In a letter posted on Apple's Web site Tuesday (dubbed ``Thoughts on Music''), Jobs joined the growing chorus of tech leaders and consumer advocates who have called on the major record labels to allow consumers to purchase music online in a format without copy protections.

``This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat,'' Jobs said.

Currently, the major labels require Apple's iTunes music store and its competitors to wrap their songs in software that's called digital rights management. DRM restricts what consumers can do with the songs, most notably how many copies they can make of them and where they can play them. So songs downloaded from iTunes can be played only on iPods, while songs downloaded from Microsoft's Zune Marketplace can only be used on Zunes. ...   more »