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A Commission spokesperson said that Apple's response was being "carefully considered".

In April, the Commission issued formal charges against Apple and the four major record companies, EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music and Warner Music, alleging they have violated EU rules on restrictive business practices by specifying that consumers can only buy music from the local version of iTunes. The charges were prompted by the UK's Office of Fair Trading, which noted that UK music fans are being asked to pay 79p per track compared to the €0.99, around 67p, charged in the rest of Europe.

The state of play regarding the record

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companies' responses is vague. One - as yet unnamed - submitted its response at the beginning of the month, while Universal has been granted an extension to 29 June. All four have good reason to spend as much time as possible in their own defence. Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said when the charges were originally filed that the executive sees them, rather than Apple, as responsible for preventing cross-border music shopping.

"Our current view is that this is an arrangement which is imposed on Apple," Todd said.

The Commission has made no suggestion that it plans to investigate other aspects of the iTunes Store, specifically the fact that most iTunes downloads can only be played on one brand of portable music player, Apple's iPods. It said a year ago that it was waiting to see how the market develops. That now seems to have been a prescient position to take. Apple subsequently committed itself to providing DRM-free music that can be played on any device and not long afterwards EMI began selling unrestricted (and higher quality) downloads, albeit at a higher price - and with some success.