not to deploy it in its Zune player and accompanying store.

Bainwol and Kennedy's insistence on retaining DRM was echoed by Warner Music chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr, who told analysts that Jobs argument is 'without logic and merit'.

'We will not abandon DRM,' he said

But while outwardly the record industry remains resolutely committed to DRM, inwardly there are signs that it may be prepared to reconsider.

EMI has recently offered a number of songs for sale in the unrestricted MP3 format, describing the results as 'positive'.

There is also strong evidence that music fans are more inclined to buy from stores that do not apply copy protection. eMusic, for instance, is second (albeit a distant second) only to iTunes in the number of tracks sold, despite a catalogue that is restricted to independent labels who are happy to dispense with DRM.

Certainly there is no evidence that DRM is achieving the music industry's stated aim of tackling 'piracy'. As Jobs pointed out, over 90 per cent of all music sold is on CDs which are, in the wake of Sony BMG's disastrous attempt to prove otherwise, likely to remain DRM-free.

Incidentally, Kennedy believes that it does not follow that the lack of copy protection on CDs negates the value of DRM on downloads

'The fact that CDs are an unprotected format is no reason to make the same mistake for the future, i.e. remove options for protection,' he said.

Jason Schultz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights campaign, suggests that Jobs could encourage the music industry to reach the same conclusion that he has - in common with Real Networks' CEO Rob Glaser, not to mention numerous analysts and commentators and the music buying public - by backing his words with action and make DRM optional for artists and independent labels who are not bound by Apple's restrictive deals with the major record companies.

Currently iTunes adds DRM across-the-board, despite the fact that some artists, of which Barenaked Ladies are perhaps the best known, sell their music sans-DRM on eMusic.

And, Schultz adds, this may also go some way to placating European consumer groups, led by Norway's Forbrukerrådet, who are trying to force Apple to drop the exclusive link between iTunes and iPods.

'I think that would go a long way to convince them that Apple's not the problem here,' Schultz said.