The iPod may have become the device of choice for those who like their music digital and portable. But the music industry has a big beef with the iPod's creator, Apple.

Two music industry executives who breezed through New Zealand in the past couple of months expressed exasperation at Apple's refusal to make the iPod compatible with Microsoft's digital rights management technology.

A large range of music publishers, hardware makers and online music sellers have got behind Microsoft's anti-piracy technology, but Apple stands alone in ignoring it. The result is that the iPod is now incompatible with most of the music download services and media player software now available.

That wouldn't matter, were it not for the fact that the iPod and Apple's own music service (itunes.com) account for about 70 per cent of music player sales and downloads.

For Kiwi iPod owners, it means they can't transfer to their devices music files downloaded at the new Coketunes services (www.cokefridge.co.nz).

So the device you bought because everyone was raving about how good it was isn't even compatible with the first comprehensive music download site to set up shop here.

If I was an iPod owner I'd be a little miffed about that.

Ted Cohen, the good-humoured senior vice-president of digital development and distribution at EMI Music, sums up the position well.

"Apple is not interested in being part of an ecosystem. Their idea of interoperability is: buy an iPod," says Cohen, who called in on Coketunes, Vodafone and music retailers on a fleeting visit earlier in the week.

Apple has its own digital rights management software called Fairplay, which is incompatible with the Windows media format. Apple doesn't look inclined to license Fairplay to the record labels any time soon.

That's a sore point with Thomas Hesse, Cohen's opposite at Sony BMG.

Sony BMG wants to put anti-piracy software on every CD release by the end of the year. The measures mean you can make three copies of the music, storing the songs on your computer if you're using Windows Media Player 10, which has digital rights management software recognised by the discs.

That seems reasonable enough.

The problem is that iPod owners use the Apple-created iTunes media player to load up their music device, not Windows Media Player. The iPod doesn't recognise the Microsoft-flavoured .wma files that the songs are converted to when ripped from the CDs.

There are ways around it. Sony BMG recommends those who buy its copy-controlled discs to burn a copy to CD, rip them, then transfer them into iTunes.