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'My vision is that customers should be able to mix and match the type of computer, music software, retail option and music devices they want to use,' he explains in an letter posted online, and addressed directly to Jobs.

His four point plan for a more open iTunes includes selling unprotected MP3s from independent artists who do not insist on DRM

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protection for their work. These would be compatible with all digital media players, not just the iPod, as is currently the case with music downloaded from the iTunes Store.

Robertson also calls on the Apple boss to port iTunes to Linux, in the same way that it re-coded its jukebox and store for the Windows platform. As founder of Linux company Linspire, he even offers to lend Apple the necessary coding expertise, free of charge, 'if engineering recourses were an issue'.

The full letter, can be found on Robertson's site, where he claims that the plans require neither approval from the music industry, nor that the company license its FairPlay DRM technology, both of which were cited as key reasons for iTunes working as it does in Jobs original essay.